Michael Maclagan
Encyclopedia
Michael Maclagan, CVO
, FSA
, FRHistS
(born 14 April 1914, London
- died 13 August 2003, Oxford
) was a British historian, antiquary
and herald
. He was Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Trinity College, Oxford
for more than forty years, and a long-serving officer of arms
.
and Christ Church, Oxford
. He graduated from Christ Church with a first class degree in 1935, and was awarded the Gladstone Memorial Exhibition. After two years as a lecturer at Christ Church, he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College
in 1939 (the last Fellow to be so elected before the outbreak of war
). At both Winchester and Oxford he was a member of the Officer Training Corps; and he served as President of the Oxford University Archaeological Society
.
in the 16th/5th Lancers, Royal Armoured Corps
. He spent much of the war in staff and intelligence jobs: for a period he was in Cairo, but he was subsequently posted to Military Operations in the War Office
in London, where his proficiency in Italian and Serbo-Croat stood him in good stead. He ultimately reached the rank of major.
scholar John Phillips Cooper (1920-1978). He held various college offices (including Dean, Librarian, Senior Tutor, Vice-President, and steward of the Senior Common Room)
; was Senior Proctor
for the University in 1954-5; and he also served as Senior Librarian (1960-70) and Trustee (1970-99) of the Oxford Union
.
Outside the University, he served as a university-appointed alderman
on Oxford City Council
, and held the offices of Sheriff in 1964-5, and Lord Mayor
in 1970-71. He served as Chairman of the Oxford Diocesan
Advisory Committee, 1961-85; and as Master of the Scriveners' Company
, 1988-9.
He had lifelong interests in heraldry
and genealogy
, and served both as a private officer of arms
and at the College of Arms
in London. He began his heraldic career in 1948 with an appointment as Slains Pursuivant of Arms
, and held that office until 1970. This appointment was made by the Chief of the Name and Arms of Hay after the resurgence of private armorial officers following World War II.
In 1953 Maclagan was made an Officer Brother of the Venerable Order of Saint John
, and served as a Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation
and as a Green Staff Officer at the Investiture of the Prince of Wales
in 1969. In 1970, he was appointed Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary
at the College of Arms. He held this post for 10 years until his promotion to the office of Richmond Herald
on 14 July 1980. Maclagan held this last office until his retirement in 1989, at the age of 75.
On his retirement from Trinity in 1981, a portrait of Maclagan in his herald's tabard
by Paul Brason was commissioned by the Trinity Society and presented to the College: it is now hung in the screens passage
to the College dining hall.
as an "antiquary
" (rather than an historian), which describes him well. Patric Dickinson
, in the Independent, called him "the quintessential Oxford don - a scholar of the old school, erudite, antiquarian and stylish", who "seemed to have strayed from an earlier age". He had an eclectic range of historical interests spanning all periods (particularly, but far from exclusively, in the fields of genealogy, heraldry and bibliography); he was more concerned with arcane detail, for which he had a remarkable memory, than with grand narrative
; and he tended to pursue topics and projects which appealed to him, rather than those which might advance his career. All this meant that, regrettably, he published less than he might have done.
He was a proficient linguist, fluent in Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian and Serbo-Croat, and with some knowledge of Arabic. His first book, in 1949, was a translation of part of the Venerable Bede
's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
.
Many of his core interests were genealogical. He had a longstanding expertise in the history of the medieval Anglo-Norman family of de Clare
, although little of this came to print. His principal foray into modern history was a well-received biography of a kinsman (through his mother), the first Earl Canning
, who was Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857
and first Viceroy
of India. He is best known to students of royal and noble genealogies and royal families as co-author (with Jiří Louda, who compiled and drew the tables, while Maclagan wrote the text) of the best-selling Lines of Succession, first published in 1981, and subsequently reprinted and revised on several occasions.
He was also interested in Byzantine
history, and in 1968 published a history of Constantinople
. For many years he spent part of his summer vacation as a popular lecturer on Swan Hellenic
cruises in the eastern Mediterranean.
