John Horace Round

(John) Horace Round (22 February 1854 – 24 June 1928) was a historian and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the portion of Domesday Book (1086) covering Essex into English. As an expert in the history of the British peerage, he was appointed honorary historical adviser to the Crown.

Family and early life

Round was born on 22 February 1854 in Hove, Sussex. His parents were John Round (died 1887), a barrister, of West Bergholt, Essex, and Laura, the daughter of the poet Horatio Smith (died 1864). His family history appears in Burke's Landed Gentry, a publication he regularly criticised for its inaccuracies, although there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the entry for his family. His birthplace, 15 Brunswick Terrace, is marked with a blue plaque.

Following his childhood education, he went up to Balliol College, Oxford in 1874, where he read for a degree in Modern History. In the final examinations in 1879, he obtained a bachelor of arts with first class honours; he qualified for an M.A. in 1881.

Though a native of Sussex, he had many interests in Essex, and was both deputy lieutenant and lord of the manor of Bergholt Hall, West Bergholt in that county. A relative owned Colchester Castle, and his grandfather John had been a member of parliament in Essex. He never married.

Round was a cousin to the Round family of Birch Hall, Essex, members of which included Charles Gray Round, James Round, and Charles Round.

Work as a genealogist and writer

He contributed to many publications (most notably The Complete Peerage, the Dictionary of National Biography (first edition) and the Victoria County History (VCH)) and was the author of several significant works. His translation and discussion of the Essex Domesday (VCH Essex, vol. 1) is widely regarded as a masterpiece, and is of national significance; this contrasts with his books, where he often indulged in castigating his contemporaries. He pursued disputes with other academics vigorously, and on more than one occasion, the level of acrimony was sufficiently high that the editor was forced to close correspondence on the subject. His feud with Hubert Hall relating to the publication in 1897 of the 13th-century Red Book of the Exchequer (on which Round had originally been co-editor) became particularly acerbic. Round's writings also betray antisemitic sympathies. Writing of the Aliens Act 1905, he referred to: