Samuel Finer - Life

Life

Samuel Finer, the youngest of six children, was born 22 September 1915 to Romanian-Jewish immigrant parents who had emigrated to the United Kingdom, and who ran a greengrocer's stall at Chapel Street market, Islington. His parents were killed in London in January 1945 by V-2 rockets. One of his brothers, Herman, was also a distinguished political scientist. Although Herman emigrated to the United States, his achievement was, according to Finer, an early source of inspiration.

Finer went to Holloway School, where he won a scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford. He obtained a double first in modern history and modern Greats. After this, he began researching Sir Edwin Chadwick, a Benthamite civil servant. During World War II he served in the Royal Signals, where he attained the rank of captain. From 1946 to 1950, he taught politics at Balliol College, Oxford, acquiring an impressive reputation as a teacher and lecturer. From 1950 to 1966 he served as Professor of Political Institutions at the new University College of North Staffordshire (now Keele University). In 1966, he became head of the Department of Government at the University of Manchester, teaching Government and generally successfully contributing to the revival of the department's reputation. In 1974, he was made Gladstone Professor of Government at All Souls College. He retired from this post in 1982, but continued writing – see History of Government below.

He has been described as a charismatic lecturer and a very effective administrator. He believed that the academic study of politics required a firm grounding in history, and was sceptical of attempts to convert the subject into a science based on such deterministic frameworks as Marxism and behavioralism.

He was chairman of the Political Studies Association of the UK from 1965 to 1969 and was a vice-president of the International Political Science Association.

Samuel Finer was a passionate liberal democrat and supporter of the causes of electoral reform and Zionism. He was twice married and had two sons and one daughter. He died on 9 June 1993, aged 77, leaving a widow, Catherine.