Charles Manning

Charles Anthony Woodward Manning (18 November 1894 – 10 March 1978) was a South African academic. He is considered to be a leading figure in the English School tradition of international relations scholarship.

Early life and education Charles was the son of Dumaresque Williamson Manning and Helena Isabella Bell. He was educated at the Diocesan College (Bishops), Rondebosch, the South African College, Cape Town; and as a Rhodes Scholar at Brasenose College, Oxford, which he entered in 1914. His academic career was interrupted by military service; he enlisted in the 18th Royal Fusilliers in 1914 and was commissioned in the 7th Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in the following year. He saw active service in France and Salonkia, 1915–17, was wounded and twice mentioned in despatches. In 1917 and 1918, he served as an Acting Captain and Instructor in the 11th officer cadet battalion.

Manning's London School of Economics colleague, Professor F.S. Northedge (16 October 1918 – 3 March 1985), refers to Manning as ' a controversial writer on South Africa '. This remark is expanded with the comment that 'Manning always insisted, with some passion, that scientific detachment [in his academic role] did not, and must not, mean refusal to commit oneself to causes in the political area, when laboratory coat and academic gown are doffed, and Manning did commit himself to at least one such cause, that of South Africa and its regime. But scientific inquiry and political partisanship were at all times rigidly separated from each other in his mind, and only linked in so far as the political partisan, the committed voter in a democratic election or the professional politician, enact their chosen roles the better after serving their time as non-partisan students of the world in which their partisanship subsequently does its work.'

Personal life Manning married Marion Somerville (Maisie) Johnston, a former pupil, in 1939; Marion predeceased him in 1977. The couple had no children. He retired to South Africa in September 1977.

His recreations included watercolour, gardening, and music.