Hobsbawm scholars thank donors for support at portrait unveiling
Portrait of Professor Hobsbawm loaned to Birkbeck by Julia Hobsbawm
On Tuesday 11 November, recipients of Birkbeck’s Hobsbawm Scholarships and donors to the scholarship fund gathered at the College for the unveiling of a portrait of Professor Hobsbawm.
Professor Hobsbawm joined Birkbeck’s history department in 1947. This was to be the start of a lifelong association with the College. He became Professor in 1970 and Emeritus Professor of History in 1982. In 2002 he was made President of the College. He remained President until his death, aged 95, in 2012.
The portrait, painted in 1955 by Peter de Francia, is on loan to the College from Hobsbawm’s daughter, Julia, who unveiled the portrait at the event. The event was held to thank donors for their support of the scholarships and to give them a chance to meet the first students to have benefited from the new fund.
Julia said: “In the last couple of weeks my dad’s legacy seems to have come alive. This evening for the first time we’ve been able to meet some of the Hobsbawm scholars. When he died, we sat down with colleagues at Birkbeck and wanted to figure out the best way to commemorate his association with Birkbeck. There was no question of a building - he would only ever have wanted to help students. He loved his students at Birkbeck, and he never stopped admiring the enquiring mind of students.
“However, when the scholars were announced they were just names on a piece of paper and I thought, ‘The donors haven’t met the scholars and they’ve all given from the heart in exactly the spirit in which he taught.’ I realised the painting could and should move and I offered it to Birkbeck, where it can embody the fact that we’d like his spirit to live on. That was the genesis of this evening.”
Professor Latchman CBE, Master of Birkbeck, thanked Julia Hobsbawm for the loan of the portrait and said: “We feel an association with Eric, and it is therefore entirely appropriate that his portrait should hang in the council room. I thank all of you this evening who have supported these postgraduate scholarships. Young scholars are following in Eric’s footsteps, supported by those funds.”
Professor Sir Roderick Floud, who worked in the history department at Birkbeck with Eric for many years and now supports the Hobsbawm Scholarships fund, said: “This is exactly what Eric would have wanted – not a plaque or a building, but actual support for students. I think he would have been delighted.”
The portrait is hung in Birkbeck’s Council Room, alongside portraits of other former Presidents and Masters of the College. At one end hangs the portrait of George Birkbeck, the College’s founder, and at the other, hangs the portrait of Professor Hobsbawm. Tricia King, Pro-Vice-Master for Recruitment and Strategic Engagement and Director of External Relations, said: “This is the room where all the big decisions are taken at Birkbeck, and for many years we have looked to George Birkbeck – the founder of the College. We now have another giant of Birkbeck in our presence. Our 19th century and our 20th century sit in this room. We are delighted and we will be very proud to have him with us.”
- Make a donation to the Hobsbawm Scholarship fund
- Find out about applications to the Hobsbawm Scholarship fund
- Listen to a podcast from the event