| AdminHistory | William George Hoskins [1908-1992] was an English local historian. Born and educated in Exeter, he began his academic career lecturing in commerce at Leicester University College, whilst teaching evening classes in archaeology and local history. Hoskins worked in London during the Second World War as a statistician with the Central Price Regulation Committee on the Board of Trade. In 1946 he returned to Leicester, and founded the first English university department of local history in 1948. In 1952 Hoskins took a readership in economic history at Oxford University, and published 'The Making of the English Landscape' in 1955. Returning to Leicester, he was appointed the Hatton Professor of English History from 1965-1968. Hoskins wrote and presented 'The Landscape of England' for BBC television in 1976, was made CBE in 1971, and received a Doctorate of Letters from the University of Exeter in 1974. |