Port, M.H. 1930–

(Michael H. Port)

PERSONAL:

Born 1930, in England; married, 1962; children: two daughters. Education: Hertford College, Oxford, B.A., 1954, B.Litt., 1956, M.A., 1957.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Queen Mary College, University of London, Mile End Rd., London E1 4NS, England.

CAREER:

University of London, London, England, beginning 1961, began as assistant lecturer, became senior lecturer in history, Queen Mary and Westfield Colleges, professor emeritus and senior research fellow. Visiting professor at Columbia University, 1968-69.

WRITINGS:

Six Hundred New Churches, S.P.C.K., 1961, reprinted as 600 New Churches: The Church Building Commission, 1818-1856, Spire Books (Reading, England), 2006.

(With others) The History of the King's Works, Volume VI: 1782-1851, H.M.S.O. (London, England), 1973.

(Editor) The Houses of Parliament, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1976.

(Editor) The Commissions for Building Fifty New Churches: The Minute Books, 1711-27, a Calendar, London Record Society (London, England), 1986.

Imperial London: Civil Government Building in London 1851-1915, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1995.

Hampstead Parish Church: The Story of a Building through 250 Years, St. John-at-Hampstead Parochial Church Council (London, England), 1995.

Contributor to history journals; editor of East London Papers, 1965-70.

SIDELIGHTS:

M.H. Port spent nearly his entire academic career teaching history at the University of London. His particular interest in architecture led to several books, including Imperial London: Civil Government Building in London 1851-1915, a history of British architectural projects during the sixty-five years following the Great Exhibition. Building in London during the late Victorian and Edwardian period was subject to political constraints in a time when government was growing and renting often shabby space, but during which funding was lacking. When the public, through its ministers, agreed to fund projects, the allocations were seldom enough to build the visionary structures of the architects, but those that were built were generally of good quality.

In reviewing the volume in the English Historical Review, Geoffrey Tyiack wrote: "Port has written what will surely be the definitive account of government building in Victorian and Edwardian London, and has thus put historians of the British government, and of Britain's chaotically planned yet constantly fascinating capital city, permanently in his debt."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April, 1999, Roy MacLeod, review of Imperial London: Civil Government Building in London 1851-1915, p. 642.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, September, 1995, W.S. Rodner, review of Imperial London, p. 102.

Economic History Review, February, 1996, Richard Drayton, review of Imperial London, p. 195.

English Historical Review, January, 1990, I.G. Doolittle, review of The Commissions for Building Fifty New Churches: The Minute Books, 1711-27, p. 196; April, 1997, Geoffrey Tyack, review of Imperial London, p. 509.

Historian, summer, 1996, Roger Adelson, review of Imperial London.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, January, 1997, P.J. Waller, review of Imperial London, p. 168.

Journal of Historical Geography, October, 1995, Felix Driver, review of Imperial London, p. 471.

Times Higher Education Supplement, May 12, 1995, Christopher Woodward, review of Imperial London, p. 18.

Victorian Studies, spring, 1996, Hermione Hobhouse, review of Imperial London, p. 443.