Peter Laslett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Peter Ruffell Laslett (1915-12-18)18 December 1915 Bedford, England |
| Died | 8 November 2001(2001-11-08) (aged 85) Cambridge, England |
| Known for | Co-founding theCambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure |
| Spouse | |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | |
| Sub-discipline | |
| School or tradition | Cambridge School |
| Institutions | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Notable students | Keith Wrightson Emmanuel Todd |
| Notable works |
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| Influenced | |
Thomas Peter Ruffell LaslettCBE FBA (18 December 1915 – 8 November 2001) was an English historian.
Laslett was the son of a Baptist minister and was born inBedford on 18 December 1915. Although he spent much of his childhood inOxford, he was educated at theWatford Grammar School for Boys. He began a degree course in history atSt John's College, Cambridge, in 1935 and graduated with adouble first in 1938. He stayed in Cambridge for some time, conducting historical research, then in 1940 joined theFleet Air Arm.[2] After a period working on protection ofArctic convoys, Laslett then learned Japanese at theSchool of Oriental and African Studies, joined theRoyal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a lieutenant and worked on decoding Japanese naval intelligence. He was stationed first atBletchley Park and later, afterVE Day, inWashington, DC. It was at Bletchley Park that he met his future wife, Janet Crockett Clark, whom he married in 1947.[3]
Laslett was demobilised in 1945[3] and returned to Cambridge, initially spending time atPeterhouse as a protege ofHerbert Butterfield. In 1948, he was awarded a research fellowship at St John's College, based on his pre-war postgraduate research intoRobert Filmer. His editing of Filmer's political writings resulted in the 1949 publication titledPatriarcha and Other Political Writings[2] that, according to historianJ. G. A. Pocock, was the work by which Laslett provided the initial inspiration for the "Cambridge School" of the history of political thought, the methods of which are now widely practised.[citation needed] Laslett combined such academic activity with a lifelong concern to engage a wider audience. He worked simultaneously as aBBC radio producer for theThird Programme.[2] One product of this desire to reach a wider audience was his pathbreaking and highly popular bookThe World We Have Lost: England Before the Industrial Age (1965; US edition, 1966), issued in a second edition in 1971 and in a retitled third revised edition,The World We Have Lost: Further Explored (1983; US edition, 1984).[citation needed]Simon Mitton credits Laslett with having launched in 1948 the radio broadcasting career of the astronomerFred Hoyle.[4]
In 1953, having earlier discovered and begun research into a substantial proportion of the library ofJohn Locke, privately held at a shooting lodge in theScottish Highlands,[2] Laslett earned an appointment as a university lecturer in history atCambridge and was elected a fellowTrinity College; thereafter, his involvement with the BBC declined and in 1960 ended.[3] He worked with the philanthropistPaul Mellon and various institutions to negotiate the purchase and transfer of the library to the more suitable and accessible environs of theBodleian in Oxford. He continued work in the history of political theory, arguing (against the accepted account) that Locke'sTwo Treatises of Government had been written to justify the EnglishGlorious Revolution of 1688–9,[2] but instead that it was written to justify Whig activity during theExclusion Crisis remarking that the "Two Treatises is an Exclusion Tract, not a Revolution Pamphlet."[5] He published an edition of the treatises in 1960,[3] subsequently reprinted many times, which is now recognised as the definitive account of these pillars of modernliberal democracy.[citation needed] From 1957 he founded and co-editedPhilosophy, Politics and Society, a series of collections on political philosophy.[2]
Laslett took up an entirely different line of historical research from the early 1960s. Trying to understand 17th-century listings of the inhabitants ofClayworth and Cogenhoe, Northamptonshire, he became persuaded of the need to pursuehistorical demography more systematically. In 1964, Laslett andTony Wrigley co-founded theCambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure. With funding from theSocial Science Research Council, the Cambridge Group worked alongside amateur volunteers on local records, and established the journalLocal Population Studies.[3]
Laslett's practical reformism found an outlet from the 1960s in his efforts, together withMichael Young, to develop theOpen University. In 1963 he ran a series of five programmes onAnglia Television, the "Dawn University", which attracted a great deal of attention although the funding had to wait two more years untilHarold Wilson took up the idea.[6]
Laslett was Reader in Politics and the History of Social Structure at Cambridge University (the title reflecting his own unusual mix of historical interests) from 1966 until retirement in 1983. At this point, his interests turned to the historical understanding and practical betterment of the elderly. Laslett played a pivotal role in founding theUniversity of the Third Age in 1982.
He died on 8 November 2001, aged 85, and was buried inWolvercote Cemetery inOxford, and was survived by his wife, Janet, and two sons. His library of early printed books by and about Filmer, Locke, and political thought (including political economy) was sold byQuaritch in 2006.[citation needed]
AlsoThe World We Have Gained: Histories of Population and Social Structure, Essays presented to Peter Laslett on his seventieth birthday (edited by Lloyd Bonfield, Keith Wrightson, Oxford, 1996)
