University of York historian awarded OBE
Posted on 2 January 2008
Professor Walvin, who retired three years ago, was honoured for ‘services to scholarship’. He is an expert on the history of slavery and played a leading role in events last year to mark the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the slave trade in the British colonies.
He was one of the principal speakers in a three-day international conference, staged by the University last April, focusing on the continuing legacy of Abolition. As a precursor, Professor Walvin also gave a Historical Association Lecture on Why did the British abolish the slave trade?
He was also curator of two exhibitions on Abolition — in the Palace of Westminster and in Birmingham — and he is co-editor of the journal Slavery and Abolition.
Professor Walvin has also written an authoritative history of football The Only Game — Football In Our Times.
ENDS