George Prothero

{{short description|British historian (1848–1922)}} {{for|the Welsh cricketer and clergyman|George Prothero (cricketer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{One source|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox writer  | honorific_prefix = [[Sir]] | name = George Prothero | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KBE|FBA|size=100%}} | image = Prothero, George.jpg | imagesize = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = George Walter Prothero | birth_date = {{birth date|1848|10|14|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Wiltshire]], England | death_date = {{death date and age|1922|7|10|1848|10|14|df=y}} | death_place = | occupation = | period = | subject = {{hlist | History | biography}} | movement = | influences = | influenced = | signature = }}

'''Sir George Walter Prothero''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KBE|FBA}} (14 October 1848 – 10 July 1922) was an English historian, writer, and academic who served as president of the [[Royal Historical Society]] from 1901 to 1905.

==Life and writings== Prothero was born in [[Wiltshire]] to [[George Prothero (cricketer)|George Prothero]], and was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]], studying classics at [[King's College, Cambridge]], and at the [[University of Bonn]].<ref>{{acad|id=PRTR868GW|name=Prothero, George Walter}}</ref><ref name=EB1922>{{cite EB1922 |wstitle=Prothero, Sir George Walter |volume=32 |page=186}}</ref> He went on to become a [[Fellow#Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin|Fellow]] of King's College, working as a history [[lecturer]] there from 1876.<ref name=EB1922/> In 1894, he became the first Professor of Modern History at the [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref name=EB1922/> During his time in Edinburgh he spent a year as a Council member of the local influential conservationist body, the [[Cockburn Association]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/history/office-bearers/|title = Historic Cockburn Association Office-Bearers}}</ref>

After five years as Professor of Modern History in Edinburgh, Prothero moved to London to take the place of his brother, [[Rowland Prothero, 1st Baron Ernle|Lord Ernle]], as the editor of the ''[[Quarterly Review]]'',<ref name=EB1922/> a political [[periodical]]. He also acted as editor of the ''[[Cambridge Historical Series]]'',<ref name=EB1922/> a set of historical books detailing the history of several European nations and other parts of the world which were published by Cambridge University Press from 1894 onwards. With [[Adolphus William Ward|A. W. Ward]] and [[Stanley Mordaunt Leathes]] he edited the ''[[Cambridge Modern History]]'' between 1901 and 1912.

In 1903 he was invited to give the [[Rede Lecture]], on which occasion he spoke on the topic of [[Napoleon III]] and the [[Second French Empire]]. In 1904–1906 he was a member of the [[Royal Commission for Ecclesiastical Discipline]].<ref name=EB1922/> Following the outbreak of [[World War I]], Prothero worked as Historical Advisor to the [[Foreign Office]], and in this capacity attended the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference of 1919]].<ref name=EB1922/> For his services to the war effort, he was created Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the [[1920 New Year Honours]].<ref name=EB1922/>

He was married to Fanny (née Butcher), one of the 12 members of the Cambridge [[Ladies Dining Society]].

He died in 1922.

==Selected publications== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=L5JHAAAAIAAJ ''The Life of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester''] (1877) *[https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Memoir_of_Henry_Bradshaw.html?id=IDFbvBfvoOAC ''A Memoir of Henry Bradshaw''] (1888) *''Select Statutes and other Documents Illustrative of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I'' (1894); [https://books.google.com/books/about/Select_Statutes_and_Other_Constitutional.html?id=6ekJAAAAIAAJ 2nd edition, 1898] *''The British History Reader'' (1898) *''[[Cambridge Modern History]]'' (1902–1912), co-editor *''[http://www.wdl.org/en/search/?contributors=Prothero%2C%20G.W.%20%28George%20Walter%29%2C%201848-1922 Peace handbooks]'' (published c. 1920), Briefing books on countries, territorial and economic questions, prepared on behalf of the [[Foreign Office]] for British negotiators at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference of 1919]]<ref>{{Cite web | title = Peace handbooks and works by G. W. Prothero | work = World Digital Library | access-date = 2014-06-05 | url = http://www.wdl.org/en/search/?contributors=Prothero%2C%20G.W.%20%28George%20Walter%29%2C%201848-1922 }}</ref>

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== *''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', "Prothero, Sir George Walter (1848–1922), historian" by Algernon Cecil, rev. Peter R. H. Slee.

== External links == * {{Wikisource author-inline}}

{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | before=[[Adolphus William Ward]]| title=[[Royal Historical Society|President of the Royal Historical Society]] | years=1901–1905| after=[[William Hunt (priest, born 1842)|William Hunt]] }} {{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prothero, George Walter}} [[Category:1848 births]] [[Category:1922 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century British historians]] [[Category:Presidents of the Royal Historical Society]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Historical Society]] [[Category:People educated at Eton College]] [[Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge]] [[Category:University of Bonn alumni]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]] [[Category:20th-century English historians]]