John Habakkuk

Sir Hrothgar John Habakkuk (13 May 1915 – 3 November 2002) was a British economic historian. Biography Habakkuk was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, the son of Evan and Anne Habakkuk. He was named "Hrothgar" after Hroðgar in Beowulf, which his father was reading at the time of his birth. However, he came to be known as John when he started to travel to the United States, and when he was knighted he found it easier to call himself "Sir John" than "Sir Hrothgar". His surname was assumed by a seventeenth-century forebear after the prophet Habakkuk, it being a Welsh custom at that time to take patronymics from the Bible. He was educated at Barry County School and St John's College, Cambridge (scholar and Strathcona Student, starred first class degree in History 1936). (He was not, as sometimes erroneously stated, connected with Jesus College, Cambridge). He began to study for a PhD under John Clapham, but his progress was interrupted by the Second World War. In 1938, he was elected a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, a position he held until 1950. He worked at Bletchley Park 1940–42 and the Board of Trade 1942–46, during which period he still found time to carry out research at the Public Record Office and in the archives of country houses. After World War II, he was from 1946 until 1950 Director of Studies and Librarian of the college and Lecturer in the Faculty of Economics. In 1973, Pembroke College elected him to an Honorary Fellowship. From 1950 until 1960, he was editor, with Michael Postan, of The Economic History Review. In 1950, he moved to Oxford, where he would remain for the rest of his life. At the age of just thirty-five he had been appointed Chichele Professor of Economic History in the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of All Souls College. He held this appointment until 1967, when he became Principal of Jesus College. He also served as Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1973–77) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (1977–84). He retired in 1984 and was Ford Lecturer in the following year. All Souls re-elected him to a fellowship in 1988. He was also President of University College, Swansea from 1975 until 1984 and an honorary fellow of the college from 1991. He was Visiting Professor at Harvard University 1954/5 and at University of California, Berkeley (Ford Research Professor) 1962/3.