Christopher Hibbert

Christopher Hibbert, MC, FRSL, FRGS (born Arthur Raymond Hibbert; 5 March 1924 – 21 December 2008) was an English writer, historian and biographer. He has been called "a pearl of biographers" (New Statesman) and "probably the most widely-read popular historian of our time and undoubtedly one of the most prolific" (The Times). Hibbert was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of many books, including Disraeli, Edward VII, George IV, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and Cavaliers and Roundheads.

Life and career

In 1924 Arthur Raymond Hibbert was born in Enderby, Leicestershire, the son of Canon H. V. Hibbert (died 1980) and his wife Maude, and was educated at Radley College, before he went up to Oriel College at the University of Oxford. He was awarded the degrees of B.A. and later MA. He left Oriel College to join the Army, where a sergeant major referred to Hibbert as Christopher Robin based upon his youthful looks. The name "Christopher" subsequently stuck. Hibbert served as an infantry officer in the London Irish Rifles regiment in Italy during World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He was wounded twice and awarded the Military Cross in 1945. Hibbert became the personal assistant to General Alan Duff. From 1945 to 1959 he was a partner in a firm of land agents and auctioneers, and began his writing career in 1957.

Hibbert was awarded the Heinemann Award for Literature in 1962 for The Destruction of Lord Raglan, and the McColvin Medal of the Library Association in 1989. Christopher Hibbert was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Geographical Society, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature by the University of Leicester.

Hibbert was a member of the Army and Navy Club and the Garrick Club. He lived at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. He was married to Susan Piggford with three children, his daughter and literary executor Kate Hibbert, television writer James Hibbert and music journalist Tom Hibbert.

He died on 21 December 2008 in Henley-on-Thames from bronchial pneumonia at the age of 84.

Publications

Hibbert's books include:

• The Road to Tyburn (New World, 1957)
• King Mob (Longmans, 1958)
• Wolfe at Quebec (Longmans, 1959)
• The Destruction of Lord Raglan (Longmans, 1961)
• Benito Mussolini (Longmans, 1962)
• The Roots of Evil: A Social History of Crime and Punishment (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963)
• Agincourt (Batsford, 1964)
• The Court at Windsor (Longmans, 1964)
• Garibaldi and his enemies (Longmans, 1965)
• The Making of Charles Dickens (Harper & Row, 1967)
• Waterloo (New English library Ltd, 1967)
• London, the biography of a city (Longmans, Green & Co, Ltd, 1969)
• Charles I (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968)
• The Search for King Arthur (American Heritage, 1969)
• The Dragon Wakes (Harper & Row, 1970)
• The Personal History of Samuel Johnson (Longmans, 1971)
• Hibbert, Christopher (1971). Tower of London. New York: Newsweek. ISBN 0-88225-002-7. 
• George IV (Vol 1: Longman, 1972, Vol 2: Allen Lane
• The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall (Morrow, 1975)
• Edward VII: A Portrait (Allen Lane, 1976)
• The Great Mutiny: India, 1857 (Allen Lane, 1978)
• The Days of the French Revolution (Allen Lane, 1980)
• Africa Explored (Allen Lane, 1982)
• The London Encyclopaedia with Ben Weinreb (Macmillan, 1983)
• Rome, the Biography of a City (Norton, 1985)
• The English: A Social History (Grafton, 1987)
• The Encyclopaedia of Oxford (Macmillan, 1988)
• Redcoats and Rebels (Grafton, 1990)
• The Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I, Genius of the Golden Age (Addison-Wesley, 1991)
• Florence: Biography of a City (Norton, 1993)
• Cavaliers & Roundheads: The English Civil War, 1642-1649 (HarperCollins, 1993)
• Wellington: A Personal History (Da Capo, 1997)
• George III: A Personal History (Basic Books,2000)
• Queen Victoria: A Personal History (HarperCollins, 2000)
• The Marlboroughs (Viking, 2001)
• Napoleon: His Wives and Women (HarperCollins, 2002)
• Disraeli: A Personal History (HarperCollins, 2004)

Further reading

• Crookes, John; Green, Alison; & Smith, Sarah, (editors), Debrett's People of Today, 14th Annual edition, London, 2001, p. 906. ISBN 1-870-520-64-5.