Roy Porter
Roy Porter was a prominent British historian born on December 31, 1946, in south London. He was educated at Wilson's Grammar School and later attended Christ College, Cambridge, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1968. Porter's academic career began as a research fellow, leading to notable positions including director of studies at Churchill College and senior lecturer at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. He published extensively, authoring over two hundred works, including influential titles such as "London: A Social History" and "The Greatest Benefit to Mankind," which reflect his interests in social history and the history of medicine. His exploration of mental illness is encapsulated in works like "Mind-Forg'd Manacles." Porter's writing is recognized for its engaging style and comprehensive research, appealing to both general and scholarly audiences. He retired in 2001 and lived in St. Leonard's-on-Sea until his untimely death from a heart attack on March 3, 2002, at the age of fifty-six.
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Subject Terms
Roy Porter
- Born: December 31, 1946
- Birthplace: South London, England
- Died: March 3, 2002
- Place of death: Near St. Leonard's, East Sussex, England
Biography
Roy Porter was born on December 31, 1946, in south London. His father was a jeweler and he grew up surrounded by extended family. He attended Wilson’s Grammar School in Camberwell and was one of the first of its students to attend Christ College, Cambridge, to which he had won a scholarship. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1968.
In 1970, he became a research fellow. Two years later, while still working on his Ph.D., he was appointed director of studies in history at Churchill College, Cambridge. That same year, he also began to edit the journal History of Science, which he continued to do until just before his death. In 1977, Porter’s dissertation was published as The Making of Geology: Earth Science in Britain, 1660-1815, and he was appointed dean of Churchill College.
In 1979, Porter began a new career as a senior lecturer at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of London. After twelve years as a senior lecturer, he spent two years as a reader, and eight years as a professor of the social history of medicine. He retired in 2001. Porter published continuously as the sole author or as a joint editor of more than two hundred books and articles.
Porter’s best-known works were London: A Social History (1994), which won the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History in 1998; The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present; and Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World, which won the Wolfson Prize for history and was adapted for British television. Enlightenment was also written during the only sabbatical of Porter’s career. Porter also explored his interest in the history of mental illness in several books, most notably Mind-Forg’d Manacles: A History of Madness in England from the Restoration to the Regency.
Porter’s work is known for its breadth and depth. His books are sweeping in scope, with long, comprehensive bibliographies that often include obscure sources, yet they are engagingly written and appeal to a general, as well as a scholarly, audience. Porter retired to St. Leonard’s-on-the- Sea in England with his fifth wife, Natsu Hattori. An obitiuary of Porter, published in the 2003 Australian Historical Studies, states that Porter took early retirement because he hoped to avoid an early fatal heart attack such as the one that killed his father. Nevertheless, on March 3, 2002, a heart attack felled Porter at age fifty-six as he bicycled to his garden.