William Arthur Shaw

Born on 19 April 1865, in Hooley Hill, Ashton-under-Lyne, now in Greater Manchester, he was the son of James Shaw and his wife Sarah Ann Hampshire. He graduated B.A. at Owens College in 1883.

Shaw worked for the Chetham Society, and then the Public Record Office, as an editor. In 1940 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He died at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield, Middlesex, on 15 April 1943.

The majority of his later life was devoted to the calendaring of Treasury records of the later Stuart and early Georgian period, between 1660 and 1745. These were published with extensive introductions, charting his view of the development of the national financial administration and other topics, and often challenging the received wisdom. F.H. Slingsby, who brought Shaw's posthumous final volumes to press, considered that the "animosities" expressed in some of these introductions were "usually well founded";F.H. Slingsby (1959), "Shaw, William Arthur" in L.G. Wickham Legg and E.T. Williams (eds.), Dictionary of National Biography, Sixth Supplement, 1941-1950 {{doi|10.1093/odnb/9780192683120.013.36053}} although P.G.M. Dickson considered that "Shaw's views were curiously vehement and often based on inaccurate data, and must be treated with caution."P.G.M. Dickson (1967/1993) The Financial Revolution in England: A Study in the Development of Public Credit, 1688-1756: Bibliography: [https://books.google.com/books?id=3uJADgAAQBAJ&pg=PT581 Calendars, Parliamentary Papers, Statutes, Journals] In particular, Shaw's summary tables of revenue and expenditure have been found to be incorrect, failing to take into account some of the intricate accounting devices of the time, leading him to incorrect conclusions.D.C. Coleman (1976), Review of The English Public Revenue by C.D. Chandaman (1975), The Historical Journal 19(1), 278-279 {{JSTOR|2638367}}

Shaw also wrote a substantial number of entries for the Dictionary of National Biography.See eg Wikisource Author:William Arthur Shaw.

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• {{cite book |name-list-style = vanc |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=William Arthur |year=1897–1903 |title=Calendar of Treasury Books and Papers| location=London |publisher=HMSO |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/search/series/cal-treasury-books-papers}} 5 vols, covering 1729–1745.
• {{cite book |name-list-style = vanc |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=William Arthur |year=1904–1961 |title=Calendar of Treasury Books| location=London |publisher=HMSO |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/search/series/cal-treasury-books}} 32 vols, covering 1660–1718. Volumes 20 et seq published posthumously.
• {{cite book |name-list-style = vanc |last=Shaw |first=William Arthur |year=1894 |title=Manchester Old and New | location=London |publisher=Cassell and Co |url=}} 3 vols: [https://archive.org/details/cu31924052531773 vol 1]; [https://archive.org/details/cu31924052531781 vol 2], [https://archive.org/details/cu31924052531799 vol 3]
• {{cite book |name-list-style = vanc |last=Shaw |first=William Arthur |year=1895 |title=The History of Currency, 1252 to 1894: Being an Account of the Gold and Silver Monies and Monetary Standards of Europe and America, Etc |publisher=Wilsons & Company}} [https://archive.org/details/historyofcurrenc00shaw 1 vol]
• {{cite book |name-list-style = vanc |last=Shaw |first=William Arthur |year=1900 |title=A history of the English Church during the civil wars and under the Commonwealth, 1640–1660 | location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co |url=}} 2 vols: [https://archive.org/details/cu31924092326788 vol 1]; [https://archive.org/details/ahistoryoftheeng01shawuoft vol 2]
• {{cite book |name-list-style = vanc |last=Shaw |first=William Arthur |year=1906 |title=The Knights of England | location=London |publisher=Sherratt and Hughes}} 2 vols: [https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland01shawuoft vol 1]; [https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland02shawuoft vol 2]

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• J. H. Clapham (1943), "William Arthur Shaw, 1865–1943", Proceedings of the British Academy, 29, 349–55

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• [https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/manchesteruniversity/data/gb133-was William Arthur Shaw Manuscripts], John Rylands Library, University of Manchester

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Category:1865 births

Category:1943 deaths

Category:19th-century English historians

Category:English archivists

Category:Fellows of the British Academy

Category:People from Ashton-under-Lyne

Category:20th-century English historians

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