James Anthony Froude

Born in Devon in 1818, James Anthony Froude was educated at Westminster School and Oriel College, Oxford. He was raised in a strongly religious family and at first seemed headed for the Church, but his growing doubts about Anglican doctrine pushed him in a different direction and fed the debate stirred up by his early novel The Nemesis of Faith.

Froude became one of the best-known historians of the Victorian period. He is especially remembered for History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, a large, dramatic account of Tudor England that changed the study of the period for many readers. He also wrote biographies, including work on Thomas Carlyle, and served as editor of Fraser's Magazine.

His reputation has always been mixed in an interesting way: admired for energy, storytelling, and a strong sense of character, but often criticized for partisanship and bold judgments. Even so, he remains an important figure in nineteenth-century historical writing because he made history feel alive to a wide audience.