Name George Gooch | Role Journalist | |
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Died August 31, 1968, London, United Kingdom Education Trinity College, Cambridge, King's College London, Eton College People also search for Adolphus William Ward, John Howard Whitehouse, John Macmurray Books Germany and the French re, English Democratic Ideas in t, Franco‑German Relations - 1871‑1914, Frederick the Great: The Ruler, Studies in Modern History | ||
George Peabody Gooch, (21 October 1873 – 31 August 1968) was a British journalist, historian and Liberal Party politician. A follower of Lord Acton who was independently wealthy, he never held an academic position, but knew the work of historians of continental Europe.
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Personal life
Gooch was born in Kensington, London, the son of Charles Cubitt Gooch, a merchant banker, and Mary Jane Gooch, née Blake. His eldest brother was Henry Cubitt Gooch, a future Conservative MP. He was educated at Eton College, King's College London and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a First in History. He won the Thirlwall Prize in 1897, but failed to gain a fellowship at Trinity despite the support of Lord Acton.
Member of Parliament
He was elected at the general election of 1906 as Liberal Member of Parliament for Bath, but lost the seat at the general election of January 1910. Whilst an MP he voted in favour of the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill. He stood again in Bath at the general election in December 1910, but did not regain the seat, and was unsuccessful again when he stood at a by-election in Reading in November 1913. He was President of the Historical Association (1922–1925) and of the National Peace Council (1933–1936). In June 1936 he was elected to serve on the Liberal Party Council.
Gooch edited the Contemporary Review from 1911 until 1960.
Work as a historian
After the First World War Gooch became an influential historian of Europe of the period, and was critical of British policy. He was active in the Union of Democratic Control.
For about ten years from the mid-1920s onwards he was involved, with Harold Temperley, in the publication of the official British diplomatic history. The selection of Gooch for this project selection was made over the reservations of Headlam-Morley and of Temperley himself, who believed that Gooch was too committed to a pro-German position and too critical of Sir Edward Grey.
Gooch has been noted as a significant revisionist historian of the Europe of the early twentieth century, in particular in relation to the causes of the First World War. He has been described as one of the "early revisionists", alongside Harry Elmer Barnes and Sidney Bradshaw Fay.
Awards and honours
Gooch became a Companion of Honour in 1939, and a member of the Order of Merit in 1963. He was appointed to the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1954. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1926 and honorary fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1935.