He was a keen bibliophile
, and built up an extensive collection of rare books. In 1960 he published an edition of Bishop Richard de Bury's Philobiblon, one of the earliest studies of librarianship. He was a meticulous indexer: his biography of Canning was awarded the Society of Indexers
' Wheatley Medal in 1962; and in 1988 he compiled the index for Francis Jones
's Catalogue of Welsh Manuscripts in the College of Arms.
. His mother, Helen Elizabeth Lascelles (10 October 1879-19 October 1942), who married Eric Maclagan on 8 July 1913, was a granddaughter of the 4th Earl of Harewood
: she was a sister of Sir Alan "Tommy" Lascelles
, Private Secretary
to King George VI and a second cousin once removed to the 7th Earl of Harewood who married Mary, Princess Royal
, only daughter of King George V
and sister to King George VI.
Maclagan's paternal grandfather was the Most Reverend William Dalrymple Maclagan
(1826–1910), Archbishop of York
from 1891 to 1908, and the cleric who had crowned Queen Alexandra in 1902. His paternal grandmother, second wife of the Archbishop, was the Honourable Augusta Anne Barrington (1836–1915), daughter of the 6th Viscount Barrington. (Augusta Maclagan had money settled upon her when she married Maclagan, then Bishop of Lichfield, in 1878: about half her money was settled on her son Eric when he married in 1913, giving him and his wife a considerable degree of financial independence.)
Through both his mother and his paternal grandmother, Maclagan thus had connections to several British aristocratic families and through them, royal descent. The Honourable Augusta Maclagan was a great-granddaughter of the 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne; thus making her grandson Michael Maclagan a distant kinsman to the Queen
.
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, FSA
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, FRHistS
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
(born 14 April 1914, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- died 13 August 2003, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
) was a British historian, antiquary
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
and herald
Officer of arms
An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate armorial matters*to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state...
. He was Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
for more than forty years, and a long-serving officer of arms
Officer of arms
An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate armorial matters*to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state...
.
Career
Maclagan was educated at Winchester CollegeWinchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church
-Churches in Australia:* Christ Church, Lavender Bay, Sydney* Christ Church, Rouse Hill, Sydney* Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney-England:* Christ Church, Alsager, Cheshire* Christ Church, Ashford, Kent* Christ Church, Bacup, Lancashire...
. He graduated from Christ Church with a first class degree in 1935, and was awarded the Gladstone Memorial Exhibition. After two years as a lecturer at Christ Church, he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
in 1939 (the last Fellow to be so elected before the outbreak of war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
). At both Winchester and Oxford he was a member of the Officer Training Corps; and he served as President of the Oxford University Archaeological Society
Oxford University Archaeological Society
Oxford University Archaeological Society is a society at the University of Oxford, which promotes matters of archaeological interest through lectures, excursions and fieldwork. Its membership is not restricted to students, although it is generally run by undergraduate and graduate members of the...
.
World War II
In February 1941, Maclagan was commissioned a second lieutenantSecond Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in the 16th/5th Lancers, Royal Armoured Corps
Royal Armoured Corps
The Royal Armoured Corps is currently a collection of ten regular regiments, mostly converted from old horse cavalry regiments, and four Yeomanry regiments of the Territorial Army...
. He spent much of the war in staff and intelligence jobs: for a period he was in Cairo, but he was subsequently posted to Military Operations in the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
in London, where his proficiency in Italian and Serbo-Croat stood him in good stead. He ultimately reached the rank of major.
Post-war
In 1946, Maclagan returned to Trinity College, where he remained as Fellow and Tutor in Modern History until his retirement in 1981. For many years he shared teaching duties with the early modernEarly modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
scholar John Phillips Cooper (1920-1978). He held various college offices (including Dean, Librarian, Senior Tutor, Vice-President, and steward of the Senior Common Room)
Common Room (university)
In some universities in the United Kingdom — particularly collegiate universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Durham — students and the academic body are organised into common rooms...
; was Senior Proctor
Proctor
Proctor, a variant of the word procurator, is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The word proctor is frequently used to describe someone who oversees an exam or dormitory.The title is used in England in three principal senses:...
for the University in 1954-5; and he also served as Senior Librarian (1960-70) and Trustee (1970-99) of the Oxford Union
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
.
