Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...
. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
Chilcot Inquiry
The Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot)Iraq War.
Early life
Martin Gilbert was born in London, the first child of Peter Gilbert, a north London jeweller, and his wife Miriam; their original family name was Goldberg.The Papers of Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill Archives Centre,https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1585 All four of his grandparents had been born in the Pale of Settlement in
Tsarist Russia Tsarist Russia may refer to:
* Grand Duchy of Moscow (1480–1547)
*Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721)
*Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of ...
Highgate School
Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is an English co-educational, fee-charging, independent day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate ...
, where he was taught history by the
Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
expert
Alan Palmer
Alan Warwick Palmer (1926 – 25 March 2022) was a British author of historical and biographical books.
Background
Palmer was educated at Bancroft's School, Woodford Green, London, and Oriel College, Oxford. He spent 19 years as senior history t ...
, and politics by T. N. Fox. He described himself as being interested in "Jewish things" from a young age, noting that at school he "once or twice got in trouble for my Zionistic activities." He then completed two years of National Service in the Intelligence Corps before going on to study at Magdalen College at the University of Oxford. Gilbert graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in modern history. One of his tutors at Oxford was A. J. P. Taylor. After his graduation, Gilbert undertook postgraduate research at
St Antony's College, Oxford
St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...
.
Career
Historian and author
After two years of postgraduate work, Gilbert was approached by Randolph Churchill to assist his work on a biography of his father,
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
. That same year, 1962, Gilbert was made a Fellow of
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...
, and became a part of a circle of academics that included
C.S. Lewis
CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to:
Job titles
* Chief Secretary (Hong Kong)
* Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces
* Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...
and
J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
. He spent the next few years combining his own research projects in Oxford with being part of Randolph's research team in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, who were working on the first two volumes of the Churchill biography. When Randolph died in 1968, Gilbert was commissioned to take over the task, completing the remaining six main volumes of the biography.
Gilbert spent the next 20 years on the Churchill project, publishing a number of other books throughout the time. Each main volume of the biography is accompanied by two or three volumes of documents initially called Companions, and so the biography currently runs to 28 volumes (over 30,000 pages), with another 3 document volumes still planned. Michael Foot, reviewing a volume of Gilbert's biography of Churchill in the '' New Statesman'' in 1971, praised his meticulous scholarship and wrote: "Whoever made the decision to make Martin Gilbert Churchill's biographer deserves a vote of thanks from the nation. Nothing less would suffice."
In the 1960s, Gilbert compiled a number of historical
atlases
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...
. His other major works include a single-volume history on the Holocaust, as well as the single-volume histories ''First World War'' and ''Second World War''. He also wrote a three-volume series called ''A History of the Twentieth Century''. Gilbert described himself as an "archival historian" who made extensive use of primary sources in his work. Interviewed by the BBC on the subject of Holocaust research in 2005, Gilbert said he believed that the "tireless gathering of facts will ultimately consign Holocaust deniers to history."
By the 1980s Gilbert's academic attention had also turned towards the Refusenik movement in the Soviet Union. Gilbert authored ''Jews of Hope: The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today'' (1984) and ''Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time'' (1986), and he presented on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Movement in a variety of contexts, ranging from large forums such as formal representation before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to smaller forums such as an educational slideshow for the general public on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Information Centre.
In 1995, Gilbert retired as a Fellow of Merton College but was made an Honorary Fellow. In 1999 he was awarded a Doctor of Letters
degree
Degree may refer to:
As a unit of measurement
* Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement
** Degree of geographical latitude
** Degree of geographical longitude
* Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics
...
by the University of Oxford "for the totality of his published work".
Gilbert was noted for his endorsement of
Bat Ye'or
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and her
Eurabia
Eurabia is a political neologism, a portmanteau of Europe and Arabia, used to describe a far-right, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory, involving globalist entities allegedly led by French and Arab powers, to Islamise and Arabise Europe, thereby weak ...
theory, providing a cover comment for her 2005 book, and has stated that the theory "is 100 percent accurate". One of Gilbert's last books, ''In Ishmael's House: A History of the Jews in Muslim Lands'' cited Ye'or with approval several times.
Public service
Gilbert was appointed in June 2009 as a member of the British government's inquiry into the Iraq War (headed by
Sir John Chilcot
Sir John Anthony Chilcot (; 22 April 1939 – 3 October 2021) was a British civil servant.
In 2009, he was appointed chairman of the Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the "Chilcot Inquiry"), an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the ...
). His appointment to this inquiry was criticised in parliament by William Hague,
Clare Short
Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Minister of State for Development, Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003.
Short was the Member of Parliament ...
