Peter Mathias

{{Infobox academic

| name = Peter Mathias

| image = Peter Mathias OxfordMail.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Peter Mathias

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1928|01|10}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2016|03|01|1928|1|10}}

| death_place =

| death_cause =

| resting_place =

| resting_place_coordinates =

| burial_place =

| burial_coordinates =

| residence =

| nationality = British

| occupation = Historian

| years_active =

| known_for = Master of Downing College, Cambridge, Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and fellow of All Souls College, Oxford

| awards = Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Fellow, The British Academy

| education = Jesus College, Cambridge

| alma_mater =

| thesis_title =

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year =

| school_tradition =

| doctoral_advisor = Charles Henry Wilson

| academic_advisors =

| influences =

| era =

| discipline =

| sub_discipline =

| workplaces =

| doctoral_students = David Cannadine, Brian Harrison, Heita Kawakatsu, Emperor Naruhito, Edmund Newell, Patrick K. O'Brien, John Cunningham Wood

| notable_students =

| main_interests = Economic history, business history, history of technology, British history

| notable_works = The First Industrial Nation: an Economic History of Britain 1700–1914 (1969)

| notable_ideas =

| influenced =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| signature_size =

| footnotes =

}}

Peter Mathias, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FRHistS|FBA|MAE}} (10 January 1928 – 1 March 2016) was a British economic historian and the former Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110629132544/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5484753.ece The Times] 10 January 2009, Retrieved 2010-01-09{{Cite web|url=http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/index.php/about/news/487-mathias|title=Death of Dr Peter Mathias|last=Eyeons|first=Keith|website=dow.cam.ac.uk|access-date=2016-05-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511213753/http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/index.php/about/news/487-mathias|archive-date=11 May 2016|url-status=dead}} His research focused on the history of industry, business, and technology, both in Britain and Europe. He is most well known for his publication of The First Industrial Nation: an Economic History of Britain 1700–1914 (1969), which discussed not only the multiple factors that made industrialisation possible, but also how it was sustained.{{cite journal |last1=Temin |first1=Peter |title=Review |journal=The Economic Journal |date=1969 |volume=79 |issue=316}}

Early life and education

Mathias was born in Freshford, Somerset to Jack Mathias (from Plymouth) and Marion (née) Love (from Wingfield).

He attended Colston's School and Bristol Grammar School where he became interested in history.{{cite news|title=Oxford Professor for 20 years Dr. Peter Mathias|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14351980.OBITUARY__Oxford_professor_for_20_years_Dr_Peter_Mathias/|accessdate=23 March 2016|agency=Oxford Mail|date=18 March 2016}} In December 1945, he applied for a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge; instead he won an Exhibition at Jesus College, Cambridge, during summer 1946. However the college demanded that those coming up from school should have done military service before they arrived so he spent two years in the army as a conscript.{{cite web|url=http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/206448/1/mathias.txt |title=Peter Mathias interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 4th September 2008 |publisher=University of Cambridge |accessdate=2009-06-09}} At Cambridge, his tutor was the medievalist, Vivian Fisher, and the English economic historian, Charles Wilson. Mathias also spent the 1952–3 academic year at Harvard University, participating in the Research Center for Entrepreneurial History.{{cite web |last1=Berg |first1=Maxine |title=Peter Mathias |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Memoirs_17-04-Mathias.pdf |website=British Academy}}

Academic career

He was elected a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, when he published his first book on the brewing industry in England. The manuscript described the importance of the technical aspects of brewing and manufacturing to the developing of the industry as a whole. Mathias then went out to complete a textbook on the history of industrialisation in Britain, The First Industrial Nation (1969).

He was fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1955 to 1968, and later an Honorary Fellow from 1987.{{Cite web|url=http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/life-at-queens/about-the-college/college-facts/fellows-and-presidents/honorary-fellows|title=Honorary Fellows {{!}} Queens' College|website=queens.cam.ac.uk|access-date=2016-05-27}} He was Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. There, he was editor of the Cambridge Economic History of Europe and co-founded of The Journal of European Economic History.{{cite web |last1=Berg |first1=Maxine |title=Peter Mathias |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Memoirs_17-04-Mathias.pdf |website=British Academy}} He left Oxford to become master of Downing College, Cambridge, from 1987 to 1995.

Outside of research and teaching, Mathias contributed to the academic community with his positions at the Economic History Society (EHS) and the International Economic History Association (IEHA). He joined the former in his final year of undergraduate work at Cambridge. He continued to work for the EHS as Reviews Editor, Assistant Editor (1955–), Treasurer (1968–88), and President (1989–92). Meanwhile, the IEHA emerged from conferences at the Stockholm University, but expanded in the 1960s. Mathias also became a member of the Datini Institute in Prato, Italy in 1967, under the direction of Fernand Braudel and Federigo Melis.{{cite web |last1=Berg |first1=Maxine |title=Peter Mathias |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Memoirs_17-04-Mathias.pdf |website=British Academy}}

Later life

After retiring in 1995, he continued on advising and researching. He was the international advisor to Keio University, Japan, and President of the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. For this work, he was granted the Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays in 2003.{{cite web |last1=Archer |first1=Megan |title=OBITUARY: Oxford professor for 20 years Dr Peter Mathias |url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14351980.obituary-oxford-professor-20-years-dr-peter-mathias/ |website=Oxford Mail|date=17 March 2016 }}

In 1998, Mathias' Festschrift, From Family Firms to Corporate Capitalism: Essays in Business and Industrial History in Honour of Peter Mathias was published by his former students, Kristine Bruland and Patrick O'Brien. Another Festschrift was published in 2018 entitled Asia and the history of the international economy : essays in memory of Peter Mathias, edited by A. J. H. Latham and Heita Kawakatsu. Professor Mathias is also mentioned extensively in The Thames and I, a memoir by the Prince (now Emperor) of Japan Naruhito, since he was the prince's supervisor while Naruhito was at Merton College in Oxford (1983-1985).

