John Horace Round
Encyclopedia
Horace Round(1854-1928) was a historian
and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the Domesday Book
for Essex
into contemporary English
. As an expert in the history of the British
peerage
he was appointed Honorary Historical Adviser to the Crown
.
, England
. His parents were John Round, (died 1887) and Laura, the daughter of the poet Horatio Smith (died 1864). He was born on 22 February 1854 and his birth place, 15 Brunswick Terrace in Hove, has a blue plaque
.
He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a first class degree in Modern History.
Though a native of Sussex
, he had many interests in Essex
, and was both deputy lieutenant
and a lord of the manor
in that county. A relative owned Colchester Castle
, and his grandfather John
had been a Member of Parliament
in Essex.
His family history appears in Burke’s Landed Gentry, a publication he regularly criticised for its inaccuracies, although there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the entry for his family. He never married.
, The Dictionary of National Biography (first edition) and The Victoria County History
(VCH)) and was the author of several significant works. His translation and discussion of the Essex Domesday
(VCH, Essex, vol. 1) is widely regarded as a masterpiece, and is of national significance; this contrasts with his books, where he often indulged in castigating his contemporaries. He pursued disputes with other academics vigorously, and on more than one occasion, the level of acrimony was sufficiently high that the editor was forced to close correspondence on the subject. These disputes in a normally gentle academic area honed his analytic skills. He was recognised as a leading authority on medieval and later genealogy and was awarded an honorary
LLD
by the University of Edinburgh
in February 1905.
He advised the Court of Claims and Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords
on matters concerning the coronation of King Edward VII. His book on this topic, The King’s Serjeants and Officers of State, with their Coronation Services was published in 1911, the year of King George V
’s coronation. An expert in British peerage history and law, he was appointed Honorary Historical Adviser to the Crown in peerage cases in 1914 (a post from which he resigned in 1922).
, and his handwriting progressively deteriorated over the years. He died on 24 June 1928 in Hove. A memoir by his friend and colleague William Page
was included in a posthumously published volume of writings. and a biography by W. Raymond Powell was published in 2001. Both contain full bibliographies of Round's work. At the time of his death, he had more than sixty contributions to Essex Archaeology and History awaiting publication. His most recent posthumous papers appeared in about 2003 in the Transactions of the Essex Archaeology and History Society, and in 2004 in Foundations .
, Bodleian Library
, Edinburgh University Library, Glasgow University Library, Manchester University Library, Reading University Library, Yale University Library, Colchester Library, Sussex Archaeological Society and the National Archives.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
for Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
into contemporary English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. As an expert in the history of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
he was appointed Honorary Historical Adviser to the Crown
British monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
.
Family and early life
Round was born on 22 February 1854 in HoveHove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His parents were John Round, (died 1887) and Laura, the daughter of the poet Horatio Smith (died 1864). He was born on 22 February 1854 and his birth place, 15 Brunswick Terrace in Hove, has a blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
.
He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a first class degree in Modern History.
Though a native of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, he had many interests in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, and was both deputy lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
and a lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
in that county. A relative owned Colchester Castle
Colchester Castle
Colchester Castle in Colchester, Essex is an example of a largely complete Norman castle. It is a Grade I listed building.-Construction:At one and a half times the size of the Tower of London's White Tower, Colchester's keep is the largest ever built in Britain and the largest surviving example in...
, and his grandfather John
John Round (MP)
John Round was an English Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Ipswich from 1812 to 1818, and for Maldon from 1837 to 1847....
had been a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
in Essex.
His family history appears in Burke’s Landed Gentry, a publication he regularly criticised for its inaccuracies, although there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the entry for his family. He never married.
Work as a genealogist and writer
He contributed to many publications (most notably The Complete PeerageThe Complete Peerage
The Complete Peerage The Complete Peerage The Complete Peerage (full title: The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant; first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition revised by the Hon...
, The Dictionary of National Biography (first edition) and The Victoria County History
Victoria County History
The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 and was dedicated to Queen Victoria with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of...
(VCH)) and was the author of several significant works. His translation and discussion of the Essex Domesday
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
(VCH, Essex, vol. 1) is widely regarded as a masterpiece, and is of national significance; this contrasts with his books, where he often indulged in castigating his contemporaries. He pursued disputes with other academics vigorously, and on more than one occasion, the level of acrimony was sufficiently high that the editor was forced to close correspondence on the subject. These disputes in a normally gentle academic area honed his analytic skills. He was recognised as a leading authority on medieval and later genealogy and was awarded an honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
LLD
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
by the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in February 1905.
He advised the Court of Claims and Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on matters concerning the coronation of King Edward VII. His book on this topic, The King’s Serjeants and Officers of State, with their Coronation Services was published in 1911, the year of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
’s coronation. An expert in British peerage history and law, he was appointed Honorary Historical Adviser to the Crown in peerage cases in 1914 (a post from which he resigned in 1922).
Illness and death
Round contracted a chronic illness some time after coming down from OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, and his handwriting progressively deteriorated over the years. He died on 24 June 1928 in Hove. A memoir by his friend and colleague William Page
William Henry Page
William Henry Page was a prolific and pioneering historian and editor. For the last three decades of his life was general editor of the Victoria County History.-Life:...
was included in a posthumously published volume of writings. and a biography by W. Raymond Powell was published in 2001. Both contain full bibliographies of Round's work. At the time of his death, he had more than sixty contributions to Essex Archaeology and History awaiting publication. His most recent posthumous papers appeared in about 2003 in the Transactions of the Essex Archaeology and History Society, and in 2004 in Foundations .
Papers and Correspondence
Correspondence between Round and various other historians is available in the archives at Senate House Library. Additional papers are in the Essex Record Office, West Sussex Record Office, Warwickshire Record Office, Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service, British LibraryBritish Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
, Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
, Edinburgh University Library, Glasgow University Library, Manchester University Library, Reading University Library, Yale University Library, Colchester Library, Sussex Archaeological Society and the National Archives.
Publications
- Geoffrey de Mandeville (1892)
- Feudal England (1895)
- The Commune of London (1899)
- Calendar of documents preserved in France (1899)
- Studies in Peerage and Family History (1901)
- Peerage and Pedigree: Studies in Peerage Law and Family History (1910)
- The King’s Serjeants and Officers of State, with their Coronation Services (1911)
- Contributions to Domesday Studies, the Dictionary of National Biography, The Complete Peerage, Victoria County History (with W.H. PageWilliam Henry PageWilliam Henry Page was a prolific and pioneering historian and editor. For the last three decades of his life was general editor of the Victoria County History.-Life:...
), the English Historical Review and Archæological Transactions
External links
- Publications by J. H. Round at the Internet Archive