Andrew Porter

Biography

Andrew Porter has been a distinguished member of the department for many years, holding the Rhodes Chair of Imperial History in the University of London from 1993 to 2008. From 1979 to 1990, he edited the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. He has published widely and is frequently invited to speak abroad, most recently in Japan, South Africa, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States.   Andrew Porter has been a distinguished member of the department for many years, holding the Rhodes Chair of Imperial History in the University of London from 1993 to 2008. From 1979 to 1990, he edited the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. He has published widely and is frequently invited to speak abroad, most recently in Japan, South Africa, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States.  

Research Interest

Professor Andrew Porter’s main interests lie in the history of Britain’s empire since the late eighteenth century, in its growth, its decline, and in the consequences which these developments have had both for the British themselves and for other peoples around the world. His research has explored the role of British party politics and domestic concerns about empire in the making of war and has examined the relationships between British governments and major business interests, notably in shipping and overseas investment. His most recent publication Religion versus Empire? British Protestant missionaries and overseas expansion 1700-1914 (Manchester University Press, 2004) was awarded the Biennial Reese Memorial Prize in 2006 for a wide ranging scholarly work in the field of Imperial and Commonwealth history. Professor Porter has also explored imperial themes for wider audiences, editing and contributing chapters to The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. III: The Nineteenth Century (Oxford University Press, 1999), and the Cambridge History of Christianity, vol. 8: c.1815-1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2006) among others.