author
Spenser Wilkinson
1853–1937
A sharp-eyed military historian and journalist, he helped bring serious study of war into the university world at Oxford. His writing ranged from strategy and national defense to politics and public affairs, making him an influential voice in late Victorian and early 20th-century Britain.
3 Audiobooks
Britain at Bay
by Spenser Wilkinson
Lessons of the War: Being Comments from Week to Week to the Relief of Ladysmith
by Spenser Wilkinson
The Brain of an Army: A Popular Account of the German General Staff
by Spenser Wilkinson
About the author
Born in Manchester on May 1, 1853, Henry Spenser Wilkinson built an unusually varied career as a writer, journalist, and scholar. Before becoming best known for military subjects, he worked in journalism and even served for a time as the drama critic of the Morning Post, showing the wide interests that stayed with him throughout his life.
Wilkinson became a prominent commentator on defense and strategy, writing books and articles that examined armies, war planning, and Britain's place in the world. He is especially remembered as the first Chichele Professor of Military History at the University of Oxford, a post he held from 1909 to 1923, where he helped establish military history as a serious academic field.
He continued writing on public and international affairs well into the 20th century. Wilkinson died in Oxford on January 31, 1937, leaving behind a body of work that links journalism, scholarship, and the study of modern warfare.