The English Historical Review
NO. CXLI.—JANUARY 1921*
The Beginnings of the English Historical Review
FIFTEEN years ago, on 15 December 1905, Mr. R. L. Poole was entertained at a dinner in the hall of Balliol College to celebrate the completion of twenty years of this Review. In a speech in reply to the principal toast, he described the origin of the Review and its history up to that time, and, now that his long and distinguished editorship has come to an end, he has consented to the publication of part of this speech. It has been thought best to omit the more intimate and personal passages, but, except for a small addition to one of the quotations, the account of the beginnings which here follows is otherwise the same that was then given. The sketch of the history after the publication of the first number has not been added, because it would now appear only as an incomplete fragment. In the course of the speech, Mr. Poole said: 'We have published eighty numbers of the Review. … Of these Mr. Creighton was editor of twenty-two, Mr. Gardiner of fourteen, Mr. Gardiner and I were jointly responsible for twenty-five; and I by myself can only take credit for seventeen.' Now the last figure would have to be raised to seventy-nine.
As I began by saying, I want to speak not of myself but of the Review, for that is the real subject which we are celebrating, though it has to use me as a mouthpiece. I am going to ask you to listen while I tell you how the Review came into existence. And I take this opportunity of doing so, because although Mrs. Creighton in her admirable Life of our first Editor has told us a great deal about the early history of the Review after it was founded, what led to its foundation has never been fully related, though there are large materials for the history of
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