Ivan Roots obituary

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/mar/26/ivan-roots

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The historian Ivan Roots, who has died aged 93, was one of a group of academics who tried to rescue Oliver Cromwell from his image as a “conservative dictator” by focusing as much on his statesmanship after the civil war as on his role as a general during it.

Roots was prolific as an author and editor, and although he never wrote a full-length biography of Cromwell, he edited as well as contributed to many collections of new writings on the man, as well as the 1650s period that he did so much to shape. His best-known book, The Great Rebellion (1966), an elegant assessment of the period 1642-60, is still in print after half a century.

His first major work came in 1957, when with Donald Pennington he co-edited the surviving order book of the parliamentary committee, which sat at Stafford during the civil war. His last substantial publication, a concise history of Devon during the Cromwellian and Restoration period, appeared in 2003. He also edited or provided new introductions to key primary sources, including Cromwell’s speeches and the principal parliamentary diaries of the three Protectorate parliaments. As well as his influence in reappraising Cromwell and the 1650s, his published work helped to stimulate further research on early modern county government. He was president of the Cromwell Association for 12 years from the late 70s onwards, and chose “the humanity of Oliver Cromwell” as the theme for his first major address to that body, portraying him as a much warmer and more humane figure than had previously been allowed.

Roots was born in Maidstone, one of five sons of Frank, a former Royal Navy stoker, and Ellen (nee Snashfold). He was educated first at Maidstone grammar school and then at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was tutored by the young Marxist historian Christopher Hill, subsequently a close and lifelong friend. At Oxford he became fascinated by the radical outburst that followed the English civil war, particularly the direct action communal farming group known as the Diggers. After graduating he joined the Royal Corps of Signals in 1941 and served in India and Burma, ending the war as a captain and seeing action at the Battle of the Admin Box (Ngakyedauk) in 1944.

His first academic post was at University College, Cardiff (now Cardiff University) and it was there that he met and, in 1947, married, Tegwyn Williams, daughter of a Labour councillor from the Ebbw Vale area. In 1967 he moved to the University of Exeter, where he accepted a chair in history, in due course serving terms as head of department and dean of faculty. He remained there for the rest of his university career until 1986, after which he had a long and productive retirement that included much writing and lecturing.

He was always forthcoming with his time, serving as president or chairman of a number of bodies, including the history section of the Devonshire Association, the Devon and Cornwall Record Society, and the Exeter branch of the Historical Association. He spoke frequently to local history societies, and was equally generous as a reviewer of essays and papers, contributing assessments to a wide range of academic and popular titles. As a past editor of a journal for which he regularly reviewed, I keenly awaited the arrival of Ivan’s reviews, usually handwritten, often – like Cromwell – making use of every inch of space on the page by turning it 90 degrees and adding more material around the edges. His words were sometimes tricky to decipher but always worth the effort.

He is survived by Tegwyn and by their children, Gerrard and Kate.

• Ivan Alan Roots, historian, born 3 March 1921; died 8 February 2015