George Walter Prothero

Who was George Walter Prothero?

Sir George Walter Prothero, KBE was an English writer and historian, and President of the Royal Historical Society.

Prothero was born in Wiltshire, and was educated at Eton, studying Classics at King's College at Cambridge University, and at the University of Bonn. He went on to become a Fellow of King's College, working as a history lecturer there from 1876. In 1894, he became the first Professor of Modern History at the University of Edinburgh. He held this position for five years before moving to London to take the place of his brother, Lord Ernle, as the editor of the Quarterly Review, a political periodical. He also acted as editor of the Cambridge Historical Series, a set of historical journals detailing the history of several European nations. With A. W. Ward and Stanley Mordaunt Leathes he edited the Cambridge Modern History between 1901 and 1912.

In 1903, he was invited to give the Rede Lecture, where he spoke on the topic of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire. From 1904 to 1906, he was a member of the Royal Commission for Ecclesiastical Discipline.