Harold Perkin


Harold James Perkin was an English social historian and founder of the Social History Society. Born in Hanley, Staffordshire of humble origins, he attended Hanley High School and gained a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge from 1945, with a starred First Class degree in 1948. Then followed National Service in the RAF. When rejected by his Cambridge college to study for a PhD, he began extramural history teaching from 1950 with Manchester University.

Academic career

Perkin was successively a lecturer in social history at Manchester University in 1951–1965, a senior lecturer in social history at Lancaster University in 1965–1967, professor there in 1967–1984, director of the Centre for Social History 1974–1984 and emeritus professor of history, Northwestern University, Illinois in 1985–1997. In addition, he held a visiting professorship at Rice University, founded and chaired the Social History Society, and served as chief salary negotiator for the Association of University Teachers, of which he was later president. Perkin was a distinguished, pioneering social historian.

Publications

Television shows for Granada TV
Both were later issued in book form.