John Marriott (British politician)

Sir John Arthur Ransome Marriott (17 August 1859 – 6 June 1945) was a British educationist, historian, and Conservative Member of Parliament.

He taught modern history at Oxford University from 1884 to 1920. He was an Honorary fellow, formerly fellow, lecturer and tutor in modern History, of Worcester College, Oxford.

He was Conservative member of Parliament for Oxford from 1917 to 1922, and for York from 1923 to 1929. After defeat in 1929 he retired from active politics.

During the course of his lifetime he wrote more than forty books on British and European history, as well as current political subjects.

He was knighted in 1924.

Marriott was born in Bowden, Cheshire, the son of a solicitor from a family of minor landowners. He was educated at Repton School and New College, Oxford, graduating in 1882 with a Second in Modern History. As an undergraduate he was an active member of the Canning Club, a Conservative society.

In 1883 Marriott became a lecturer in Modern History at New College, and soon after at Worcester College, of which he became a Fellow in 1914.

In 1886, he was recruited by M. E. Sadler as an Oxford University extension lecturer, to give lectures in towns across the country. He was a "natural platform orator... notable for characteristic gestures and the full sweep of his gown". In 1895 he became secretary of the Extension delegacy, which he remained until 1920.

Marriott wrote prolifically, on modern English and European history, the British Empire, and on political institutions. His books, aimed at a non-specialist audience, benefitted from his experience as an extension lecturer.

Marriott had been politically active as an undergraduate, and in 1885 was adopted as the Conservative candidate for East St Pancras, although he later withdrew. In 1886, he was selected for Rochdale but lost in the general election to the defending Liberal, Thomas Bayley Potter. He applied for selection as Conservative candidate for the Oxford University by-election in 1914, but was not successful.

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