Two faculty honored by British government

By Jennifer Greenstein Altmann on Jan. 26, 2009, 11:13 a.m.

Two Princeton faculty members have been awarded high honors by the British government. David Cannadine, the Whitney Oates Senior Research Scholar in the Council of the Humanities and a lecturer in the history department, has received a knighthood. Linda Colley, the Shelby Davis 1958 Professor of History, has been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

The appointments were announced Jan. 1.

Cannadine, who was recognized for "services to scholarship," is a prominent economic and social historian whose scholarship focuses on British history from 1800 to 2000. His 2007 book, "Mellon: An American Life," is a biography of financier Andrew Mellon. His other books include "Aspects of Aristocracy: Grandeur and Decline in Modern Britain," "Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire" and "In Churchill's Shadow: Confronting the Past in Modern Britain." He currently is a consultant to the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London.

Colley, who was recognized for "services to historical studies," is an expert on Britain since 1700 who examines the country's past in a broader European, imperial and global context. Her book "The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History," about an obscure 18th-century travel writer, was published in 2007. Her other works include "Captives: Britain, Empire and the World 1600-1850," "Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837" and "In Defiance of Oligarchy: The Tory Party 1714-1760."

Cannadine and Colley, who are married, came to Princeton in 2003.

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