Arthur Bryant

Sir Arthur Wynne Morgan Bryant, CH, CBE (18 February 1899 - 22 January 1985), was a widely popular British historian and columnist for the "Illustrated London News". His numerous books included studies of Samuel Pepys, more general accounts of English eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history, and a life of George V. Although his reputation has declined somewhat since his death, and his markedly right-wing views (particularly during the 1930s) have made him the subject of "ad hominem" attacks by Andrew Roberts, he continues to be read (if less frequently now than during his lifetime) and to be the subject of detailed historical studies.

Early life

Arthur Bryant was the son of Sir Francis Morgan Bryant, who was at the time the chief clerk to the Prince of Wales, and his wife May. His father would later hold a number of offices in the royal secretariat, eventually becoming registar of the Royal Victorian Order. Arthur grew up in a house bordering on the Buckingham Palace gardens near the Royal Mews. There he developed a feel for the trappings of traditional British protocol and a strong attachment to the history of England.cite book | editor=Lord Blake and C. S. Nicholls| first =| title =The Dictionary of National Biography, 1981 - 1985 | publisher =Oxford University Press | date =1990 | location =London| isbn = 0-19-865210-0]

He attended school at Pelham House, Sandgate, and Harrow School. He expected to join the British Army, but in 1916 won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge. Despite that, he went on to instead join the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 as a pilot officer. While there, he served in the first squadron to drop bombs on the cities of the Rhineland in World War I. He was also the for a time the only British subject formally attached to an American pilot unit, a unit which had been sent overseas for training.cite book | editor=Kunitz, Stanley J. with Vineta Colby | title =Twentieth Century Authors, First Supplement | publisher =The H. W. Wilson Company | date =1955 | location =New York]

In 1919 he enrolled at Queen's College, Oxford and studied modern history, obtaining distinction in the honours courses offered to ex-servicemen in 1920.

Early adult life

He started work at a school operated by the London County Council, where he developed a strong sense of social justice and became convinced that education would be an effective way of uniting the people. It was this conviction of his which later led him to become a historian. Being tall, dark, and attractive made him very popular at the debutante balls he regularly attended, where he often persuaded his dancing partners to help him teach some of the less fortunate children at a children's library he had established in Charles Dickens's old house in Somers Town, London.

He became a barrister at the Inner Temple in 1923, but left it later that year to take the position as the headmaster of the Cambridge School of Arts, Crafts, and Technology, becoming in the process the youngest headmaster in England. He proved remarkably successful in gathering students to the school, raising the student enrollment from three hundred to two thousand in his three years there. The following year he married Sylvia Mary Shakerley, daughter of Walter Geoffrey Shakerley, the third Baronet Shakerley, and the following year became a lecturer in history for the Oxford University delegacy for extramural studies, a position he would retain until 1936. His marriage would not last as long, and was dissolved in 1930. He also served as an advisor at the Bonar Law College at Ashridge. In 1929, he published his first book, "The Spirit of Conservatism", with the students of the school in mind.

Historian

1930s

In 1929, after having cataloged the extensive library of the Shakerley family, he was asked by a friend in the publishing business to produce a new biography of Charles II of England. Frank W. Notestein, then a professor at Yale University, suggested to him that he begin the work in medias res with Charles's escape following the Battle of Worcester, incorporating details of the subject's earlier life into the narrative thereafter. Based on this dramatic opening of the book, the Book Society chose it as their October, 1931, selection, and the book became a bestseller. Bryant's success with this volume convinced him that he could make his living as an author, and he turned his attention to that field for the remainder of his life. The book has been described as being both very readable and a serious, reputable scholarly work. At that time, he also regularly began producing pageants. These included the Cambridge, Oxford, and Hyde Park pageants, and the Naval Night Pageant in Greenwich, which was attended by the King, Queen, Prince of Wales, British Cabinet, and members of the World Economic Conference. For the quality of his work in this field, he was acclaimed "the English Reinhardt".

He helped found the National Book Association, and its subsidiary, the Right Book Club, which was created as an alternative to the Left Book Club. The new organization was not outstanding successful, however, although it did publish several of his following books.Fact|date=April 2008

His next book was a three volume biography of Samuel Pepys, completed in 1938. That biography has been regarded as "one of the great historical biographies in the language" by John Kenyon.

He also was a frequent contributor to several leading London papers and magazines, and wrote radio broadcasts on several subjects relating to his historical interests, as well as radio plays for the BBC. A collection of his scripts for these broadcasts was published in his book "The National Character".

