Historical Facts

"It is, however, certain that this William Hoskyns who was living in Beaminster in 1419 is the ultimate source of the family in this part of England."

From "A History of The Hoskins Family of Devon and Dorset" by W. G. Hoskins, (Preface, Page ii)

"The best explanation for the facts is a direct line male ancestor migrating from Southern Denmark as a part of the Viking incursions into Normandy, which were started by Rollo in 885 AD. After residing in Normandy for several generations, an ancestor migrated from Normandy into the Welsh Marches mentioned above."

( From the Anthony Hoskins Speculation/Theory)

William George Hoskins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CBE FSA (May 22, 1908 – January 11, 1992) was an English local historian who founded the first university department of English Local History. His great contribution to the study of history was in the field of landscape history. Hoskins demonstrated the profound impact of human activity on the evolution of the English landscape in a pioneering book: The Making of the English Landscape. His work has had lasting influence in the fields of local and landscape history and historical and environmental conservation.

Life

William George Hoskins was born the son of a baker at 26–28 St David's Hill, Exeter, Devon on May 22, 1908. He won a scholarship to Hele's School in 1918, and attended the University College of South West England (later the University of Exeter) where he gained BSc and MSc degrees in economics by the age of 21. ^[1] Both his M.Sc. degree awarded in 1929 and his Ph.D. in 1938 were concerned with the history of Devon.

Hoskins was appointed Lecturer in Commerce at University College, Leicester in 1931. He found the trade statistics to be dull lecture material but he enjoyed the evenings that he spent teaching archaeology and local history at Vaughan College. His academic researches covered historical demography, urban history, agrarian history, the evolution of vernacular architecture, landscape history and local history. After the award of his doctorate Hoskins was appointed Reader in English Local History at University College, Leicester (1938).

In 1948, a group of local history enthusiasts including Hoskins formed a "Leicestershire Victoria County History Committee". The University of London agreed to publish the second and subsequent volumes of the Victoria County History (VCH) for Leicestershire (the first having been published in 1907) if the Committee prepared the material. The Committee appointed Hoskins as its honorary local editor. He planned the contents of the second and third volumes of the VCH, and edited much of the material submitted. He also edited the articles that formed the history of the City of Leicester. In 1949 Richard McKinley was appointed full-time local Assistant Editor and succeeded Hoskins in 1952. During 1951 Hoskins had shared the honorary local editor position with C. H. Thompson, then Leicestershire County Council archivist.

In 1952, Hoskins resigned from his posts at University College, Leicester, and on the Leicestershire Victoria County History Committee Leicester to become Reader in Economic History in the University of Oxford.

Hoskins was one of the founders of the Exeter Group in 1960 (later to become the Exeter Civic Society). He was president of the Dartmoor Preservation Association from 1962 until 1976.

He became the first professor of local history at the University of Leicester (as University College, Leicester had become) in 1965 when he was appointed Hatton Professor of English History (he retired in 1968). Hoskins wrote and presented a BBC television series The Landscape of England in 1976. Derived from The Making of the English Landscape, the series attracted considerable attention from members of the environmental movement, who cited it to support their arguments for conservation.

He died January 11, 1992.

William George Hoskins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia