George Grote
George Grote ( born November 17 1794 in Clay Hill near Beckenham, London today, † June 18, 1871 in London ) was an English historian.
George Grote ( pron. groht ), derived from an originally German family, was educated at Charterhouse School and joined, 16 years old, in the banker his father's business, but devoted himself next to the study of the ancient classics, and took an active part in the political movements of his time.
In 1821 he published an anonymous pamphlet against Sir James Mackintosh 's Essay on parliamentary reform and later wrote a small work: On the essentials of parliamentary reform.
In December 1832 elected to Parliament for London, he joined the Radical Party and stood. particularly the introduction of the secret ballot ( Ballot ) to the task he applied for every year. Since, however, he failed to defeat the Conservatives and a large part of the Whigs, he put 1841 down from his position and entered a half years later also from the banking business, to be only with the preparation of his History of Greece (London 1846 -56, 12 vols plus 2 vols digressions; . 5th edition 1883 12Bde; . German, 2nd edition, Berlin 1880, 4 vols; sections mythology and Antiques from this particular translated by T. Fischer, Leipzig to employ 1856-60, 4 vols ), which he started 1823, and which is characterized by thoroughness of the research as well as through popularity and beauty of presentation. It includes all the time from the first beginnings of the Greek people to the death of Alexander the Great.
Grote's republican sentiments makes itself felt in the favorable assessment of the Athenian democracy. This is followed by Plato and the other companions of Socrates concluded (1864, 3 vols, 4th ed 1885); a similar work on Aristotle (edited by Bain and Robertson, 1872, 2 vols, 2nd edition 1879) remained unfinished.
The University of Oxford in 1853 appointed him an honorary doctorate; In 1868, he became Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, which he co-founded, too. He died on 18 June 1871, and was buried next to Edward Gibbon in Westminster Abbey. George Grote was related via the common ancestor Helmcke Grote, merchant in Bremen, with the Baltic German noble family " von Grote ".
From his estate appeared:
- Minor works, with. critical remarks (1873 );
- Fragments on ethical subjects (1876 ) and
- Seven letters, Concerning the poliltics of Switzerland pending the outbreak of civil war in s 1847 (1876); a study of the federal battle.
His spirit and education par with him wife Harriet Grote (who died on December 29, 1878) gave after his death his biography out ( German of Leopold Seligmann, Leipzig 1874).