1940s

Bryant made great use of his profession's advantage of allowing him to travel widely. His travels included Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, and the West Indies, and he was in France at the outbreak of World War II. He also married again, in 1941, to Anne Elaine Brooke, daughter of Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke, one of the White Rajahs of Sarawak. His books during this decade dealt less prominently with the 17th century, and included a collection of Neville Chamberlain's speeches.

His works during this period were received well for their style and readability, although they also tended to be less well-researched, which has caused them to be questioned by younger historians. Several of his works published in this period, including "English Saga" (1940), "The Years of Endurance 1793-1802" (1942), and "Years of Victory, 1802-1812", drew some notable criticism, particularly for the comparisons between Napolean and Hitler which tended to be less than convincing. The perceived weakness of these works, possibly combined with their unusual popularity, helped ensure that he never received the highest academic honors.

1950s

He produced one major work in the decade, a two-volume collection of Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke's diaries with additional commentary, "The Turn of the Tide" (1957) and "The Triumph in the West" (1959). These books created substantial controversy, given the criticism Winston Churchill, at that time a very popular figure, received in them. They are still however considered essential reading for understanding the period.

Later years

In the late 1970s, he became friends with Diana Mosley, the notorious wife of British Union of Fascists leader Sir Oswald Mosley.Fact|date=August 2008

The books he wrote during the later years of his life included several volumes of broad outlines of the history of England. They include "Set in a Silver Sea" (1984), "Freedom's Own Island" (1986, edited posthumously by John Kenyon, and a third volume.

He remained popular with his fans, being the guest-of-honour at the Conservative Monday Club's 1966 annual dinner, his speech being on the subject of "The Preservation of our National Character". The dinner, at the Savoy Hotel, was sold out.Fact|date=April 2008

He was knighted and made a Companion of Honour. J. H. Plumb ("The Making of an Historian" I p. 276) wrote that "both of his public honours, his Knighthood and his C.H., were given to him by Harold Wilson, whose favourite historian he had long been."

His marriage to Anne dissolved in 1976. In 1980, he announced his engagement to (Frances) Laura Canfield, the widow of John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough. The wedding did not take place before Bryant died in Salisbury in January 1985.

Legacy

His total output of work was remarkable. He wrote over forty books overall, which collectively sold somewhere over two million copies in total, most of the books published by William Collins, Sons and Co. Ltd.. Also, in collaboration with W. P. Lipscomb, he wrote a dramatization of the life of Pepys which ran for one hundred and fifty performances in London. In addition he was a frequent lecturer. He delivered addresses at many of the leading cities and schools in Great Britain, as well as in the United States and fourteen other European countries. These lectures included the 1935 Alfred Watson lectures sponsored by the Sulgrave Manor Trust. These lectures, on American history, literature, and biography, were later collected into the book "The American Ideal".

In 1936, Bryant was hired by the "Illustrated London News" to take over the "Our Note Book" section which had previously been written by G. K. Chesterton, whom he greatly respected (he paid tribute to Chesterton in an introduction he wrote to Chesterton's posthumously-published essay collection "The Glass Walking-Stick"). He continued writing his "Illustrated London News" column until his death, which occurred almost half a century after Chesterton's. Overall, Bryant produced about 2.7 million words for that magazine.

Controversy

It has been suggested by some that his work on Samuel Pepys gave insufficient credit in them to the scholarly work of another, Joseph Robson Tanner (1860-1931), upon which Andrew Roberts claims they were largely based (see his account given in "Eminent Churchillians").

J. H. Plumb gives this account ("The Making of an Historian" I p. 275), of how G. M. Trevelyan passed Tanner's notes to Bryant:

:"... he found Bryant's book [on Charles II] convincing and, equally exciting for Trevelyan, beautifully written. [...] Trevelyan thought Arthur Bryant ideal for the job (he quickly accepted the task) and the notes were handed over. The notes reached 1689 and so did Bryant's biography; the last decade of Pepys's life went unrecorded."

Others have alleged that he had close contacts with Nazi Germany, more than would be indicated by his sympathetic view of Hitler as revealed in his books. According to the Spartacus web page on him,

:"Bryant developed extreme right-wing views and in April 1939 he travelled to Nazi Germany with Major-General John Fuller and Lord Brocket to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of Adolf Hitler."

Others, including Andrew Roberts, have since indicated that Bryant remained in contact with the Nazis even after the outbreak of World War II his German contacts continued. The claims go on to say that although these were discovered by the British government, Bryant was not prosecuted. Roberts claims that Bryant's production of several patriotic books at this time was effectively a smokescreen.

