Philip Magnus (historian)

{{Short description|British biographer and historian}} {{refimprove|date=March 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} '''Sir Philip Montefiore Magnus-Allcroft, 2nd Baronet''', [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] [[Justice of the Peace|JP]] (8 February 1906 – 21 December 1988), was a British [[biographer]]. He wrote under the name '''Philip Magnus'''.

Magnus-Allcroft was born in [[London]], the son of [[Laurie Magnus]] and Dora Marian Spielmann, the grandson of the educationalist and [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician [[Sir Philip Magnus, 1st Baronet]]. He was a member of a notable Jewish family; his paternal grandmother was the historian [[Katie Emmanuel]] and his maternal grandmother was [[Montefiore (surname)|Emily Sebag-Montefiore]].

Educated at [[Westminster School]] and [[Wadham College, Oxford]], Magnus succeeded to [[Magnus baronets|the baronetcy]] in 1933.

During the [[Second World War]] he was a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in the [[Royal Artillery]]<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34704 |date=6 October 1939 |supp=y |page=6787}}</ref> and the [[Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)|Intelligence Corps]], rising to the rank of [[Major (rank)|major]]. He married Jewell Allcroft in 1943, and in 1951 added the name of Allcroft to his own by [[deed poll]].

In later years, as well as writing, he served as a [[justice of the peace]], [[Shropshire County Council]]lor, chairman of its [[planning committee]] and the records committee, chairman of the governors of [[Attingham College]] and governor of [[Ludlow Grammar School]]. Between 1970 and 1977 he was a trustee of the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]]. He lived in [[Stokesay Court]], [[Shropshire]], England.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

==Publications== Magnus-Allcroft (under pen-name Philip Magnus) was author of several biographies:

*''Edmund Burke: A Prophet of the Eighteenth Century'', 1939 *''Sir Walter Raleigh'', 1952 *''Gladstone – a biography'', 1954 *''Kitchener – portrait of an Imperialist'', 1958 *''King Edward the Seventh'', 1964

==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = Magnus Escutcheon.png |escutcheon = Bendy of six Gules and Vert on a fess Or an open book Proper between two martlets Sable. |crest = A magnolia tree flowered Proper. |motto = Fide Et Labore<ref>{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage |date=1956}}</ref>}}

== References == {{reflist}} *{{cite ODNB|id=60712|title=Magnus [later Magnus-Allcroft], Sir Philip Montefiore, second baronet (1906–1988)|year=2004|last=Matthew|first=H.C.G}} * [[Encyclopaedia Judaica]], art. "Magnus" *Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990. *{{Rayment-bt|date=March 2012}}

{{S-start}} {{s-reg|uk-bt}} {{succession box | title=[[Magnus Baronets|Baronet]]<br />'''(of Tangley Hill)''' | years=1933–1988 | before= [[Sir Philip Magnus, 1st Baronet|Philip Magnus]] | after= [[Laurie Magnus (executive)|Laurence Henry Philip Magnus]] }} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnus, Philip}} [[Category:1906 births]] [[Category:1988 deaths]] [[Category:British Jews]] [[Category:People educated at Westminster School, London]] [[Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford]] [[Category:Jewish historians]] [[Category:20th-century English historians]] [[Category:Royal Artillery officers]] [[Category:Intelligence Corps officers]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:English justices of the peace]] [[Category:Conservative Party (UK) councillors]] [[Category:Councillors in Shropshire]] [[Category:Magnus baronets|2]] [[Category:Magnus family|Philip]] [[Category:Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire]]