History News
The History Department is deeply saddened by the passing of its Emeritus Reader, Dr Henry J. Cohn
For personal recollections by friends and former colleagues see here
In memoriam David Washbrook (member of academic staff in the History Department at Warwick 1974-1992)
It is with great sadness that we have learned that David Washbrook, great historian of India, passed away peacefully at home on Monday, the 24th of January after a relatively brief illness, David was born on 25 April 1948. David Washbrook joined the Warwick History department in 1974, and taught Indian History, Historiography and wider British and European history until 1992. He was a Visiting Professor at Harvard at the end of the 1980s, and was so well liked he was offered a permanent Chair there, but declined it to return to his Readership at Warwick. But he was soon after to leave Warwick to became Reader in Indian History at Oxford. He remained there until 2008 when he was awarded an Honorary Senior Research Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge. He taught regularly until shortly before his death on the MPhil in S. Asian history, and supervised many PhD students. Apart from his early monographs, he was a great essayist, a critical voice in developing new directions in the field, and the key figure in the field in the social and economic history of early modern South India. David joined the debates in global history as these emerged in the later 1990s, and made the history of India both central and accessible within this broad framework of global history. He was a great support in the early years of the Warwick Global History and Culture Centre, serving for several years as Honorary External Advisor and as External Examiner on the MA in Global History. David supervised, formally and informally, many students in the field now teaching in India, the UK and the U.S. His influence on his field has been enormous. He was always generous with his time, welcoming outsiders to his field and introducing them to the country he loved. We will all miss him so very much.
We are creating a webpage in his memory which will be populated with contributions from anyone who wishes to remember David. Please can you send your memories to Amy Evans (Amy.Evans@warwick.ac.uk).