Herbert Butterfield

Born in Yorkshire in 1900, Herbert Butterfield became one of the most influential British historians of the 20th century. He studied and later taught at the University of Cambridge, where he went on to serve as Regius Professor of Modern History and also as vice-chancellor.

He is best remembered for The Whig Interpretation of History, a short but lasting critique of the habit of reading history as an inevitable march toward the present. His work often explored how historians judge the past, how religion and politics shape historical thinking, and why moral certainty can distort understanding.

Butterfield was also a prominent interpreter of diplomatic history and the history of science. He died on July 20, 1979, but his books are still read for their sharp intelligence, compact style, and their warning against turning history into a simple story of progress.