Robin Humphreys

Robin Humphreys
Born	6 June 1907
Died	2 May 1999 (aged 91)
Nationality	British
Fields	Historian
Institutions	University College London
Alma mater	Lincoln Christ's Hospital School; Oxford University

Robert Arthur (Robin) Humphreys OBE (6 June 1907 – 2 May 1999) was an historian, the first professor of Latin American studies in the United Kingdom and the founder of the Institute of Latin American Studies at University College London.^[1]

Life and career

Humphreys was educated at Lincoln Grammar School and graduated at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1934 he was appointed assistant lecturer in American history at University College London (UCL).

During World War II Humphreys worked at the British Foreign Office in a research capacity.

After the war he returned to UCL and was promoted to Reader, becoming, in 1948, the UK's first professor of Latin American history.^[1]

In 1965 Humphreys was the founding Director of the University of London's Institute of Latin American Studies, a position he held until 1974. From 1965-69 he also served as the President of the Royal Historical Society.^[1]

He died on 2 May 1999 aged 91.^[2]

Works

• British Consular Reports on the Trade and Politics of Latin America, 1824-1826 (1940)^[3]
• Latin America (1941)
• "The Study of Latin-American History in England"^[4]
• William Robertson and his History of America (1954)
• "William Hickling Prescott: The Man and the Historian" (1959)^[5]

References

1. Lynch, John (2001), "Obituary: Robert Arthur Humphreys (1907-1999)", Hispanic American Historical Review, 81(1):135-138; doi:10.1215/00182168-81-1-135
2. Humanities and Social Sciences Online accessed 21 April 2014
3. London: Royal Historical Society 1940.
4. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 24 (no. 94) 1947, pp. 146-53.
5. The Hispanic American Historical Review, 39-1-19 (Feb. 1959)