Henry Pelling

Henry Mathison Pelling (27 August 1920 – 14 October 1997) was a British historian best known for his works on the history of the British Labour Party, including:

• The Origins of the Labour Party (1954) and
• A Short History of the Labour Party (1961) (later editions co-written with Alastair J. Reid)

He was also a pioneer of the serious study of twentieth-century electoral and party politics, and wrote such other works as:

• Modern Britain 1885-1955
• Social Geography of British Elections: 1885-1910
• Winston Churchill
• Britain and the Marshall Plan
• American Labor
• A History of British Trade Unionism, London, 1963
• America and the British left: from Bright to Bevan
• The British Communist Party: a historical profile
• The 1945 General Election Reconsidered
• Popular Politics and Society in Late Victorian Britain
• Britain and the Second World War

Pelling was educated at Birkenhead School and St John's College, Cambridge, where he gained firsts in part I of the Classical tripos and part II of the Historical tripos. His collection of British left-wing political pamphlets is held at Senate House Library, while his papers are lodged with St John's College.