Early life and education

Richard Romney Sedgwick (29 May 1894 – 20 January 1972) was a British historian, civil servant and diplomat. He was the elder son of Professor

Adam Sedgwick Adam Sedgwick FRS (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did ...

, 1854–1913, the zoologist, and Laura Helen Elizabeth Robinson, the daughter of Captain Robinson, of Armagh. He married Mana St David Hodson, daughter of Professor T.C.Hodson, in 1936. They had one son, Adam, and one daughter, Sophie. Sedgwick was educated at Westminster School and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He became a Fellow of the college in 1919.

Career

Sedgwick edited ''

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

'' volumes that covered the House of Commons during the years 1715–1754. His work and that of his collaborators demonstrated that the Whig and

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

parties survived Queen Anne's death in 1714 and continued to exist during the reigns of George I and George II. Eveline Cruickshanks, in her work on the Tories and the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

, paid tribute to Sedgwick: "My greatest debt is to the late Romney Sedgwick, a staunch Whig, whose wit and erudition I greatly admired, for a series of discussions, heated at times, but, as I well know, much enjoyed on both sides".Eveline Cruickshanks, ''Political Untouchables; The Tories and the '45'' (Duckworth, 1979), p. vi.

Publications

Articles

* 1919. ''The Inner Cabinet from 1739 to 1741''. English Historical Review. 34 (135). 290–302. https://www.jstor.org/stable/551069 * 1945. ''Sir Robert Walpole 1676–1745: The Minister for the House of Commons''. Times Literary Supplement. 24 March. 133–134. * 1950. ''Review of Horace Walpole's Correspondence. Edited by W.S. Lewis. Vols xiii and xiv. London: Cumberlege for Yale University Press. 1948''. The English Historical Review. 65 (257). 524-526. * 1953. ''Review of Horace Walpole's Correspondence. Edited by W.S. Lewis. Vols 15 and 16. London: Cumberlege for Yale University Press. 1952''. The English Historical Review. 68 (269). 615-617.

Books

* 1931. John, Lord Hervey, ''Some Materials towards Memoirs of the Reign of King George II''. (Editor, 3 volumes). London: Kings Printers. * 1939. ''Letters from George III to Lord Bute 1756-1766''. (Editor). London: Macmillan and Co. * 1970. ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1715–1754 Volume I Introductory Survey, Appendices, Constituencies Members A-D''. New York: Oxford University Press. * 1970. ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1715–1754 Volume II Members E-Y''. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedgwick, Romney 1890s births 1972 deaths 20th-century British historians