Robert William Seton-Watson
| Robert William Seton-Watson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
20 August 1879 London, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 25 July 1951 (aged 71) Skye, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Years active | 1901–1949 |
| Known for | Political activist |
| Title | President, Royal Historical Society |
| Term | 1946–1949 |
| Children |
Hugh Seton-Watson Christopher Seton-Watson Mary Seton-Watson |
| Parent(s) |
William Livingstone Watson Elizabeth Lindsay Seton |
| Notes | |
Robert William Seton-Watson (London, 20 August 1879 – Skye, 25 July 1951), commonly referred to as R.W. Seton-Watson and also known by the pseudonym Scotus Viator, was a British political activist and historian who played an active role in encouraging the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the emergence of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia during and after World War I.
He was the father of two eminent historians, Hugh, who specialised in nineteenth-century Russian history, and Christopher, who worked on nineteenth-century Italy.
Seton-Watson was born in London to Scottish parents. His father, William Livingstone Watson, had been a tea-merchant in Calcutta, and his mother, Elizabeth Lindsay Seton, was the daughter of George Seton, a genealogist and historian and the son of George Seton of the East India Company. His inherited wealth, of Indian origin, later assisted his activities on behalf of Europe's subject peoples.
He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he read modern history under the historian and politician Herbert Fisher. He graduated with a first-class degree in 1901.
After graduation, Seton-Watson travelled to Berlin University, the Sorbonne and Vienna University, from where he wrote a number of articles on Hungary for The Spectator. His research for these articles took him to Hungary in 1906, and his discoveries there turned his sympathies against Hungary and in favour of then subjected Slovaks, Romanians, and the Southern Slavs. He learned Hungarian, Serbian and Czech, and, in 1908, he published his first major work, Racial Problems in Hungary.
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