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Sir John Plumb
The Hidden Life of a Great Historian
A Personal Memoir by Neil McKendrick
EER
Edward Everett Root Publishers, 2019
EER
Edward Everett Root, Publishers, Co. Ltd.,
30 New Road, Brighton, Sussex, BN1 1BN, England.
Details of our overseas distributors and how to order our books can be seen on our website.
Sir John Plumb. The Hidden Life of a Great Historian. A Personal Memoir
By Neil McKendrick.
First published in Great Britain in 2019.
© Neil McKendrick 2019.
This edition © Edward Everett Root Publishers 2019
ISBN 978-1-911454-83-0 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-911454-86-1 ebook
Neil McKendrick has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and as the owner of this Work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Cover and Production by Head & Heart Book Design.
This memoir is dedicated to my wife, Melveena McKendrick,
and to our daughters, Olivia and Cornelia, who all
witnessed at first hand and for many years
the Marmite character and
personality
of
Sir John Plumb.
CONTENTS
1 Introduction
2 J.H.Plumb’s Curriculum Vitae
3 Preface: Jack Plumb: A Personal Memoir from 1949 to 2001
4 Plumb in Leicester: Family Upbringing and Schooling
5 Plumb’s Coming to terms with Cambridge
6 Plumb’s Early Research and his later Publications
7 Plumb, Elton and Chadwick and the Regius Chair
8 Plumb the Possessive Father Figure
9 Plumb’s Reputation as Patron, Promoter and Fixer
10 Plumb in Fiction
11 Plumb’s Painted Portraits
12 Plumb and the Secret World at Bletchley Park
13 Plumb: his tastes, his collections and his enthusiasms
14 Plumb’s wealth – Its Sources and its Size
15 Plumb as a prolific Editor
16 Plumb’s American Journalism – American Heritage and Horizon
17 Plumb’s Apolaustic Lifestyle: Expensive Cars and their Destruction
18 Plumb the Big Spender: Houses, Holidays and other Indulgences
19 Plumb and his New Friends: A Case of Social Mobility
20 Plumb’s Reputation as a Scholar and Walpole III
21 Plumb’s Health and his Declining Productivity
22 Plumb’s Critique of Cambridge Historians
23 Plumb’s Dedications
24 Plumb’s Other Writing
25 Plumb’s Other Pupils and Plumb the Novelist Manqué
26 Plumb’s Changing Political Beliefs and the Blunt Affair: from Communist Sympathiser to Combative Tory
27 Plumb’s Generosity to his Staff, his Friends and Himself
28 Plumb and his Wine
29 Plumb and Philanthropy
30 Plumb’s Very Private Love Life: Sex, Secrets and Subterfuge
31 Plumb and Friendship
32 Plumb’s Posthumous Sale in 2002
33 Plumb’s Secret Daughter and his Attitude to Marriage and Children
34 Plumb’s 90th Birthday: a Symbol of Old Age and the Black Years
35 Plumb and his Mastership of Christ’s in Context
36 Plumb and Public Recognition: the film If and Desert Island Discs
37 Plumb’s Changing Attitude to his Pupils
38 Plumb: the End of Life, his Death, his Burial and a Memorial Dinner
39 Plumb and his Legacy: Historian and Teacher of Historians
40 Acknowledgements
ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Front cover: Plumb in front of the Master’s Lodge in Christ’s
2. Plumb in Litt.D. gown
3. Plumb’s birth certificate
4. Plumb’s birthplace and first home – 65, Walton St., Leicester
5. The youthful Dr. J.H. Plumb aged 25 in 1936
6. Plumb aged 39 – his favourite self-image
7. Plumb aged 60 – chosen for his Festschrift
8. Plumb aged 90
9. Plumb with the author in 1954
10. Plumb with Craig Barlow, Angus Wilson and the author in 1956
11. Plumb with the author in 1964
12. Plumb: a portrait by Jenny Polack, commissioned by Christ’s in 1978
13. Plumb: a portrait by Lawrence Gowing, commissioned by Christ’s in 1980
14. Plumb: a portrait by John Ward, commissioned by the author in 1991
15. Plumb’s country home from 1958-1992 – The Old Rectory, Westhorpe
16. Plumb in the garden at the Old Rectory, Westhorpe
17. A Christmas card cartoon of Plumb and colleagues at Bletchley Park in the early 1940s
18. Plumb’s favourite photograph of his surrogate family – the McKendricks.
19. Plumb drinking a 1911 Perrier-Jouët at a Bordeaux Club dinner at Hugh Johnson’s home at Saling Hall, Saling.
20. Hugh Johnson, John Jenkins, Michael Broadbent, Jack Plumb, Neil McKendrick and Daphne Broadbent – before a Bordeaux Club dinner hosted by Hugh Johnson at Saling Hall.
21. Bert Howard – scoolmaster mentor of Plumb and the author.
22. Plumb – celebrating Christmas dinner with the McKendricks in the dining room of the Master’s Lodge in Caius.
23. Plumb on holiday in France.
24. Plumb’s holiday home for many years – Le Moulin de la Ressence, Plan de la Tour.
25. Plumb walking across Brooklyn Bridge in New York in 1972
26. The author in 1949 when he first met Plumb
27. The author in 1953 when he went up to Cambridge
28. The author in 2000
29. The author in 2005 painted by Michael Noakes
30.