Colin Matthew
{{Short description|British historian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox academic
| honorific_prefix = Professor
| name = Colin Matthew
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRHistS}}
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Henry Colin Gray Matthew
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1941|1|15}}
| birth_place = Inverness, Scotland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1999|10|29|1941|1|15}}
| death_place = Oxford, England
|education = Edinburgh Academy
Sedbergh School
|alma_mater = Christ Church, Oxford
|workplaces = Christ Church, Oxford
St Hugh's College, Oxford
| occupation = Historian and academic
| awards = Wolfson History Prize
| spouse = Sue Ann Curry
| discipline = History
| sub_discipline = {{hlist|Political history|William Ewart Gladstone}}
}}
Henry Colin Gray Matthew {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRHistS}} (15 January 1941 – 29 October 1999) was a British historian and academic. He was an editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and editor of the diaries of William Ewart Gladstone.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-professor-colin-matthew-1120187.html|title=Obituary: Professor Colin Matthew|website=Independent.co.uk |date=1 November 1999}}
Early life
Matthew was born in Inverness on 15 January 1941. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and later at the English public school, Sedbergh. He proceeded to Christ Church in the University of Oxford in 1960 to read Modern History. He graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1963.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/nov/02/guardianobituaries1|title=Colin Matthew|first=Peter|last=Ghosh|date=2 November 1999|website=The Guardian}}
Academic career
In 1963, Matthew moved to work as a teacher in what is now Tanzania in East Africa, where he met his American wife Sue Ann Curry (born 1941). They moved to Oxford in 1966, where they married. Matthew began first an uncompleted diploma in politics and economics, and then a doctorate on the imperial wing of the Liberal Party in the 1890s and 1900s, completed in 1970.
In 1970, Matthew was appointed lecturer in Gladstone studies at Christ Church, Oxford, a post tied to the assistant editorship of the Gladstone Diaries, then being prepared for publication by M. R. D. Foot. In 1972 Matthew succeeded Foot as the sole editor, and completed the project. In 1978 Matthew was elected fellow and tutor in modern history at St Hugh's College, Oxford. He was made a full professor in 1992.{{cite journal |last1=Freeden |first1=Michael |title=Henry Colin Gray Matthew, 1941-1999 |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |date=2006 |volume=138 |page=217 |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1725/138p209.pdf}}
When Oxford University Press proposed a revision of the Dictionary of National Biography in the early 1990s, Matthew's work on the Gladstone Diaries recommended him for the position. He began work in 1992 and devised the editorial structure and guidelines for the dictionary, as well as writing or revising several hundred articles for the work. Other editorial roles included chairing the publications committee of Oxford Historical Monographs and membership of the Royal Historical Manuscripts Commission.{{cite journal |last1=Freeden |first1=Michael |title=Henry Colin Gray Matthew, 1941-1999 |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |date=2006 |volume=138 |page=216 |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1725/138p209.pdf}}
Matthew died from a heart attack in Oxford on 29 October 1999. The dictionary was published in 2004 following Matthew's plan.
Honours and memorials
Matthew was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1976 and served as the society's Literary Director from 1985-1989 and Vice-President from 1993-1997. After his death the society established the annual Colin Matthew Memorial Lecture for the Public Understanding of History in his memory, co-hosted with Gresham College.{{cite web |title=2018 Colin Matthew Lecture for the Public Understanding of History |url=https://royalhistsoc.org/calendar/colin-matthew-2018/ |website=Royal Historical Society |access-date=1 January 2025}}
The History Faculty building at the University of Oxford contains a room named after Matthew.{{cite web |title=Facilities |url=https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/facilities |website=Faculty of History, University of Oxford |access-date=1 January 2025}} St Hugh's College also maintains a travel fund in Matthew's name available to all students at the University of Oxford to undertake historical research.{{cite web |title=Colin Matthew Fund 2024 |url=https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/the-colin-matthew-fund-2024-is-open-to-applications/ |website=St Hugh's College, Oxford |date=2 May 2024 |access-date=7 January 2025}}
References
=Sources=
- {{cite book |last=McKibbin |first=R. I. |author-link=Ross McKibbin|year=2004 |chapter=Matthew, (Henry) Colin Gray |editor=Matthew, H. C. G. |editor2=Harrison, Brian |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198613741 |url-access=registration |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
- [http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/editor/ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] (includes photo)
{{Wolfson History Prize Winners}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthew, Colin}}
Category:20th-century Scottish historians
Category:People educated at Sedbergh School
Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Category:Editors of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Category:People from Inverness
Category:People educated at Edinburgh Academy
Category:Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford
Category:Historians of the University of Oxford
Category:Wolfson History Prize winners