Austin Woolrych

Professor Austin Herbert Woolrych FBAFRSA
Pro Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Lancaster
In office 1971–1975
Personal details
Born	(1918-05-18)18 May 1918 Marylebone,London,UK
Died	15 September 2004(2004-09-15)(aged 86)
Spouse	Muriel Edith Rolfe ​ ​ (m.1941; died 1991)​
Academic background
Alma mater	Royal Military College, Sandhurst Pembroke College, Oxford(BABLitt)
Academic work
Discipline	Historian
Institutions	University of Leeds(1949–64) University of Lancaster(1964–83)
Main interests	English Civil War
Notable works	Britain in Revolution(2002)
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/ branch	British Army
Years of service	1938–1945
Rank	Captain
Unit	Inns of Court Regiment Royal Tank Regiment
Battles / wars	El Alamein(1941)

Austin Herbert WoolrychFBAFRSA(18 May 1918 – 15 September 2004) was an Englishhistorian,a specialist in the period of theEnglish Civil War.

Early life and education

Austin Woolrych was born inMarylebone,London,the son of Stanley Herbert Cunliffe Woolrych and May Gertrude Woolrych,néeWood. His father was a distinguishedBritish Armyintelligence officer during theFirst World Warwho became a businessman. Woolrych was descended from an oldShropshiregentry family, and was related toSir Thomas Wolryche, 1st Baronet,Royalistgovernor ofBridgnorthduring theEnglish Civil War.

Woolrych was educated atWestminster School,but owing to the family's financial distress during theGreat Depressionhe did not proceed to university. Instead, he left school in 1934, aged 16, and became a clerk atHarrods.In 1938, he joined theInns of Court Regimentof theTerritorial Army.On the outbreak of the Second World War he was sent toRoyal Military College, Sandhurst,and commissioned into theRoyal Tank Regiment.He was blinded in one eye at theBattle of El Alameinin 1941.

After the war, Woolrych was decommissioned with the rank ofCaptain,and attendedPembroke College, Oxfordon an ex-serviceman's educational grant; he originally planned to read English, but owing to the college's lack of a tutor read History instead. He graduated from Oxford with aBA(first-class honours) and aBLitt.

Academic career

Woolrych joined the History Department at theUniversity of Leedsin 1949. He remained there until 1964 when he becameProfessorof History at the newly foundedUniversity of Lancaster.From 1971 to 1975 he wasPro-Vice-Chancellorof the University of Lancaster. From 1981 to 1982 he was Visiting Fellow ofAll Souls College, Oxford.

He retired in 1983. Freed from administrative work and teaching, he published several major works in retirement.

Honours

Woolrych was elected aFellow of the British Academy(FBA) in 1988.

Marriage and children

Woolrych married Muriel Edith Rolfe in 1941; she died in 1991. They had one son and one daughter.

Select Publications

• Woolrych, A.H. (1964),Oliver Cromwell,Oxford:Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0198315377
• Woolrych, A.H. (1966),Battles of the English Civil War(New ed.),London:Pimlico,ISBN978-0712650434
• Woolrych, A.H. (1981),Commonwealth to Protectorate,Oxford:Clarendon Press,ISBN978-0198226598
• Woolrych, A.H. (1983),England Without a King 1649–60,Lancaster Pamphlets,London:Routledge,ISBN9780415104562
• Woolrych, A.H. (1987),Soldiers and Statesmen: The General Council of the Army and Its Debates, 1647–1648,Oxford:Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0198227526
• Woolrych, A.H.;Firth, C.H.(1999),The Clarke Papers: Selections from the Papers of William Clarke - Secretary to the Council of the Army, 1647–49, and to General Monck and the Commanders of the Army in Scotland, 1651–60,London:Royal Historical Society,ISBN978-0861931330
• Woolrych, A.H. (2002),Britain in Revolution: 1625–1660,Oxford:Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0199272686

References

• Obituary inThe Guardian