David Churchill Somervell (16 July 1885– 17 January 1965) was an English historian and teacher. He taught at three well-known English

public schools Public school may refer to: *Public school (government-funded), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging private schools in England and Wales *Great Public Schools, ...

–

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 census was 2,707, increasing to 2 ...

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

and

Benenden Benenden is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald, to the west of Tenterden. In addition to the main village, Iden Green, East End, Dingleden and Standen Street set ...

– and was the author of several volumes of history and the editor of well-regarded abridgements of other historians' works.

Life and career

Somervell was the son of Robert Somervell, a history master and

bursar A bursar (derived from ''wikt:bursa, bursa'', Latin for 'Coin purse, purse') is a professional Administrator of the government, administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usual ...

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

."Mr D. C. Somervell: A Great Teacher of History", ''

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 ...

'', 20 January 1965, p. 12 He was educated at Harrow and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. Becoming a schoolmaster himself, he taught at

from 1909 to 1919, with a break during the First World War, during which he served in the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...

. In 1919 he was appointed history master at

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

, where he remained until his retirement in 1950."Somervell, David Churchill"
''Who Was Who'', Oxford University Press, 2014, retrieved 5 August 2015 In 1918, he married Dorothea, daughter of the Rev D Harford. They had one son and one daughter. After retiring from Tonbridge he taught at the girls' school

, which was close to his retirement home. In his ''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

'' entry Somervell listed eleven of his books: ''A Short History of our Religion'' (1922); ''Disraeli and Gladstone'' (1925); ''English Thought in the Nineteenth Century'' (1928); ''The British Empire'' (1930); ''The Reign of King George the Fifth'' (1935); ''Robert Somervell of Harrow'' (1935); ''Livingstone'' (1936); ''A History of the United States'' (1942); ''A History of Tonbridge School'' (1947); ''British Politics since 1900'' (1950); ''and Stanley Baldwin'' (1953). ''The Reign of King George V,'' (2nd ed, 1936) 550pp; has wide-ranging political, social and economic coverage, 1910–35. It is online free. In addition to his own original writings, Somervell gained a reputation for his skill at abridging lengthy histories and other works into single volumes. His obituarist in ''

'' singled out a condensation and conflation of "two massive Victorian biographies of Disraeli and Gladstone into one short volume which did not deter the reader", and regarded as his best-known work his compression of

Arnold J. Toynbee Arnold Joseph Toynbee (; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's Coll ...

's ten-volume ''

A Study of History A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

''. His abridgement of the Toynbee work was reissued in two volumes by the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1988."New paperbacks", ''The Times'', 26 March 1988, p. 21

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Somervell, David 1885 births 1965 deaths People educated at Harrow School 20th-century British historians