G. D. H. Cole
| G. D. H. Cole | |
|---|---|
G. D. H. Cole
|
|
| Born |
25 September 1889 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK |
| Died | 14 January 1959 (aged 69) London, England, UK |
| Nationality | English |
| Spouse(s) | Dame Margaret Cole (née Postgate) |
| Field | Co-operative economics |
| School or tradition |
Libertarian socialism |
| Influences | Sidney Webb |
| Influenced | Karl Polanyi Bertrand Russell |
George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. As a libertarian socialist he was a long-time member of the Fabian Society and an advocate for the co-operative movement.
He and his wife, Margaret Cole (1893–1980), together wrote many popular detective stories, featuring the investigators Superintendent Wilson, Everard Blatchington and Dr Tancred.
Cole was educated at St Paul's School and Balliol College, Oxford.
As a conscientious objector during the First World War, Cole's involvement in the campaign against conscription introduced him to a co-worker, Margaret Postgate, whom he married in 1918. The couple both worked for the Fabian Society for the next six years before moving to Oxford, where Cole started writing for the Manchester Guardian.
Meanwhile, he also authored several economic and historical works including biographies of William Cobbett and Robert Owen. In 1925, he became reader in economics at University College, Oxford. In 1944, Cole became the first Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford. He was succeeded in the chair by Isaiah Berlin in 1957.
Cole was initially a pacifist; however, he abandoned this position around 1938: "Hitler cured me of pacifism".
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