W. G. Hoskins | |
|---|---|
 Hoskins in an English landscape | |
| Born | William George Hoskins 22 May 1908 Exeter, Devon, England |
| Died | 11 January 1992(1992-01-11) (aged 83) Cullompton, Devon, England |
| Education | University College of South West England |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Known for | The Making of the English Landscape |
| Title | Reader in English Local History at University College, Leicester |
| Spouse | Jane |
William George HoskinsCBE FBA (22 May 1908 – 11 January 1992) was an Englishlocal historian who founded the first university department ofEnglish Local History. His great contribution to the study of history was in the field oflandscape history.
Hoskins demonstrated the profound impact of human activity on the evolution of the English landscape in a pioneering book:The Making of the English Landscape. His work has had lasting influence in the fields of local and landscape history andhistorical andenvironmental conservation.
William George Hoskins was born at 26–28 St David's Hill,Exeter,Devon on 22 May 1908: his father, like his grandfather, was a baker.[1]
He won a scholarship toHele's School in 1918, and attended theUniversity College of South West England where he gained BSc and MSc degrees ineconomics by the age of 21.[2] Both his MSc in 1929 and his PhD in 1938 were on the history of Devon.[3]
The remainder of his life was devoted to university teaching and the authorship of historical works. He died on 11 January 1992 inCullompton, Devon.[1]
Hoskins was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Commerce atUniversity College, Leicester in 1931. He found the trade statistics to be dull lecture material, but he enjoyed the evenings that he spent teaching archaeology and local history at Vaughan College. His academic researches covered historical demography,urban history, agrarian history, the evolution ofvernacular architecture,landscape history andlocal history. He became a member of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society in September 1935.[3]
After the award of his doctorate Hoskins was appointed Reader in English Local History at University College, Leicester (1938).[4]
In 1952, Hoskins resigned from his posts at University College, Leicester, and on the LeicestershireVictoria County History Committee to become Reader in Economic History in theUniversity of Oxford.[1] In his obituary, this was stated to be generally acknowledged as a mistake.[3]
In 1955, Hoskins published the book that was to make his name.The Making of the English Landscape is a landscape history of England and a seminal text in that discipline and in local history. The brief history of some one thousand years has become a standard text in local and environmental history courses.[5] Hoskins sets out his stall in the introduction with "No book exists to describe the manner in which the various landscapes of this country came to assume the shape and appearance they now have...".[6] The brief concluding chapter contains only one image, Plate 82, "The completed English landscape" showing a tall tree in a wide open field, a strip of hedges and villages just visible in the distance. The chapter laments the damage caused to parts of the English landscape, mentioning bulldozers and tractors, nuclear bombers and by-passes, and ends by celebrating again the wealth of detail within a few hundred yards of Hoskins' study window atSteeple Barton.
The book has been well received by critics.Penelope Lively describes the book as "a marvellous, robust, opinionated account of the landscape as narrative".[7]William Boyd describes it as "an absolute trailblazer, a revolution."[8] Boyd notes thatW. H. Auden "revered" the book, and that reading Hoskins had enabled him to "read" a landscape as a "historicalpalimpsest".[8] Local historian Graeme White calls the book "brilliantly-crafted".[9]
Hoskins was one of the founders of the Exeter Group in 1960 (later to become the Exeter Civic Society). He was president of theDartmoor Preservation Association from 1962 until 1976.[1]
He became the first professor of local history at theUniversity of Leicester in 1965 when he was appointed Hatton Professor of English History. He retired in 1968.[4]
Following his retirement, Hoskins presented an episode ofHorizon based onThe Making of the English Landscape in 1972.[10]
This led to aBBC television seriesLandscapes of England which examined in more detail how human influence has greatly shaped the landscape of twelve distinct regions in England, the first series in 1976 and the second in 1978.[11] For the final episode, Hoskins talks passionately about his home county of Devon and his home city of Exeter.[1]
Hoskins was awarded the Fellowship of theBritish Academy in 1969[4] and theCBE in 1971.[4][12] He was made an Honorary Fellow of theRoyal Institute of British Architects in 1973, and received the Murchison Award of theRoyal Geographical Society in 1976.[12]
TheUniversity of Exeter acknowledged his links with the city by conferring an honoraryDoctorate of Letters upon him in 1974.
As founder of the Department of English Local History (now the Centre for English Local History) at the University of Leicester, his achievements are commemorated by the Friends of the Centre for English Local History each year in the annualW. G. Hoskins lecture, and another atSt Anne's College, Oxford.[12]
In 2004 the Devon History Society erected ablue plaque on his birthplace in Exeter with the inscription: "W. G. Hoskins CBE FBA Dlitt 1908–1992 Historian of Devon, Exeter and the English Landscape Born Here 'Hic Amor, Haec Patria Est'."[1][13]
Hoskins wrote the following books and essays:
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