Gill Bennett
{{Short description|British historian and civil servant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox academic
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| name = Gill Bennett
| honorific_suffix = OBE
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| alma_mater = Somerville College, Oxford
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| discipline = Historian
| sub_discipline = Diplomatic history, Political history
| workplaces = Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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Gillian Bennett is a British historian and civil servant, previously the Chief Historian of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1995 and 2005.
Career
After graduating from Somerville College, University of Oxford in 1969,{{cite journal |title=Book reviews |journal=Oxford Today |date=March 2013 |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=55 |url=https://issuu.com/oxfordalumni/docs/final_ot-tt-2013/55}} Bennett began her career in the Foreign Office in 1972 as a research assistant in what was then called the Historical Branch.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=History at the heart of diplomacy |url=https://history.blog.gov.uk/2018/11/28/history-at-the-heart-of-diplomacy/ |website=History of government |access-date=22 August 2019 |date=28 November 2018}} She held a number of roles within the wider FCO, and in 1995 was appointed to the newly-created position of Chief Historian.{{cite book |author1=FCO Historians |title=Women and the Foreign Office |date=2018 |page=24 |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/women_in_diplomacy_history_note__5b |access-date=22 August 2019}} In this role, she edited the documentary history of British foreign policy since 1945, Documents on British Policy Overseas, and give historical advice to ministers and officials.{{cite web |title=Gill Bennett OBE |url=https://rusi.org/people/bennett-obe |publisher=Royal United Services Institute |access-date=22 August 2019}}
In 1998, FCO historians were commissioned by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook to investigate the authenticity of the Zinoviev Letter,{{cite news |last1=Barber |first1=Tony |title=The Zinoviev Letter by Gill Bennett — a mystery of revolution and attribution |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5ca75d4c-ac61-11e8-94bd-cba20d67390c |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=Financial Times |date=19 October 2018}} {{subscription required|s}} and Bennett authored the report of their findings, concluding that the letter was a forgery though not likely to have been directly the work of MI6 officers.{{cite news |last1=Norton-Taylor |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Norton-Taylor |title=Zinoviev letter was dirty trick by MI6 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/feb/04/uk.politicalnews6 |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=4 February 1999}}{{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title='A most extraordinary and mysterious business': The Zinoviev Letter of 1924 |journal=History Notes |date=February 1999 |issue=14 |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/history_notes_cover_hphn_14 |access-date=22 August 2019 |publisher=Foreign and Commonwealth Office}} In researching the origins of the letter, Bennett had full access to British government sources, and also drew upon Russian archival records.{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198767305 |page=15 |url={{GBurl|nB5pDwAAQBAJ}}}} Bennett retired from the civil service in 2005, and was succeeded as chief historian by Patrick Salmon.{{cite book |author1=FCO Historians |title=History at the Heart of Diplomacy: Historians in the Foreign Office, 1918-2018 |date=2018 |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/history_at_the_heart_of_diplomacy-w |access-date=22 August 2019}}
Since 2005, Bennett has published three monographs, Churchill's Man of Mystery: Desmond Morton and the World of Intelligence (2006),{{cite news |last1=Foot |first1=M. R. D. |authorlink1=M. R. D. Foot |title=The shadowy world of secrets |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/11th-november-2006/56/the-shadowy-world-of-secrets |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=11 November 2006}} Six Moments of Crisis: Inside British Foreign Policy (2013),{{cite news |last1=Hurd |first1=Douglas |authorlink1=Douglas Hurd |title=Reviewed: Six Moments of Crisis - Inside British Foreign Policy by Gill Bennett |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/reviewed-six-moments-crisis-inside-british-foreign-policy-gill-bennett |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=New Statesman |date=25 April 2013}}{{cite news |last1=Norton-Taylor |first1=Richard |title=Past crises shed light on the present |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/defence-and-security-blog/2013/feb/19/defence-europe-us |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=19 February 2013}} and The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies (2018).{{cite news |last1=Judd |first1=Alan |authorlink1=Alan Judd |title=Did the notorious Zinoviev letter ever exist? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/08/did-the-notorious-zinoviev-letter-ever-exist/ |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=18 August 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Udy |first1=Giles |authorlink1=Giles Udy |title=Review: The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy That Never Dies by Gill Bennett — was it an anti-Labour plot? |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/review-the-zinoviev-letter-the-conspiracy-that-never-dies-by-gill-bennett-was-it-an-anti-labour-plot-j0wnc0l8h |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Times |date=25 August 2018}} {{Subscription required|s}}
Major publications
- {{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=Churchill's Man of Mystery: Desmond Morton and the World of Intelligence |date=2006 |series=Government Official History Series |isbn=9780415394307 |url={{GBurl|Och8AgAAQBAJ}} |doi=10.4324/9780203966785}}
- {{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=Six Moments of Crisis: Inside British Foreign Policy |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199583751 |url={{GBurl|6EtoAgAAQBAJ}}}}
- {{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198767305 |url={{GBurl|nB5pDwAAQBAJ}}}}
References
External links
- {{Twitter|GillHistory}}
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{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=Heather Yasamee|as=Head of Historical Branch,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chief Historian, Foreign and Commonwealth Office|years=1995–2005}}
{{s-aft|after=Patrick Salmon}}
|-
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}