Michael Maclagan
Michael Maclagan
Career
Maclagan was born in London and educated at
and he served as president of the Oxford University Archaeological Society.World War II
In February 1941, Maclagan was commissioned a
Post-war
In 1946, Maclagan returned to Trinity College, where he remained as Fellow and Tutor in Modern History until his retirement in 1981. For many years he shared teaching duties with the
Outside the University, he served as a university-appointed
He had lifelong interests in
In 1953 Maclagan was made an Officer Brother of the
Scholarship
Maclagan was characterised by his obituary-writer in
He was a proficient linguist, fluent in Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian and Serbo-Croat, and with some knowledge of Arabic. His first book, in 1949, was a translation of part of the Venerable
Many of his core interests were genealogical. He had a longstanding expertise in the history of the medieval Anglo-Norman family of de Clare, although little of this came to print. His principal foray into modern history was a well-received biography of a kinsman (through his mother), the first Earl Canning, who was Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and first Viceroy of India. He is best known to students of royal and noble genealogies and royal families as co-author (with Jiří Louda, who compiled and drew the tables, while Maclagan wrote the text) of the best-selling Lines of Succession, first published in 1981, and subsequently reprinted and revised on several occasions.
He was also interested in Byzantine history, and in 1968 published a history of Constantinople. For many years he spent part of his summer vacation as a popular lecturer on Swan Hellenic cruises in the eastern Mediterranean.
He was a keen
Family
Michael Maclagan was the son of Sir
Maclagan's paternal grandfather was the Most Reverend
Through both his mother and his paternal grandmother, Maclagan thus had connections to several British aristocratic families.
Personal life
Maclagan was twice married. His first marriage in 1939 to a cousin, Brenda Alexander, was dissolved by divorce in 1946. His second marriage in 1949 to Jean Elizabeth Brooksbank Garnett lasted almost 54 years; she died on 3 August 2003. He died ten days later on the day of her funeral. Maclagan had a son by his first marriage, and a son (who died, aged 26, in 1984) and two daughters by his second marriage.
Portrait
On his retirement from Trinity in 1981, a portrait of Maclagan in his herald's tabard by Paul Brason was commissioned by the Trinity Society and presented to the college: it is now hung in the screens passage to the College dining hall.[13]
Publications
- "The Family of Dormer in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire", Oxoniensia, vol. 11–12 (1946–47), pp. 90–101.
- Venerable Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation: books I and II, translated into English with notes and introduction by Michael Maclagan. Oxford: Blackwell, 1949.
- With J. P. Wells. Oxford City Libraries, 1854–1954. Oxford, 1954.
- Trinity College, 1555–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955.
- "Genealogy and Heraldry in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries", in Levi Fox (ed.), English Historical Scholarship in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Dugdale Society (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 31–48.
- "Governors General of India: 3, 'Clemency' Canning", History Today, vol. 9 (1959), pp. 233–42.
- Ricardus d’Aungerville, Bishop of Durham, Philobiblon, text and translation of E.C. Thomas, edited with a foreword by Michael Maclagan. Oxford: Blackwell, privately printed 1960; published 1970.
- "Clemency" Canning: Charles John, 1st Earl Canning, Governor-General and Viceroy of India, 1856–1862. London: Macmillan, 1962.
- "The White Mutiny", in H. R. Trevor-Roper (ed.), Essays in British History presented to Sir Keith Feiling (New York & London, 1964), pp. 271–301.
- The City of Constantinople. London: Thames & Hudson, 1968.
- With Jiří Louda. Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe. London: Orbis & New York: Clarkson Potter, 1981; revised and updated edition, 1991; adapted small-format edition, 2002. (The 1981 American edition was published as Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, but later editions took the European title.)
- "Genealogy and the Medieval Historian", in English Genealogical Congress: selected papers given at the Congresses of 1978 and 1984 (London, 1986), pp. 7–14.
- "The Ancestry of the English Beaumonts", in L. L. Brook (ed.), Studies in Genealogy and Family History in tribute to Charles Evans on the occasion of his eightieth birthday (Salt Lake City, 1989), pp. 190–96.
References
- ^ "No. 34529". The London Gazette. 8 July 1938. p. 4408.
- ^ "No. 35109". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 March 1941. p. 1589.
- ^ "No. 35099". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 March 1941. p. 1429.
- ^ "No. 39743". The London Gazette. 2 January 1953. pp. 94–95.
- ^ "No. 45066". The London Gazette. 24 March 1970. p. 3415.
- ^ "No. 48255". The London Gazette. 18 July 1980. p. 10239.
- ^ "No. 51630". The London Gazette. 30 January 1989. p. 1187.
- ^ "Lives in Brief", The Times, 21 August 2003.
- ^ P. L. Dickinson, "Michael Maclagan[dead link]", The Independent, 2 Sept. 2003.
- ^ Wombat's Family Forest -Family History and Genealogy
- ^ Financial position of the Honourable Augusta Maclagan, her son Eric Maclagan, etc, in a scholarly paper on women's investments 1900-1939 (cache version)
- ^ Kittybrewster[usurped]
- ^ Reproduced in colour in Trinity College Oxford Report (1981), p. 2.
Sources
- "Michael Maclagan", Trinity College Oxford Report (1981), pp. 7–8.
- "Lives in Brief" (Obituary), The Times, 21 August 2003
- Obituary[P. L. Dickinson, The Independent, 2 September 2003
- Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 16 September 2003
- Canning genealogy[usurped], showing Maclagan-Lascelles marriage
- Lascelles family, Lascelles family genealogy
- The College of Arms
- CUHAGS Officer of Arms Index