author

Nevill Forbes

1883–1929

An early British Slavist who helped open Russian and Balkan studies to English-speaking readers, he wrote practical language books as well as broader historical works. His career at Oxford was brief but influential, and his textbooks were especially valued by students.

2 Audiobooks

The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey

The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey

by Nevill Forbes, D. G. (David George) Hogarth, David Mitrany, Arnold Toynbee

The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey

by Nevill Forbes, D. G. (David George) Hogarth, David Mitrany, Arnold Toynbee

About the author

Born in 1883, Nevill Forbes was a British Slavonic scholar, translator, and teacher who became closely associated with the growth of Russian studies at the University of Oxford. Sources describe him as one of the early champions of the field in Britain, and note that he studied at Oxford and later at the University of Leipzig, where he earned a Ph.D.

In 1910 he was appointed Reader in Russian at Oxford, later becoming Professor. Alongside lectures on subjects such as Slavonic languages and Polish literature, he produced translations and teaching materials that were widely used by students. His published work included Russian Grammar, a graded series of Russian readers, Serbian Grammar, and translations such as The Chronicle of Novgorod and editions of works by Tolstoy and Garshin.

Forbes died in Oxford in 1929 at the age of 45. Contemporary notices remembered him as a gifted teacher with a practical feel for what English students needed, and archival descriptions still single out the lasting influence of his grammars and textbooks.