John Richard Green

John Richard Green (1837–1883) was an English historian. Born in Oxford, he became a clergyman and worked for years in poor parishes in the East End of London while writing on history in his spare time. Ill health forced him to give up parish work, and he became librarian at Lambeth Palace. His Short History of the English People, published in 1874, was a great success because it put the life of the nation, its religion, literature and social conditions, ahead of kings and battles. He expanded it into the four-volume History of the English People and wrote The Making of England before tuberculosis ended his life at forty-five.