Critical reception

J. H. Plumb, one of Bryant's detractors, wrote ("The Making of an Historian" I p. 276):

:"What Bryant longed for, his one abiding disappointment of life, was professional recognition. He would have given anything for an Hon. D. Litt at Cambridge, perhaps more for a Fellowship of the British Academy. He never had the slightest chance of either. [...] Bryant of course had gifts. He wrote far better than nearly all professional historians. [...] He over-wrote certainly, and there was often a note of falsity, even of vulgarity, but largely his failure was of intellect."

Plumb's verdict is that Bryant killed off 'patrician history': :"Like Churchill, but unlike Trevelyan, Bryant inflated patrician history so much that he destroyed it. Indeed he vulgarised it to a degree that made it incredible."Fact|date=April 2008

Plumb cites Trevelyan's possible heirs as Wedgwood and A. L. Rowse.

Another detractor is the British historian Andrew Roberts, who gave this, his personal verdict:

:"Bryant was in fact a Nazi sympathiser and fascist fellow-traveller, who only narrowly escaped internment as a potential traitor in 1940. He was also, incidentally, a supreme toady, fraudulent scholar and humbug."Fact|date=April 2008

Roberts's polemical essay, prompted by the opening of archive material on Bryant, has been followed by a full academic study by Julia Stapleton. Bryant's first biographer was Pamela Street, a neighbour in Salisbury and historical collaborator, and daughter of the farmer-author A. G. Street.

Works

*"The Spirit of Conservatism" (1929)
* "King Charles the Second" (1931)
* "Macaulay" (1932)
* Life of Samuel Pepys in three volumes: "The Man in the Making", "The Years of Peril", "The Saviour of the Navy" (1933)
* "The Man and the Hour" (1934)
* "The Letters Speeches and Declarations of King Charles II" (1935), editor
* "The England of Charles II" (1935), later "Restoration England"
* "Postman's Horn, An Anthology of the Letters of Latter Seventeenth Century England" (1936), editor
* "The American Ideal" (1936)
* "George V" (1936)
* "Stanley Baldwin: A Tribute" (1937)
* "Unfinished Victory" (1940)
* "English Saga 1840–1940" (1940)
* "The Years of Endurance 1793–1802" (1942)
* "Dunkirk (A memorial)" (1943), pamphlet
* "Years of Victory" (1944)
* "The Battle of Britain. The Few" (1944), with Edward Shanks
* "Historian's Holiday" (1946), Dropmore Press
* "Trafalgar and Alamein" (1948), with Edward Shanks and Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
* "The Summer of Dunkirk" and "The Great Miracle" (1948), with Edward Shanks
* "The Age of Elegance 1812–1822" (1950)
* "The Story of England: Makers of the Realm" (1953)
* "The Turn of the Tide 1939–1943" (1957), Alanbrooke diaries
* "Triumph In The West 1943–1946" (1959), Alanbrooke diaries
* "Liquid History" (1960), fifty years of the Port of London Authority
* "Jimmy, the Dog of My Life" (1960)
* "The Age of Chivalry" (1963)
* "The Medieval Foundation of England" (1965)
* "The Fire and the Rose: Dramatic Moments in British History" (1966)
* "The Lion and the Unicorn: Historian's Testament" (1969)
* "Jackets of Green. A Study of the History, Philosophy and Character of the Rifle Brigade" (1972)
* "A Thousand Years of British Monarchy" (1973)
* "Leeds Castle — a Brief History" (1980), Leeds Castle Foundation.
* "Set in a Silver Sea: A History of Britain and the British People", Vol 1
* "Freedom's Own Island: A History of Britain and the British People", Vol 2
* "The Elizabethan Deliverance", Collins, London, 1980, ISBN 0-00-216207-5

References

*Maurice Cowling (1975) "The Impact of Hitler - British Politics and Policy 1933 - 1940", Cambridge University Press, p.403, ISBN 0-521-20582-4
*J. H. Plumb (1988) "The Making of an Historian, I", Ch. VIII, 'The Last Patricians'
*Pamela Street (1979) "Arthur Bryant: Portrait of a Historian"
*Andrew Roberts (1994), "Patriotism: The Last Refuge of Sir Arthur Bryant" in "Eminent Churchillians"
*Julia Stapleton (2005) "Sir Arthur Bryant and National History in Twentieth-Century Britain"

External links

* [http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000539.php 'A Crisis of Conservative Thought: The Hopes and Fears of Arthur Bryant', by Jeremy Black]
* [http://www.dur.ac.uk/sgia/profiles/?mode=staff&id=565 Julia Stapleton, Durham University]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SSbryant.htm Spartacus page]
*worldcat id|lccn-n2006-71597