Outside the University, he served as a university-appointed alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
on Oxford City Council
Oxford City Council
The Oxford City Council provides local government for the city of Oxford in England.- Overview :Between the 2004 local elections, and 2010 the council was in minority administration, first by councillors from the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats being the official opposition...
, and held the offices of Sheriff in 1964-5, and Lord Mayor
Mayors of Oxford
The earliest recorded Mayor of Oxford in England was Laurence Kepeharm .Since 1962 there has been a Lord Mayor of Oxford. Notable figures who have been Lord Mayor of Oxford include J. N. L. Baker , Air-Vice-Marshal William Foster Macneece Foster and Olive Gibbs .The Lord Mayor for 2010–11 is Cllr....
in 1970-71. He served as Chairman of the Oxford Diocesan
Diocese of Oxford
-History:The Diocese of Oxford was created in 1541 out of part of the Diocese of Lincoln.In 1836 the Archdeaconry of Berkshire was transferred from the Diocese of Salisbury to Oxford...
Advisory Committee, 1961-85; and as Master of the Scriveners' Company
Worshipful Company of Scriveners
The Worshipful Company of Scriveners of the City of London is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It is also known as the Mysterie of Writers of the Court Letter. The Company had been responsible for setting qualifications and regulations for scrivener notaries since its foundation...
, 1988-9.
He had lifelong interests in heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
and genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
, and served both as a private officer of arms
Private Officer of Arms
A private officer of arms is one of those heralds and pursuivants appointed by great noble houses to handle all heraldic and genealogical questions.-History:...
and at the College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in London. He began his heraldic career in 1948 with an appointment as Slains Pursuivant of Arms
Slains Pursuivant
Slains Pursuivant of Arms is a private officer of arms appointed by the Chief of the Name and Arms of Hay – presently the Earl of Erroll, Lord High Constable of Scotland. It is believed that the Hay family had an officer of arms since the time that the office of Lord High Constable was forfeited by...
, and held that office until 1970. This appointment was made by the Chief of the Name and Arms of Hay after the resurgence of private armorial officers following World War II.
In 1953 Maclagan was made an Officer Brother of the Venerable Order of Saint John
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
, and served as a Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally crowned and invested with regalia...
and as a Green Staff Officer at the Investiture of the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
in 1969. In 1970, he was appointed Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary
Portcullis Pursuivant
Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary is a junior officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. The office is named after the Portcullis chained Or badge of the Beauforts, which was a favourite device of King Henry VII. King Henry's mother was Lady Margaret Beaufort. The office was...
at the College of Arms. He held this post for 10 years until his promotion to the office of Richmond Herald
Richmond Herald
Richmond Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms of the College of Arms in England. From 1421 to 1485 Richmond was a herald to John, Duke of Bedford, George, Duke of Clarence, and Henry, Earl of Richmond, all of whom held the Honour of Richmond...
on 14 July 1980. Maclagan held this last office until his retirement in 1989, at the age of 75.
On his retirement from Trinity in 1981, a portrait of Maclagan in his herald's tabard
Tabard
A tabard is a short coat, either sleeveless, or with short sleeves or shoulder pieces, which was a common item of men's clothing in the Middle Ages, usually for outdoors. It might be belted, or not...
by Paul Brason was commissioned by the Trinity Society and presented to the College: it is now hung in the screens passage
Great hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, nobleman's castle or a large manor house in the Middle Ages, and in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. At that time the word great simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence...
to the College dining hall.
Scholarship
Maclagan was characterised by his obituary-writer in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
as an "antiquary
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
" (rather than an historian), which describes him well. Patric Dickinson
Patric Laurence Dickinson
Patric Laurence Dickinson, LVO is Clarenceux King of Arms.Dickinson was educated at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire before going up to Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated as MA. He was President of the Oxford Union Society and was subsequently called to the bar at the Middle Temple...
, in the Independent, called him "the quintessential Oxford don - a scholar of the old school, erudite, antiquarian and stylish", who "seemed to have strayed from an earlier age". He had an eclectic range of historical interests spanning all periods (particularly, but far from exclusively, in the fields of genealogy, heraldry and bibliography); he was more concerned with arcane detail, for which he had a remarkable memory, than with grand narrative
Metanarrative
A metanarrative , in critical theory and particularly postmodernism, is an abstract idea that is thought to be a comprehensive explanation of historical experience or knowledge. According to John Stephens, it "is a global or totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge...
