Walter Alison Phillips (21 October 1864 – 28 October 1950) 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 ...

, a specialist in the

history of Europe The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500–1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early Euro ...

in the 19th century. From 1914 to 1939 he was the first holder of the Lecky chair of History in

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. Most of his writing is in the name of W. Alison Phillips, and he was sometimes referred to as Alison Phillips. A former president of the Oxford Union and special correspondent of ''

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 ...

'' newspaper, he was a prolific author, including contributions to the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'', of which for eight years he was chief assistant editor.

Early life

The son of John and Jane Phillips of

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Phillips was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, which he left in 1882, then at Merton College, Oxford, where he was an exhibitioner, and lastly from 1886 at St John's, where he was Senior Scholar. He graduated BA in 1885, with first class honours in History, and MA in 1889.E. P. Hart, ''Merchant Taylors' School Register, 1851-1920'' (1923)
p. 130
"Phillips, Walter Alison, b. 21 October 1864, s. of John and Jane, Epsom. Left 1882; Exhib. of Merton Coll., Oxf.; BA (1st Cl. Hist.) 1885; MA 1889; Sen. Schol. of St. John's 1886; Pres. Oxford Union Soc. 1887; Chief Asst. Editor of the ''Ency. Brit.'' (11th Ed.) 1903-11; Special Correspondent of the ''Times'' in S. America 1912; on staff of the Times, 1913; Lecky Prof. of Modern Hist. T.C.D. since 1914... W. Alison Phillips, Trinity College Dublin." In the Michaelmas term of 1886, he was President of the Oxford Union. On 7 June 1887, as a guest in the Cambridge Union, he supported the motion "That in the opinion of this House it is desirable to concede

Home Rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...

for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

", while Sir John Gorst, a former Solicitor General, came to speak against the motion.

Career

At first, Phillips concentrated his efforts on writing. His first book, published in 1896, was a translation of selected poems of Walther von der Vogelweide, followed the next year by ''The War of Greek Independence, 1821 to 1833''.''The War of Greek Independence, 1821 to 1833''
publication details
at books.google.com In 1901 appeared his ''Modern Europe, 1815–1899''.''Modern Europe, 1815–1899''
outline
at ks.google.com From 1903 to 1911, Phillips was Chief Assistant Editor of the projected 11th edition of the ''

'', serving under Hugh Chisholm, who was editor-in-chief. In 1912, he went to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

as a Special Correspondent of ''The Times'' newspaper, and then in 1913 was on the staff of ''The Times''. In 1914 he was appointed Lecky Professor of

Modern History The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

in Trinity College Dublin, the first holder of the new chair, in which he remained until his retirement in 1939. From 1939 until his death he was an honorary

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of his old Oxford college, Merton. G. K. Chesterton, ''Irish Impressions'' (2002 reprint), p. 138 Phillips was strongly opposed to Irish Home Rule and once declared that "Ireland is not a nation, but two peoples separated by a deeper gulf than that dividing Ireland from Great Britain". His 1923 book ''The Revolution in Ireland 1906–1923'' was criticized for being too partisan of the Unionist point of view.Review in ''Journal of the British Institute of International Affairs'' vol. 2, no. 6 (Nov. 1923)
pp. 260–262
at jstor.org (subscription required) By 1922, Phillips was a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

(MRIA). Outside his own specialism in European history, he contributed articles to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' on musical and literary subjects, including the '' Nibelungenlied''.

Publications

* * * * * ** chapters by W. Alison Phillips
I: "The Congresses, 1815–22"VI: "Greece and the Balkan Peninsula"XVII: "Mehemet Ali"
* * Many articles for the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Eleventh Edition, signed by the initials "W. A. P."; some published separately on the outbreak of the First World War: ** ** * * n 3 volumes

References

External links

Works by W. Alison Phillips
at ebooksread.com * Walter Alison Phillips at

Wikisource Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...

— includes list of articles authored by him * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Walter Alison 1864 births 1950 deaths Academics of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Alumni of St John's College, Oxford English historians English male journalists Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Members of the Royal Irish Academy People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Presidents of the Oxford Union The Times people English war correspondents Encyclopædia Britannica Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire