Christopher Hill (historian)

Lore & Background

Christopher Hill was born on 6 February 1912, Bishopthorpe Road, York, to Edward Harold Hill and Janet Augusta (née Dickinson). His father was a solicitor and the family were devout Methodists; Hill was particularly influenced by the Methodist preacher Theophilus Stevens Gregory, to whom he later dedicated his Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution (1965). He attended St Peter's School, York. At the age of 16, he sat his entrance examination at Balliol College, Oxford. The two history tutors who marked his papers recognised his ability and offered him a place in order to forestall any chance he might go to the University of Cambridge. In 1931 Hill took a prolonged holiday in Freiburg, Germany, where he witnessed the rise of the Nazi Party, later saying that it contributed significantly to the radicalisation of his politics. He matriculated at Balliol College in 1931. In the following year he won the Lothian Prize, and he graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in modern history in 1934. Whilst at Balliol, Hill became a committed Marxist and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in the year he graduated. After graduating he became a Fellow of All Souls College. In 1935 he undertook a ten-month trip to Moscow, Soviet Union. There he became fluent in the Russian language and studied Soviet historical scholarship, particularly that relating to Britain. Hill has been accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union, particularly via speculation originating with Anthony Glees in his Secrets of the Service (1987). Several academics, including Eric Hobsbawm and John Saville, defended Hill. Further, declassified MI5 documents are reported to have found no evidence of him being a spy. After returning to England from Russia in 1936, Hill accepted a teaching position as an assistant lecturer at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff. During his time there he attempted to join the International Brigade and fight in the Spanish Civil War, but was rejected. Instead, he helped Basque refugees displaced by the war. After two years in Cardiff, he returned to Balliol College in 1938 as a Fellow and tutor in history. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the British Army, initially as a private in the Field Security Police. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Ligh

Reader's Guide

Christopher Hill’s historical approach was shaped by his Marxist convictions, which he developed as a student at Balliol College, Oxford, where he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1934. His politics were further radicalised by witnessing the rise of the Nazi Party during a 1931 visit to Germany. After studying Soviet historical scholarship during a ten-month trip to Moscow in 1935, he returned to England and began teaching, first at Cardiff and then back at Balliol as a fellow and tutor. During the Second World War he served in the British Army, initially in the Field Security Police and later in the Intelligence Corps, before returning to Oxford. In 1946 he co-founded the Communist Party Historians Group, and in 1952 he helped establish the academic journal *Past and Present*. He left the Communist Party in 1957 after becoming dissatisfied with its lack of democracy. His major works, including *Puritanism and Revolution*, *The Century of Revolution*, *Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution*, and *The World Turned Upside Down*, focused on the social and religious currents of 17th-century England. As Master of Balliol from 1965 to 1978, he taught students such as Brian Manning, who later advanced the field’s understanding of the English Revolution. Hill’s scholarship relied on printed sources in the Bodleian Library and secondary works rather than archival research. He was also the subject of unsubstantiated accusations of being a Soviet spy, which were not supported by declassified MI5 documents.

Did You Know?

• Hill undertook a ten-month trip to Moscow in 1935, where he became fluent in Russian.
• He attempted to join the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War but was rejected.
• Hill left the Communist Party of Great Britain in spring 1957 after one of his reports to the party congress was rejected.
• His daughter Fanny drowned while holidaying in Spain in 1986.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Only very slowly and late have men come to realize that unless freedom is universal it is only extended privilege." — Christopher Hill (historian) "Just as Oliver Cromwell aimed to bring about the kingdom of God on earth and founded the British Empire, so Bunyan wanted the millennium and got the novel." — Christopher Hill (historian)