Sir George Norman Clark,FBA (27 February 1890 – 6 February 1979) was an English historian, academic andBritish Army officer. He was theChichele Professor of Economic History at theUniversity of Oxford from 1931 to 1943 and theRegius Professor of Modern History at theUniversity of Cambridge from 1943 to 1947. He served as theprovost ofOriel College, Oxford, from 1947 to 1957.

Clark was born on 27 February 1890 inHalifax, Yorkshire, England, to James Walker Clark and his wife Mary Clark (née Midgley).^[1] He was educated atBootham School, aprivateboarding school inYork, and atManchester Grammar School, agrammar school in Manchester.^[2]

In 1908, he matriculated intoBalliol College, Oxford, to study classics as aBrackenbury Scholar.^[3] In 1911, he achieved afirst class inLiterae Humaniores.^[2] He then changed to modern history and graduated in 1912 with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.^[3] In 1912, he was elected to a prize fellowship atAll Souls College, Oxford, and spent time abroad learning foreign languages.^[2]

Clark had been a member of theOfficers' Training Corps attached to theUniversity of Oxford during his studies.^[2] On 26 August 1914, he wascommissioned into thePost Office Rifles,British Army, as asecond lieutenant.^[4] On 27 May 1915, he was promoted tolieutenant.^[5] During the early part ofWorld War I, he was wounded twice.^[1]

In May 1916, while fighting in theBattle of Vimy Ridge, he was takenprisoner by the Germans.^[2][6] At the time of his capture, he held the rank ofcaptain.^[7] He was held inGütersloh andKrefeld, and spent his time learning languages.^[2] He was also involved in writing plays for fellow prisoners to perform, one of which was performed postwar at theHaymarket Theatre, London.^[1] He was released at the end of hostilities and returned to Britain.^[2]

Having been elected aFellow ofAll Souls College, Oxford, in 1912, Clark's academic career truly started in 1919 when he was elected a Fellow and lecturer ofOriel College, Oxford.^[3] In 1930, he edited and provided a preface to the workEurope from 800 to 1789, the final and posthumous publication of historianH. W. C. Davis.

He became the inauguralChichele Professor of Economic History at theUniversity of Oxford in 1931 (with the accompanyingFellowship atAll Souls), a post he held until 1943. From then until 1947 he wasRegius Professor of Modern History atCambridge University and a fellow ofTrinity College, Cambridge. Between 1947 and 1957, he wasProvost ofOriel College, Oxford.

Clark wrote a generalintroduction to the second edition of theCambridge Modern History (1957), criticising the belief of some historians (in particularLord Acton who had edited the first edition over half a century earlier) that eventually it would be possible to write an "ultimate history", rather they should expect their works to be built on and superseded by later historians. He stated that "knowledge of the past has come down through one or more human minds, has been processed by them, and therefore cannot consist of elemental and impersonal atoms which nothing can alter..."^[8]

Between the 1930s and 1960s, Clark was the editor overseeing theOxford History of England series and wrote Volume X:The Later Stuarts, 1660–1714 (1934), which was the first of the series to be published. HisThe Seventeenth Century appeared in 1929, and he wrote numerous other monographs. He was twice editor of theEnglish Historical Review.

Clark delivered the Wiles Lectures in the Queen's University of Belfast in October 1956. They were published asWar and Society in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge UP, 1958).^[9]

He wasknighted in the1953 Coronation Honours List.^[10] Clark was electedFellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1936.^[11] He was a Foreign Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[12] In 1953 he was elected an honorary fellow ofTrinity College Dublin.^[13]

• Works by George Norman Clark atProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about George Clark at theInternet Archive
• Works by George Clark atOpen Library