Entity | Denis William Brogan

Sir Denis William Brogan (11 August 1900 – 5 January 1974) was a Scottish writer and historian. Denis Brogan was born in Glasgow, the eldest son of Denis Brogan (1856–1934), a master tailor, and Elizabeth Toner. His father was originally from County Donegal, and was a liberal-minded pro-Boer and Irish nationalist who, at one point, served as head of the Glasgow branch of the United Irish League, while his mother was a sister of John Toner, Bishop of Dunkeld. The younger Brogan was educated at St Columcille's Roman Catholic School, Rutherglen, and Rutherglen Academy. Having initially been cajoled by his parents to study medicine at the University of Glasgow, he switched to an arts degree following a series of low marks in his examinations, graduating MA Hons. in 1923. Brogan subsequently studied at Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained a further degree in history in 1925. He then spent an additional year studying American politics at Harvard University on a Rockefeller Research Fellowship.