, and
George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...
on the basis of scepticism over his neutrality, Gilbert having written in 2004 that
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and Tony Blair may in the future be esteemed to the same degree as Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. In an article for '' The Independent on Sunday'' published in November 2009, Oliver Miles, the former British ambassador to Libya, objected to the presence of Gilbert and Sir Lawrence Freedman on the committee partly because of their Jewish background and Gilbert's Zionist sympathies. In a later interview, Gilbert saw Miles's attack as being motivated by
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
.
Reception
Many laud Gilbert's books and atlases for their meticulous scholarship and his clear and objective presentation of complex events. His book on World War I is described as a majestic, single-volume work incorporating all major fronts—domestic, diplomatic, military—for "a stunning achievement of research and storytelling." Catholic sources describe him as a "fair-minded, conscientious collector of facts."
Gilbert's portrayal of Churchill's supportive attitudes to Jews (in his book ''Churchill and the Jews'') has been criticised, for example, by
Piers Brendon
Piers Brendon (born 21 December 1940) is a British historian and writer, known for historical and biographical works. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read history. He received a Ph.D. degree for h ...
and Michael J. Cohen. Furthermore, Tom Segev writes that although Gilbert's book ''The Story of Israel'' is written with "encyclopaedic clarity," it suffers from the absence of figures from Arab sources.
Honours and awards
In 1990, Gilbert was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 1995, he was awarded a knighthood "for services to British history and international relations". In 2003 Gilbert was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize by the University of Tübingen. In 2012, he won the Dan David Prize for his contribution to "History/Biography". The Sir Martin Gilbert Library at
Highgate School
Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is an English co-educational, fee-charging, independent day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate ...
, where he was a pupil, was opened on 6 May 2014 by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "I know he helped Lady Thatcher,
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
and Tony Blair, but he also helped me a great deal with his insights into history", said Brown. "I know he advised Harold Wilson even before them, but at every point Martin was available and he wanted to believe that the best outcomes were possible. A genuine humanitarian, someone whose writing of history taught him we could always do better in the future if we are able to learn the lessons of history."
Honorary degrees
Gilbert received honorary degrees from several universities. These include:
Fellowships
Gilbert was a Fellow of the following institutions:
Personal life
Gilbert was the target of a serious attempt by the State Protection Authority of Hungary to recruit him as an agent in the early 1960s. He initially responded warmly, and agreed to go on a Hungarian government-funded trip to Budapest in September 1961, and expressed views about Britain which seemed designed to impress his Hungarian hosts (mixed with some untruths about his background). The Hungarians attempted to intercept the many letters he sent back home during the trip, and were able to work out that Gilbert was lying about being a Communist. When invited to a further meeting in Paris, Gilbert did not show up and eventually when his intended handler defected to the West, the Hungarians gave up. Gilbert never explained the incident himself; writing about it in 2015, Hungarian historian Krisztián Ungváry noted that Gilbert must have realised what was going on, and may have been used by the British intelligence services to plant a double agent.
In 1963, he married Helen Constance Robinson, with whom he had a daughter. He had two sons with his second wife, Susan Sacher, whom he married in 1974. From 2005, he was married to the Holocaust historian Esther Gilbert, née Goldberg. Gilbert described himself as a proud practising Jew and a Zionist.
Death
In March 2012, while on a trip to Jerusalem, Gilbert developed a heart arrhythmia from which he never recovered. He died in London on 3 February 2015, aged 78. Gilbert asked to be buried in Israel, and a Memorial Tribute attended by Gordon Brown and Randolph Churchill (that is, Randolph Leonard Spencer-Churchill, the great-grandson of Winston Churchill) was organised on 24 November 2015 in the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, London.
Gilbert's death was announced on 4 February 2015 by Sir John Chilcot. Giving evidence before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about delays in the publication of the report of the
Iraq Inquiry
The Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot)
Books
Biography of Winston Churchill
Volumes one and two were written by Churchill's son Randolph Churchill, who also edited the two companions to volume one. Gilbert's first work as official biographer was to supervise the posthumous publication of the three companions to volume two, but these were published in Randolph Churchill's name, and indeed, Randolph had already compiled most of the material in his lifetime. In 2008, Gilbert announced that the job of publishing the remaining companion volumes had been taken over by the Hillsdale Press, and the first of these appeared in 2014. The Hillsdale Press had already reprinted the complete biography in eight volumes and the sixteen published companion volumes, as a series titled "The Churchill Documents", so that the volume of 2014 became the seventeenth instalment of this series. Gilbert was incapacitated shortly after its publication, so that subsequent volumes were posthumously published by Gilbert's former research assistant Larry Arnn, with Gilbert credited as co-author.
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