British Academy Fellow honoured by All Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History

A Fellow of the British Academy has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award in history from the British Parliament.

Sir Tom Devine OBE, Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Historical Studies from the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on History and Archives at a ceremony at the House of Commons yesterday.

The ceremony was attended by members of both Houses of Parliament.

Sir Tom, who was born in Motherwell, is the first historian from a Scottish university to receive the award.

Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Principal Chair of the Group, commented:

“Sir Tom has long been a top authority on the history of Scotland and expert at weaving a deep understanding of Scotland’s past into the debates that will shape its present and future. I am delighted that he is the first Scottish historian to receive the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s Lifetime Achievement Award and that his wife Catherine is able to join us in accepting it.”

Sir Tom joins other distinguished academics including the late Professor Eric Hobsbawm, the late Lord Asa Briggs, Sir Keith Thomas and Sir Michael Howard on the list of recipients.

Known for his bestselling books on Scottish history, Sir Tom’s academic career spans 45 years including posts at the University of Strathclyde, where he was deputy principal, and the University of Aberdeen. He has written and published on all aspects of Scottish history, from the middle ages through to the modern day. He is a frequent media commentator and active campaigner on issues as diverse as Scottish independence, protection of battlefield sites, Brexit, Scotland’s diaspora, and much more.

His next book, The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600-1900, will be published in October this year.