Harold James Perkin (11 November 1926 – 16 October 2004) was a distinguished English social historian who was the founder of the Social History Society in 1976.
Background
Harold Perkin was born in Hanley, Staffordshire, on 11 November 1926 as the eldest child of five in the working class family of Robert James Perkin, a builder, and his wife Hilda May Dillon. He attended Hanley High School and won a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge, from 1945, gaining a starred First Class degree in 1948. At Cambridge, he was involved in amateur dramatics, and was a member of the cast of La Vie Cambridgienne, the first Cambridge Footlights revue to be televised by the BBC.
After National Service in the RAF, he was rejected by his Cambridge college to study for a PhD on the basis that his abilities, "though considerable", did not lie in the direction of academic research. He began extramural history teaching from 1950 with the University of Manchester.'"Professor Harold Perkin (Obituary)", The Times, 15 December 2004.David Cannadine,Harold Perkin Obituary, The Guardian, Saturday 23 October 2004.Jeffrey Richards, Professor Harold Perkin: Obituary The Independent, 2 November 2004.In Memoriam: Harold Perkin, American Historical Association Obituary
Academic career
Perkin was a lecturer in social history at the University of Manchester (1951–1965), then a Senior Lecturer (1965–1967), a Professor (1967–1984) in social history and Director of the centre for social history (1974–84) at the University of Lancaster, and an Emeritus Professor of History at Northwestern University, Illinois (1985–1997). In addition, he held a visiting professorship at Rice University and founded the Social History Society serving as Chairman (1976–1991). Perkin served as chief salary negotiator for the Association of University Teachers, of which he was later President. He was a distinguished, pioneering social historian, whose interests included transport.Pamela Cox, "Social History 40 Years On", History Today Vol. 66/5, May 2016.
Publications Complete text in pdf
Television Perkin presented television shows for Granada TV: The Age of the Railway, 1970 The Age of the Automobile, 1976 The scripts for both of these were also later published.
References
External links Harold Perkin Entry at 'Making History' website, Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Accessed December 2011