Sir Raymond Carr | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1919-04-11)11 April 1919 |
| Died | 19 April 2015(2015-04-19) (aged 96) |
| Occupation(s) | Historian and academic |
| Spouse | Sara Ann Mary Strickland |
| Children | 4 |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Brockenhurst School |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University College London All Souls College, Oxford New College, Oxford St Antony's College, Oxford New York University |
| Doctoral students | Frances Lannon |
Sir Albert Raymond Maillard CarrFBA FRHistS FRSL (11 April 1919 – 19 April 2015) was an English historian specialising in the history of Spain, Latin America, and Sweden. From 1968 to 1987, he wasWarden ofSt Antony's College, Oxford.
Carr was born on 11 April 1919 inBath,Somerset, to Reginald Henry Maillard Carr and his wife (Ethel Gertrude) Marion (née Graham).[1][2][3] He was educated atBrockenhurst School, then a state secondary school in theNew Forest, Hampshire. He then studied atChrist Church, Oxford, where he was elected Gladstone Research Exhibitioner in 1941.[4]
Carr was briefly a lecturer atUniversity College London, in 1945–1946, before returning to Oxford as a Fellow ofAll Souls College, 1946–1953.[4] He was next a Fellow ofNew College, 1953–1964, then Director of Oxford's Latin American Centre, 1964–1968 and the University's Professor of the History of Latin America, 1967–68.[4]
He became a Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, in 1964, Sub-Warden of the college in 1966 and Warden in 1968, a position he held until his retirement in 1987.[4] After his retirement from Oxford, he was King Juan Carlos Professor of Spanish History atNew York University in 1992.[4]
Carr's successor as Warden of St Antony's,Ralf Dahrendorf, has described Carr's tenure of the post as the college's 'Fiesta days'.[5]
As a historian andHispanist, Carr's main interest lay in the vicissitudes of 19th and 20th century Spain,[6] and he was also a specialist in Latin American and Swedish history.[7] In the words ofJohn Huxtable Elliott, "his book on Spain between 1808 and 1939 is basic to a better understanding of the era, and the later generation of historians, both within Spain and abroad, have followed up the leads that Carr gives in his book to great benefit."[6]
HisModern Spain, 1875-1980 was called by theTimes Literary Supplement "a turning point in Spanish historiography - nothing comparable in scope, profundity, or perceptiveness exists."[8]
At St Antony's, he established an Iberian Centre, of which he was co-director with Joaquin Romero Maura.[9]Paul Preston wrote in 1984 of their collaboration "Between them, Carr and Romero Maura instilled an intellectual rigour into modern Spanish historiography which had previously been conspicuously lacking."[10] Carr also wrote an extensive foreword to the 1993 edition ofThe Spanish Labyrinth byGerald Brenan.[11]
A Fellow of theBritish Academy since 1978, in 1983 he was awarded the Order of Alfonso X el Sabio byKing Juan Carlos of Spain and in 1999 thePrince of Asturias Award forSocial Sciences.[4][6]
He is considered, together withAngus Mackay and SirJohn Huxtable Elliott, a major figure in developing Spanish historiography.[12]
Carr wrote forThe Spectator in 2007 - "I am old-fashioned and aged enough to believe that the best history is the work of the lone individual."[13]
His recreation wasfox hunting, about which he has written two books,English Fox Hunting: A History (1976), a comprehensive history of fox-hunting from medieval times, and, with his wife Sara Carr,Fox-Hunting (1982).[4][2]
In 1950, Carr married Sara Ann Mary Strickland, daughter of Algernon Walter Strickland and of Lady Mary Pamela Madeline Sibell Charteris. Sara Strickland's maternal grandfather wasHugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss, and one of her great-grandfathers wasPercy Wyndham (1835–1911), aConservative politician who was one ofThe Souls.[3] The Carrs have three sons and one daughter, Adam Henry Maillard Carr (born 1951),Matthew Xavier Maillard Carr (1953-2011), Laura Selina Madeline Carr (born 1954), and Alexander Rallion Charles Carr (born 1958).[3] Their son Adam married Angela P. Barry in 1988, and their daughter Rose Angelica Mary Carr was born in 1991. Matthew, a portrait artist, marriedLady Anne Mary Somerset in 1988, and their daughter Eleanor Carr was born in 1992.[3] Laura Carr married Richard E. Barrowclough in 1978 and has four children, Milo Edmond, Conrad Oliver, Theodore Charles, and Sibell Augusta.[14]
Carr died on 19 April 2015 at the age of 96.[15][16][17][18]
Beefsteak andOxford and Cambridge;[4] sometimeSenior Member of theBullingdon.[citation needed]
Carr has also written many book reviews for journals, including theNew York Review of Books[23] andThe Spectator.[24]
