Professor William Howard Greenleaf (1927-2008) was an eminent historian of British political thought and institutions whose principal scholarly legacy is his monumental study of
The British Political Tradition. A libertarian conservative in outlook, his methodological approach to the study of politics was historical, philosophical, and literary, and firmly dismissive of positivist political science.
Born in Surrey, Greenleaf received a grammar school education in Croydon before a period of National Service in the Royal Navy, during which time he served with the Occupation Forces in Japan. He then resumed his education at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), from which he attained a First-Class Honours degree in 1951 and a Ph.D. in 1954. He was taught by the
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Citation: Grosvenor, Peter Christopher. "W. H. Greenleaf". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 May 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15442, accessed 20 June 2025.]