Michael Morris Oppenheim (born in Hoxton

Hoxton

Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, immediately north of the financial district of the City of London. The area of Hoxton is bordered by Regent's Canal on the north side, Wharf Road and City Road on the west, Old Street on the south, and Kingsland Road on the east.Hoxton is also a...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on 26 June 1853, died in Rome, Italy on 27 April 1927) was the pioneer historian of English naval administration.

Early life and education

In 1874, Oppenheim entered University College Hospital

University College Hospital

University College Hospital is a teaching hospital located in London, United Kingdom. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is closely associated with University College London ....

 Medical School. After completing his medical training in 1878, he spent a year at Middlesex Hospital

Middlesex Hospital

The Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, United Kingdom. First opened in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally closed in 2005. Its staff and services were transferred to various sites...

 and then completed his examination as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons

Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons

MRCS is a professional qualification for surgeons in the UK and IrelandIt means Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. In the United Kingdom, doctors who gain this qualification traditionally no longer use the title 'Dr' but start to use the title 'Mr', 'Mrs', 'Miss' or 'Ms'.There are 4 surgical...

 in 1879.

Medical career

Going to sea as a ship's surgeon, Oppenheim first sailed with the Royal Mail Line. His name regularly appeared in medical directories as a surgeon with that shipping company until 1888, although he served in the P&O

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...

 Line's Assam in 1882-1883.

Career as an independent historian

On inheiriting some money, Oppenheim left the medical profession and became a self-supporting independent historical researcher. His first results were published in The English Historical Review in several articles that appeared in 1891-1894 and in 1896. These articles became the basis for his first major work, A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy...to 1660 (1896).

While writing these first articles, Oppenheim became one of the founding members of the Navy Records Society

Navy Records Society

The Navy Records Society was established in 1893 as a scholarly society to publish historical documents that illustrated the history of the Royal Navy. Professor Sir John Knox Laughton and Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge were the key leaders who organized the Society, basing it on the model of earlier...

 in 1893. He went on to edit two important volumes for the Society, The Naval Accounts of ... Henry VII and the Naval Tracts of Sir William Monson. Completing these volumes, He went on to edite and annotate a new edition of Sir Arthur Help's Spanish Conquest of America, originally published in 1855-1861.

As a result of these achievements, H. Arthur Doubleday, invited Oppenheim to contribute chapters on maritime history

Maritime history

Maritime history is the study of human activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant...

 to 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...

 of England, publishing chapters in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 vol I (1906), Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

vol. II, 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...

vol.II (1907), Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

vol. II (1907), and 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...

vol. II (1907).

When a reviewer criticized his contribution to the Sussex volume, Oppenheim wanted to resign, but the new series editor, William Page, persuaded him to continue with contributions to Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

vol II (1911), and to Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

vol. II , which was eventually published in 1926. He wrote another for Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, but this did not appear in the series and was not published until 1968.

Angered and embarrassed by criticism of his work, he cancelled his plan to write a second volume on naval administration up to 1714 and gave away his 10,000 volume personal library to the Public Library of Bath, Somerset in 1919. Writing nothing more, he spent the remainder of his life abroad and died in Rome, Italy.

Published works

• A history of the administration of the Royal Navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the Navy from 1509 to 1660 with an introduction treating of the preceding period. London: John Lane. The Bodley Head, 1896; Aldershot: Temple Smith, 1988.

• Naval accounts and inventories of the reign of Henry VII, 1485-8 and 1495-7, edited by M. Oppenheim. Publications of the Navy Records Society, vol 8. [London]: Printed for the Navy Records Society, 1896.

• The Spanish conquest in America: and its relation to the history of slavery and to the government of colonies, by Sir Arthur Helps
  Arthur Helps
  Sir Arthur Helps, KCB, DCL , English writer and dean of the Privy Council, youngest son of Thomas Helps, a London merchant, was born in Streatham in South London....
  
   A new ed., edited, with an introduction, maps, and notes by M. Oppenheim. Four volumes. London; New York : John Lane, 1900-04

• The Naval tracts of Sir William Monson in six books, edited with a commentary drawn from the State papers and other original sources by M. Oppenheim. Publications of the Navy Records Society, vols. 22, 23, 43, 45, 47. [London]: Printed for the Navy Records Society, 1902-1914.

• The maritime history of Devon by M. M. Oppenheim; with an introduction by W. E. Minchinton. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1968.

Sources

• Kenneth R. Andrews, "Introduction" to M. Oppenheim, A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy and of Merchant Shipping in Relation to the Navy from 1509 to 1660, with an introduction to the Preceding Period. London: Temple Smith, 1988.
• Walter E. Minchinton, "Introduction" to Oppenheim, The Maritime History of Devon. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1968.
• "Oppenheim. Michael Morris (1853-1927)" in International Encyclopedia of Naval Warfare ABC-Clio,