The history man

History had been Wedgwood's favourite subject at school, and he maintained a keen, indeed an increasing, interest in it throughout his life. Before 1914 he had published two history books, A history of the Wedgwood family in 1909 and Staffordshire pottery and its history in 1913. The first of these was a genealogical history privately published for the benefit of the family. It was written in typical Wedgwood style – simple and straightforward – easy to read, without ever becoming gripping. Staffordshire pottery and its history, on the other hand, written for public consumption, was widely reviewed and sold well. The Times thought that ‘as a history of a great industry and a study in sociological conditions it has a real and permanent value’. The Manchester Guardian saw in the work a reflection of Wedgwood's political style:

He also wrote several articles on local medieval history for the Collections for a History of Staffordshires, published by the county antiquarian society, of which he was honorary secretary for ten years from 1909. The most significant of these was ‘A biographical and political account of all the MPs for Staffordshire from 1258 to 1832’, which was ready to go to press when war broke out in 1914, and in which Wedgwood combined his fascinations for antiquarianism and parliament, and from which eventually grew the History of Parliament project.

For Wedgwood, writing history was both a mark of pride in the family, county and parliament to which he belonged and a conscious affirmation of his political beliefs. His was an extreme example of the Liberalism characterised by Victor Feske for which ‘more than for any of its rival political doctrines, the interpretation of history mattered desperately’.