R.C.K. Ensor

R.C.K.Ensor (1877-1958), Who Hitler Is, 1939. Courtesy Kenyon College.

Sir Robert Charles Kirkwood Ensor (16 October 1877 - 4 December 1958) was an English poet, journalist, intellectual, and historian. His History of England, 1870-1914 sold over 100,000 copies.

Life

Youth and education

Ensor was born in Milborne Port, Dorset, the son of Robert H. Ensor and his wife Olivia (Currie). He was educated at Winchester School and at Balliol College, Oxford where he achieved a 1st in greats and also the Chancellor's Latin verse prize. He was President of the Oxford Union in 1900.

He became involved in left-wing politics, publishing a selection of writings of leading socialist theorists as Modern Socialism in 1903. He failed at his attempts to become a fellow of Merton, St John's and All Souls (twice) but later became a tutor at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.(Citation needed)

Career

In 1902 he became leader writer for The Manchester Guardian. In 1905 he moved to London where he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple. From 1909 - 1911 he worked for the Daily News and from 1912 to 1930 for the Daily Chronicle. Ensor lived in Poplar, and from 1910 to 1913 represented the area on the London County Council as a Labour Party councillor.

Following the closure of the Daily Chronicle in 1930, he retired from regular journalistic work, although he continued to contribute to various publications as an editor and reviewer. In 1931 he took up a post as a lecturer in the London School of Economics, but a year later returned to Oxford where he acted as deputy to Arthur Salter, Gladstone professor of political theory and institutions. He was commissioned to write a volume of the Oxford History of England, covering the years 1870 to 1914. Published in 1936 as the final volume, Ensor's book has sold more copies than any other in the original 14-part series. He was subsequently made a research fellow of Corpus Christi College and a research lecturer of All Souls College in 1937 and a faculty fellow of Nuffield College in 1938.

He was commissioned in 1937 to write a sequel to his volume of the Oxford History of England but he resumed his journalism during World War II with a weekly column on foreign affairs in the Sunday Times. The book, a volume covering the years 1914 to 1945, was eventually written by A.J.P. Taylor.

Ensor married Helen Fisher of Manchester in 1906, and the couple had 2 sons and 3 daughters. The family made their home at Upper Sands, near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire]].

He retired in 1953 and died in a Beaconsfield nursing home in December 1958, aged 81.

Recognition

Ensor was knighted in 1955.

Publications

Poetry

• Modern Poems. Adelphi, London: R.B. Johnson, 1903.
• Arminius. Oxford: Blackwell, 1909.
• Odes, and other poems. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1917.
• Catherine: A romantic poem. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1921.
• Columbus: A historical poem. London: Martin Secker, 1925.

Non-fiction

• Belgium. London: Williams & Norgate, 1915; New York: Holt, 1915.
• An Outline of English Local Government (with Edward Jenks). London: Methuen, 1930.
• Courts and Judges in France, Germany, and England. London: Oxford University Press, 1933.
• England, 1870-1914. Oxford: Clarendon Press (Oxford History of England), 1936.
• Who Hitler Is. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1939; New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.
• Herr Hitler's Self-Disclosure in 'Mein Kampf'. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1939.
• The Uphill War, Sept. 1939 - Nov. 1942. London: Humphrey Milford / Oxford University Press, 1944.
• A Miniature History of the War: Down to the liberation of Paris. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1944.
  • revised as A Miniature History of the War: Down to the end of the war in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1945.
  • published in U.S. as A Miniature History of the War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1946.
• Why We Study History. London: Historical Association / King & Staples, 1944.
• Some Reflections on Herbert Spencer's Doctrine that Progress is Differentiation. London: Geoffrey Cumberledge, 1946.

Edited

• Modern Socialism: As set forth by socialists in their speeches, writings, and programmes. London & New York: Harper, 1904.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

External links

Books

• R.C.K. Ensor at the Online Books Page
• Robert C.K. Ensor at Amazon.com