Hugh Trevor-Roper

Lore & Background

Trevor-Roper was born at Glanton, Northumberland, England, the son of Kathleen Elizabeth Davidson and Bertie William Edward Trevor-Roper, a doctor. He was educated at Belhaven Hill School, Charterhouse, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Classics and then Modern History, obtaining first-class honours in 1936. In 1937, he became a research fellow at Merton College, Oxford. His first book was a 1940 biography of Archbishop William Laud. During the Second World War, he served as an officer in the Radio Security Service of the Secret Intelligence Service, and then on the interception of messages from the German intelligence service, the Abwehr. In early 1940, Trevor-Roper and E. W. B. Gill decrypted some of these intercepts, spurring Bletchley Park efforts. In 1945, British intelligence tasked him with ascertaining the facts about Adolf Hitler's death; his report became The Last Days of Hitler (1947). In 1983, his reputation was severely damaged when he authenticated the Hitler Diaries shortly before they were shown to be forgeries.

Reader's Guide

Trevor-Roper’s historical approach was marked by a polemical and essayistic style, with his shorter works often reshaping scholarly understanding more profoundly than longer books by others. He concentrated on 16th- and 17th-century England and Nazi Germany. His most famous work, *The Last Days of Hitler*, originated from a 1945 British intelligence assignment to disprove Soviet claims that Hitler had escaped; through witness interviews and document analysis, Trevor-Roper concluded Hitler was dead. The book’s success established his reputation. However, his standing was severely damaged in 1983 when he authenticated the forged Hitler Diaries. He held the Regius Professorship of Modern History at Oxford. His output was formidable, with many essays of Victorian length that reduced large subjects to their essence and lastingly transformed their fields. Yet some critics noted he failed to produce the great, defining book on a subject he had made his own. His brother Patrick was a prominent eye surgeon and gay rights activist.

Did You Know?

• Trevor-Roper was a member of the exclusive Stubbs Society and was initiated as a Freemason in the Apollo University Lodge while at Oxford.
• He used the alias 'Major Oughton' while investigating Hitler's death in 1945.
• According to John Philipps Kenyon, some of Trevor-Roper's short essays have affected the way we think about the past more than other men's books.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"I used to think that historical events always had deep economic causes. I now believe that pure farce covers a far greater field of history, and that Gibbon is a more reliable guide to that subject than Marx." — Hugh Trevor-Roper "Unfortunately, as many writers have discovered, it is often not what they say that matters, but the manner in which it is said." — Hugh Trevor-Roper "Preface to Edward Gibbon's Vindication, Oxford University Press (1961), pp. iii-iv." — Hugh Trevor-Roper "The Rise of Christian Europe (1965) pp. 9." — Hugh Trevor-Roper