Honours

=Commonwealth honours=

; Commonwealth honours

class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"

! style="width:20%;"| Country

! style="width:20%;"| Date

! style="width:55%;"| Appointment

! style="width:5%;"| Post-nominal letters

1984{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016

Commander of the Order of the British Empire

CBE

=Foreign honours=

; Foreign honours

class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"

! style="width:20%;"| Country

! style="width:20%;"| Date

! style="width:55%;"| Decoration

! style="width:5%;"| Post-nominal letters

3 November 2003{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016

Order of the Rising Sun (Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon){{Cite web|url=https://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/japanUK/decoration/031103_deco.html|title=Embassy of Japan in the UK}}

=Scholastic=

; Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships

class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" ! style="width:20%;"\| Location ! style="width:20%;"\| Date ! style="width:40%;"\| School ! style="width:20%;"\| Position
{{Flagu\|England}}	1955{{spaced ndash}}1968	Queens' College, Cambridge	Fellow
{{Flagu\|England}}	1987{{ndash}}1 March 2016	Queens' College, Cambridge	Honorary Fellow
{{Flagu\|England}}	1987{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016	Jesus College, Cambridge	Honorary Fellow
{{Flagu\|England}}	1995{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016	Downing College, Cambridge	Honorary Fellow

;Honorary degrees

class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" ! style="width:20%;"\| Location ! style="width:20%;"\| Date ! style="width:40%;"\| School ! style="width:20%;"\| Degree ! style="width:20%;"\| Gave Commencement Address
{{Flagu\|England}}	1984	University of Oxford	Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
{{Flagu\|England}}	1985	University of Buckingham	Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.){{Cite web\|url=https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates-1978-2000\|title = Honorary Graduates 1978 – 2000}}
{{Flagu\|England}}	1987	University of Cambridge	Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
{{Flagu\|England}}	1988	University of Birmingham	Doctorate
{{Flagu\|England}}	1992	University of Hull	Doctorate
{{Flagu\|England}}	1995	De Montfort University	Doctorate
{{Flagu\|England}}	1995	University of Warwick	Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.){{Cite web\|url=https://warwick.ac.uk/services/gov/hongrads/list\|title=List of all Honorary Graduates and Chancellor's Medallists}}
{{Flagu\|England}}	1999	University of East Anglia	Doctorate
{{Flagu\|Russian Federation}}	2003	Russian Academy of Sciences	Doctorate
{{Flagu\|Japan}}	2006	Kansai University	Doctorate
{{Flagu\|Japan}}	7 November 2008	Keio University	Doctor of Economics{{Cite web\|url=https://www.keio.ac.jp/en/news/2008/081212.html\|title = ニュース：[慶應義塾]}}

=Memberships and Fellowships=

class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" ! style="width:20%;"\| Location ! style="width:20%;"\| Date ! style="width:40%;"\| Organisation ! style="width:20%;"\| Position
{{Flagu\|England}}	1968{{spaced ndash}}1972	Business Archives Council	Chairman
{{Flagu\|United Kingdom}}	1972{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016	Royal Historical Society	Fellow (FRHistS)
{{Flagu\|Netherlands}}	1974{{spaced ndash}}1978	International Economic History Association	President
{{Flagu\|Netherlands}}		International Economic History Association	Honorary President
{{Flagu\|United Kingdom}}	1977{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016	British Academy	Fellow (FBA)
{{Flagu\|United Kingdom}}	1979{{spaced ndash}}1989	British Academy	Honorary Treasurer
{{Flagu\|Denmark}}	1982{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016	Royal Danish Academy	Foreign Member
{{Flagu\|England}}	1984{{spaced ndash}}1995	Business Archives Council	President
{{Flagu\|Italy}}	1987{{spaced ndash}}1999	International Economic History Institute 'Datini' Prato, Italy	Vice President
{{Flagu\|Belgium}}	1988{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016	Royal Belgian Academy	Foreign Member
{{Flagu\|England}}	1989{{spaced ndash}}1 March 2016	Academia Europaea	Member (MAE)
{{Flagu\|United Kingdom}}		Economic History Society	Vice President
{{Flagu\|United Kingdom}}	1989{{spaced ndash}}1992	Economic History Society	President

Works

{{cite book|title=The Brewing Industry in England 1700-1830|url=https://archive.org/details/brewingindustryi0000math|url-access=registration|year=1959|publisher=CUP Archive}}
The Retailing Revolution: a History of Multiple Retailing in the Food Trades Based upon the Allied Suppliers Group of Companies (1967)
The First Industrial Nation: an Economic History of Britain 1700–1914 (1969)
(edited with A.W.H. Pearsall), Shipping: a survey of historical records (1971)
Science and Society 1600–1900 (1972)
The Transformation of England (1979)
(edited with D. C. Coleman) Enterprise and history: essays in honour of Charles Wilson (1984)
(edited with John A. Davis) The First Industrial Revolutions (1990)
(edited with John A. Davis) Innovation and technology in Europe : from the eighteenth century to the present day (1991)
(edited with John A. Davis) Enterprise and labour: from the eighteenth century to the present (1996)
(edited with John A. Davis) International trade and British economic growth : from the eighteenth century to the present day (1996)