Richard Ollard (9 November 1923 – 21 January 2007) was an English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

. He is best known for his work on the

English Restoration The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...

period.

Life

Richard Laurence Ollard was born in Yorkshire on 9 November 1923, the son of Rev Dr S. L. Ollard, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

clergyman. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

where he was a King's Scholar. He joined the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and won an exhibition to

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

at its conclusion. For twelve years from 1948 to 1959 Ollard taught history at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 1960 he joined the publisher Collins as a senior editor, where he worked until his retirement in 1983. "One might not guess from his otherwise comprehensive obituaries of Penelope Fitzgerald or Carlo Cipolla, or his articles on

Fernand Braudel Fernand Paul Achille Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' (1955–79), and the un ...

Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series. These sea novels are set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and ...

, Ollard's pioneering role in publishing such authors. That his identification and retention of the best of them was of such a long-term benefit to Collins was largely due to his encouragement of a younger generation of editors who thus maintained continuity." After his retirement from Collins he continued to research and publish widely and lived in Morecombelake,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. He died of leukaemia on 21 January 2007. Richard was married to Mary (née Riddell) for 53 years & left 3 children & 5 grandchildren.

Interests and achievements

*In 1992 he was awarded the Caird Medal by the Trustees of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

. *In 1997 he was joint winner of the Heywood Hill Prize for a lifetime's contribution to the pleasure of reading. *Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

(FRSL) *Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

(FSA) *Past Vice President of the Navy Records Society *An honorary member of the

Samuel Pepys Club The Samuel Pepys Club is a London club founded in 1903 to do honour to the memory of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), the English naval administrator and Member of Parliament now best known as a diarist. Origin On 26 May 1903, at the Garrick Club in ...

Selected publications

*''The Escape of Charles II'' (1966; rep. 1986), which combines historical rigour with a lively account of the period and the immediate aftermath of the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

*''Man of War: Sir Robert Holmes and the Restoration Navy'' (1969; rep. 2001) *'' Pepys: A Biography'' (1974; rev. 1991) *''This War Without an Enemy: A History of the English Civil Wars'' (1976) *''The Image of the King: Charles I and Charles II'' (1979; rep. 2001) *''An English Education: A Perspective of Eton'' (1982) *'' Clarendon and His Friends'' (1988) *''Clarendon's Four Portraits: George Digby, John Berkeley, Henry Jermyn, Henry Bennet'' (editor, 1989) *'' Fisher and Cunningham: A Study of the Personalities of the Churchill Era'' (1991) *''Cromwell's Earl'' (1994), a biography of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich *''Dorset'' (1995), a 'Pimlico Country History Guide' to the county of

*''A Man of Contradictions: A Life of A. L. Rowse'' (1999), a biography The book about A. L. Rowse sparked some controversy in literary circles. A negative review published by the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

'' (27 April 2000) prompted this reply by Ollard. :I am sorry that so interesting and well-written an article as Mary Beard's should convey so bitterly one-sided an impression of my book on A.L. Rowse. His encouragement of fellow writers, his practical kindness and hospitality towards them, certainly bulked larger in my mind when I was writing it than the splenetic egocentricity that led him into all too well publicised excesses. :It is humiliating for any author to have failed so signally in what he set out to do. I am reminded of Congreve's witticism that bad portraitists are obliged to write the name of their sitters at the bottom. So may I, likewise, ask LRB readers to accept that my view of Rowse is emphatically not that presented by Mary Beard. ::Richard Ollard

External links

Richard Ollard's page at Penguin Books
*Guardian obituary https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/feb/07/guardianobituaries.obituaries1

References

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 26 January 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ollard, Richard 1923 births People educated at Eton College Alumni of New College, Oxford Academics of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature English biographers 2007 deaths 20th-century British biographers