Charles Wilson (historian)

Wilson was honored with the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1981. He also served as a Fellow of the Royal Danish Academy (1970), Fellow of the Royal Academy of Belgium (1973), Vice President of the Royal Historical Society (1981–1986). He received honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge, the University of Groningen (1964), and the University of Louvain (1977).

Wilson was professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge from 1965 to 1979, and served as chair for 11 of those years. Wilson later taught at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy from 1975 to 1981, where he was professor of history and civilization, and later head of the department.

The first two volumes of his three-volume history of Unilever were published in 1954. The series critically examined the history of Unilever, a British-Dutch consumer-goods corporation. He analyzed the stages of growth, its adaptation to market preferences, and its expansion throughout the 20th century. The book marked a shift in the way business history was studied, engaging with the study of entrepreneurs and intra-firm dynamics. The study was commissioned by Geoffrey Heyworth, chairman of Unilever, to write a large-scale, independent, academic study of the business.

Wilson married Angela Marshman, a solicitor's secretary, on 21 October 1939. Together they had one daughter. The couple divorced, and Wilson subsequently married Alena Emilie Horesovska, a school teacher from Czechoslovakia, on 23 March 1972.

Wilson was born in Market Rasen in Lincolnshire to Joseph Edwin Wilson and Louisa Maria née Berridge. He was educated at De Aston Grammar School. His forebears included small farmers and small businessmen, which contributed to his scepticism of the Marxism that was fashionable during the 1930s.

Charles Henry Wilson CBE (16 April 1914 – 1 August 1991) was an English business historian and Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge. His best known work is his multi-volume history of Unilever, which is credited with establishing corporate history as a subject worthy of academic attention in the UK.