Asa Briggs and the making of modern British social history

Asa Briggs was one of the most influential historians in the post-war world. He not only put the history of 19th century Britain on the map and fostered Victorian Studies but he became a key figure in the development of social history. Briggs has been an innovator, launching urban history, local history, labour history, media history and the history of material culture. Both in his career as an historian and as a university manager, he has encouraged interdisciplinarity and cross-fertilisation between academic disciplines. This article discusses his many works but also the wider significance of his career as an academic statesman.