Born in 1857 in Sheffield to wealthy parents involved in the steel industry, Charles Firth enjoyed a brilliant career at Balliol College, Oxford, under William Stubbs. He graduated in 1878, but did not decide on an academic career until 1883, when he returned to Oxford. There, he came under the influence of Samuel Rawson Gardiner, and took up the study of the early Stuart and Civil War periods, becoming in time the master of the military history of the latter. He began as an editor of documents, most famously the four volumes of the Clarke Papers he produced for the Camden Society, but turned to the writing of history at the beginning of the 20th century. His Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (1900; …
268 words
Citation: Nixon, Mark. "Charles Harding Firth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1536, accessed 25 November 2024.]
