J. H. Plumb

Sir John (Jack) Harold Plumb, FBA (20 August 1911 – 21 October 2001) was a British historian, known for his books on British 18th century history. He wrote over thirty books.

Plumb was born in Leicester on 20 August 1911. He was educated at Alderman Newton's School, then at University College, Leicester and finally at Christ's College, Cambridge. His doctoral thesis of 1936 on the social structure of the House of Commons at the time of William III was supervised by G. M. Trevelyan; believed to be the only time when Trevelyan took on this role. In 1939 he was elected to the Ehrman Fellowship, which was a research fellowship at King's College, Cambridge.

During the Second World War Plumb worked in the codebreaking department of the Foreign Office at Bletchley Park, Hut 8 & Hut 4; later Block B. He headed a section working on a German Naval hand cipher, Reservehandverfahren.

In 1946 he became a Fellow and Tutor of Christ's College and a University Lecturer in History. In 1957 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters for his work on eighteenth-century history, and in 1962 he was appointed Reader in Modern History at Cambridge University. He became Professor of Modern English History in the University in 1966. He served as Master of Christ's College from 1978 to 1982.

He had a visiting professorship at Columbia University in 1960. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1968 and knighted in 1982.

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