- J. P. Carswell
John Patrick Carswell CB FRSL (
30 May 1918 -12 November 1997 ) was an Englishcivil servant andauthor who served as Secretary of theBritish Academy from 1978 to 1983. Professionally and as an author, he was known as J. P. Carswell.Early life
The son of Donald Carswell, a
barrister and author, and of Catherine Carswell, also an author, he was educated atMerchant Taylors' School, Northwood , andSt John's College, Oxford . [http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6136625 CARSWELL, John Patrick] at "Who Was Who 1897-2006" online at Credo Reference (accessed 12 January 2008); or see his entry in Who's Who 1993 (London, A. & C. Black, 1993) p. 316]Career
Carswell completed his degree course at Oxford in 1940, during the
Second World War , and then joined theBritish Army . He served from 1940 to 1946, when he decided to enter HM Civil Service. His first significant appointment was as Joint Secretary to the Committee on Economic and Financial Problems of Provision for Old Age (the "Phillips Committee"), from 1953 to 1954, and he was promotedAssistant Secretary in 1955. He becamePrincipal Private Secretary to the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance in 1955 and was atHM Treasury from 1961 to 1964, when he becameUnder-secretary in the Office of theLord President of the Council and Minister for Science. Later the same year he transferred to become Under-secretary at theDepartment of Education and Science andMinistry of Health , remaining until 1974. He was Secretary to theUniversity Grants Committee from 1974 until 1977, and his last appointment was as Secretary of theBritish Academy for five years, 1978 to 1983.He was a member of the
Garrick Club .Publications
Books
*"The Prospector", 1950
*"The Old Cause", 1954
*"The South Sea Bubble", 1960, 2nd edition 1993
*"The Diary and Political Papers of George Bubb Dodington" (ed with L. A. Dralle), 1965
*"The Civil Servant and his World", 1966
*"The Descent on England", 1969
*"From Revolution to Revolution: English Society 1688-1776", 1973
*"Lives and Letters", 1978
*"The Exile: a memoir of Ivy Litvinov", 1983
*"Government and the Universities in Britain: Programme and Performance 1960-1980", 1986
*"The Porcupine: a life ofAlgernon Sidney ", 1989
*"The Saving of Kenwood and the Northern Heights", 1992Articles
*"Algernon Sidney's 'Court Maxims': The Biographical Importance of a Transcript", in: "Historical Research" (HR) 62, February 1989, pp. 96-103
*"Lost for words on "the heritage", letter, "The Times ", 8 September 1983, p. 11He also contributed to the "Times Literary Supplement " and other periodicals.Honours
*Companion of the
Order of the Bath , 1977
*Honorary Research Fellow, Department of History,University College London , 1983
*Life Member of theInstitute of Historical Research ,University of London , 1984
*Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature , 1984Family
References
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