; and he tended to pursue topics and projects which appealed to him, rather than those which might advance his career. All this meant that, regrettably, he published less than he might have done.
He was a proficient linguist, fluent in Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian and Serbo-Croat, and with some knowledge of Arabic. His first book, in 1949, was a translation of part of the Venerable Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...
.
Many of his core interests were genealogical. He had a longstanding expertise in the history of the medieval Anglo-Norman family of de Clare
De Clare
The de Clare family of Norman lords were associated with the Welsh Marches, Suffolk, Surrey, Kent and Ireland. They were descended from Richard fitz Gilbert, who accompanied William the Conqueror into England during the Norman conquest of England.-Origins:The Clare family descends from Gilbert...
, although little of this came to print. His principal foray into modern history was a well-received biography of a kinsman (through his mother), the first Earl Canning
Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning
Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning KG, GCB, PC , known as The Viscount Canning from 1837 to 1859, was an English statesman and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.-Background and education:...
, who was Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
and first Viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of India. He is best known to students of royal and noble genealogies and royal families as co-author (with Jiří Louda, who compiled and drew the tables, while Maclagan wrote the text) of the best-selling Lines of Succession, first published in 1981, and subsequently reprinted and revised on several occasions.
He was also interested in Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
history, and in 1968 published a history of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. For many years he spent part of his summer vacation as a popular lecturer on Swan Hellenic
Swan Hellenic
Swan Hellenic is a British cruise line specialising in tours of historical or cultural interest aimed at the upper end of the cruise market.-History:...
cruises in the eastern Mediterranean.
He was a keen bibliophile
Bibliophilia
Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. A bookworm is someone who loves books for their content, or who otherwise loves reading. The -ia-suffixed form "bibliophilia" is sometimes considered to be an incorrect usage; the older...
, and built up an extensive collection of rare books. In 1960 he published an edition of Bishop Richard de Bury's Philobiblon, one of the earliest studies of librarianship. He was a meticulous indexer: his biography of Canning was awarded the Society of Indexers
Society of Indexers
The Society of Indexers is a professional society based in the UK, with its offices in Sheffield, England, but has members worldwide.It exists to promote indexing, the quality of indexes and the profession of indexing. It provides a distance training course in indexing leading to its qualification...
' Wheatley Medal in 1962; and in 1988 he compiled the index for Francis Jones
Francis Jones (Welsh historian)
Major Francis Jones CVO, TD, DL, FSA, MA, KStJ , was an author, archivist, historian and officer of arms.-Early and private life:...
's Catalogue of Welsh Manuscripts in the College of Arms.
Family and royal ancestry
Michael Maclagan was the son of Sir Eric Maclagan (1879-1951), for many years director of the Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
. His mother, Helen Elizabeth Lascelles (10 October 1879-19 October 1942), who married Eric Maclagan on 8 July 1913, was a granddaughter of the 4th Earl of Harewood
Earl of Harewood
Earl of Harewood, in the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1812 for Edward Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood, a wealthy sugar plantation owner and former Member of Parliament for Northallerton...
: she was a sister of Sir Alan "Tommy" Lascelles
Alan Lascelles
Sir Alan Frederick "Tommy" Lascelles, GCB, GCVO, CMG, MC was a British courtier and civil servant who held several positions in the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in his position as Private Secretary to both King George VI and to Queen Elizabeth II...
, Private Secretary
Private Secretary
In the United Kingdom government, a Private Secretary is a civil servant in a Department or Ministry, responsible to the Secretary of State or Minister...
to King George VI and a second cousin once removed to the 7th Earl of Harewood who married Mary, Princess Royal
Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a style customarily awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter. The style is held for life, so a princess cannot be given the style during the lifetime of another Princess Royal...
, only daughter of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and sister to King George VI.
Maclagan's paternal grandfather was the Most Reverend William Dalrymple Maclagan
William Dalrymple Maclagan
William Dalrymple Maclagan PC was Archbishop of York from 1891 to 1908, when he resigned his office, and was succeeded in 1909 by Cosmo Gordon Lang, later Archbishop of Canterbury...
