death_date death_place birth_place birth_date image article_title name occupation
14 august 1905 st leonards , east sussex hampstead , london 1 february 1856 william-laird-clowes . jpg william laird clowes
 sir william laird clowes journalist and historian
william laird clowes

sir william laird clowes -lrb- 1 february 1856 -- 14 august 1905 -rrb- was a british journalist and historian whose principal work was `` the royal navy , a history from the earliest times to 1900 '' , a text that is still in print .
he also wrote numerous technical pieces on naval technology and strategy and was also noted for his articles concerning racial politics in the southern united states .
despite having trained as a lawyer , clowes had always preferred literature and writing , publishing his first work in 1876 and becoming a full-time journalist in 1879 .
for the services rendered in his career , clowes was knighted , awarded the gold medal of the united states naval institute and given a civil list pension .
he died in sussex in 1905 after years of ill-health .
