Asa Briggs: Difference between revisions

'''Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs''' (7 May 1921 – 15 March 2016) was an English historian. He was a leading specialist on the [[Victorian era]], and the foremost [[historian of broadcasting]] in Britain. Briggs achieved international recognition during his long and prolific career for examining various aspects of modern British history.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|pages=55}}</ref> He was madebecame a [[life peer]] in 1976.

From 1955 until 1961, he was Professor of [[Modern History]] in [[University of Leeds|Leeds University]] and between 1961 and 1976 he was Professor of History in [[University of Sussex|Sussex University]], whilst also serving as Dean of the School of Social Studies (1961–65), [[Pro-Vice-Chancellor|Pro Vice-Chancellor]] (1961–67) and Vice-Chancellor (1967–76). On 4 June 2008, the University of Sussex Arts A1 and A2 lecture theatres, designed by [[Basil Spence]], were renamed in his honour. In 1976, he returned to Oxford to become [[Provost (education)|Provost]] of [[Worcester College, Oxford|Worcester College]], retiring from the post in 1991.

Between 1961 and 1995, Briggs wrote a five-volume textseries on the history of broadcasting in the UK from 1922 to 1974 – essentially the history of the [[BBC]], who commissioned the work.<ref name="The Guardian 15 March 2016"/> Briggs' other works ranged from an account of the period that [[Karl Marx]] spent in London to the [[corporate history]] of British retailer [[Marks and Spencer]].<ref name="The Guardian 15 March 2016"/> In 1987, Lord Briggs was invited to be President of the [[Brontë Parsonage Museum#Brontë Society|Brontë Society]], a literary society established in 1893 in [[Haworth]], near [[Keighley, Yorkshire]]. He presided over the Society's centenary celebrations in 1993 and continued as President until he retired from the position in 1996.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Lemon| first=Charles| title=A Centenary History of The Brontë Society, 1893–1993| journal=Brontë Society Transactions| year=1993| volume=Supplement to Volume 20|page=105}}</ref> He was also President of the [[William Morris Society]] from 1978 to 1991 and President of the UK's [[Victorian Society]] (UK) from 1986 until his death.<ref>Martin Crick, ''The History of the William Morris Society 1955–2005'' (London, 2011); Paul Thompson, 'Asa Briggs 1921–2016', ''The Victorian: The Magazine of the Victorian Society'', 52 (July 2016), p. 5.</ref>

He died at home in Lewes at the age of 94 on 15 March 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/index?id=34873 |title=Asa Briggs, Lord Briggs of Lewes, passes: 077 May 1921 – 15 March 2016 |website=University of Sussex |access-date=2017-01-07}}</ref>

He married Susan Anne Banwell of [[Keevil]], Wiltshire in 1955;<ref>{{cite news |title=Wedding photograph|work=[[Wiltshire Times]] |date=10 September 1955}}</ref> andthe theycouple had two sons and two daughters.