Charles Wilson (historian)
Charles Henry Wilson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 April 1914 corporations, economic history |
| Doctoral students | Peter Mathias |
| Notable works | The History of Unilever: A Study in Economic Growth and Social Change (1954) |
Charles Henry Wilson
Modern History at the University of Cambridge.[2] His best known work is his multi-volume history of Unilever, which is credited with establishing corporate history as a subject worthy of academic attention in the UK.[2]
Early life and education
Wilson was born in
De Aston Grammar School.[1] His forebears included small farmers and small businessmen, which contributed to his scepticism of the Marxism that was fashionable during the 1930s.[3]
Wilson then went on to study the
Dutch trade in East Anglia. He stayed at Cambridge for his postgraduate education
through a research fellowship.
After briefly serving in the
British Admiralty
, Wilson returned to Cambridge.
Academic career
Wilson's main academic contributions were to the field of business history, particularly corporations and trade.
The first two volumes of his three-volume history of
Geoffrey Heyworth
, chairman of Unilever, to write a large-scale, independent, academic study of the business.
In addition to
economic historian Eli Heckscher
, Wilson sought to analyse the underlying political issues which supported mercantilist policies.
Wilson was professor of modern history at the
Florence, Italy
from 1975 to 1981, where he was professor of history and civilization, and later head of the department.
Wilson was honored with the
University of Louvain
(1977).
Personal life
Wilson married Angela Marshman, a solicitor's secretary, on 21 October 1939. Together they had one daughter. The couple divorced, and Wilson subsequently married Alena Emilie Horesovska, a school teacher from Czechoslovakia, on 23 March 1972.[5]
During the postwar period, Wilson was a political conservative.
He died on 1 August 1991 in Sydney, Australia.
Publications
- Charles Wilson, Anglo-Dutch commerce & finance in the eighteenth century Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1941.
- Charles Wilson, The history of Unilever. A study in economic growth and social change. 2 vols. London: ISBN 0-304-93605-7
- Charles Wilson, Profit and power and mercantilism, 1957
- Charles Wilson, England's apprenticeship, 1603–1763, London: St. Martin's Press, 1965.
- Charles Wilson, The Age of Expansion: Europe and the World, 1559–1660 (ed. H. Trevor Roper, 1968)
- Charles Wilson, The Dutch Republic and the Civilisation of the Seventeenth Century (1968)
- Charles Wilson, The Transformation of Europe, 1558–1648 (1976)
- Charles Wilson, Introduction to the Sources of European Economic History, 1500–1800 (with G. Parker, 1977)
- Charles Wilson, Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vols. 4 and 5 (with E. E. Rich) (1967, 1977)
- Charles Wilson, New Cambridge Modern History, vols. 7 and 11 (1957, 1962)
- Charles Wilson, Australia, 1788–1988: the Creation of a Nation (1987)
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Prof Charles Wilson". The Times. 8 August 1991.
- ^ a b Peter Mathias, ‘Wilson, Charles Henry (1914–1991)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 10 Aug 2014
- ^ Harris, Ian (3 August 1991). "Obituary: Professor Charles Wilson". The Independent.
- ^ http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam033/2002031343.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ a b Mathias, Peter. "Wilson, Charles Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- ^ "Charles Henry Wilson". Encyclopædia Britannica.