(1826–1910), Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
from 1891 to 1908, and the cleric who had crowned Queen Alexandra in 1902. His paternal grandmother, second wife of the Archbishop, was the Honourable Augusta Anne Barrington (1836–1915), daughter of the 6th Viscount Barrington. (Augusta Maclagan had money settled upon her when she married Maclagan, then Bishop of Lichfield, in 1878: about half her money was settled on her son Eric when he married in 1913, giving him and his wife a considerable degree of financial independence.)
Through both his mother and his paternal grandmother, Maclagan thus had connections to several British aristocratic families and through them, royal descent. The Honourable Augusta Maclagan was a great-granddaughter of the 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne; thus making her grandson Michael Maclagan a distant kinsman to the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
.
Personal life
Maclagan was twice married. His first marriage in 1939 to a cousin, Brenda Alexander, was dissolved by divorce in 1946. His second marriage in 1949 to Jean Elizabeth Brooksbank Garnett lasted almost 54 years; she died on 3 August 2003. He died ten days later on the day of her funeral. Maclagan had a son by his first marriage, and a son (who died, aged 26, in 1984) and two daughters by his second marriage.Publications
- "The Family of Dormer in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire", Oxoniensia, vol. 11-12 (1946-7), pp. 90-101.
- Venerable Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation: books I and II, translated into English with notes and introduction by Michael Maclagan. Oxford: Blackwell, 1949.
- With J.P. Wells. Oxford City Libraries, 1854-1954. Oxford, 1954.
- Trinity College, 1555-1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955.
- "Genealogy and Heraldry in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries", in Levi Fox (ed.), English Historical Scholarship in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Dugdale Society (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 31-48.
- "Governors General of India: 3, 'Clemency' Canning", History Today, vol. 9 (1959), pp. 233-42.
- Ricardus d’Aungerville, Bishop of Durham, Philobiblon, text and translation of E.C. Thomas, edited with a foreword by Michael Maclagan. Oxford: Blackwell, privately printed 1960; published 1970.
- "Clemency" Canning: Charles John, 1st Earl Canning, Governor-General and Viceroy of India, 1856-1862. London: Macmillan, 1962.
- "The White Mutiny", in H.R. Trevor-Roper (ed.), Essays in British History presented to Sir Keith Feiling (New York & London, 1964), pp. 271-301.
- The City of Constantinople. London: Thames & Hudson, 1968.
- With Jiří Louda. Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe. London: Orbis & New York: Clarkson Potter, 1981; revised and updated edition, 1991; adapted small-format edition, 2002. (The 1981 American edition was published as Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, but later editions took the European title.)
- "Genealogy and the Medieval Historian", in English Genealogical Congress: selected papers given at the Congresses of 1978 and 1984 (London, 1986), pp. 7-14.
- "The Ancestry of the English Beaumonts", in L.L. Brook (ed.), Studies in Genealogy and Family History in tribute to Charles Evans on the occasion of his eightieth birthday (Salt Lake City, 1989), pp. 190-96.
Sources
- "Michael Maclagan", Trinity College Oxford Report (1981), pp. 7-8.
- "Lives in Brief" (Obituary), The Times, 21 August 2003
- Obituary, by P.L. DickinsonPatric Laurence DickinsonPatric Laurence Dickinson, LVO is Clarenceux King of Arms.Dickinson was educated at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire before going up to Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated as MA. He was President of the Oxford Union Society and was subsequently called to the bar at the Middle Temple...
, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 2 September 2003 - Obituary, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 16 September 2003 - Canning genealogy, showing Maclagan-Lascelles marriage
- Lascelles family, Lascelles family genealogy
- The College of Arms
- CUHAGS Officer of Arms Index
See also
- HeraldryHeraldryHeraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
- PursuivantPursuivantA pursuivant or, more correctly, pursuivant of arms, is a junior officer of arms. Most pursuivants are attached to official heraldic authorities, such as the College of Arms in London or the Court of the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh. In the mediaeval era, many great nobles employed their own officers of...
- HeraldHeraldA herald, or, more correctly, a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is often applied erroneously to all officers of arms....