Powicke was born on 16 June 1879 in
Alnwick, the son of Frederick James Powicke, a
Congregational minister and historian of 17th-century
Puritanism, and Martha, the youngest daughter of William Collyer of Brigstock. Powicke was educated at
Owens College, Manchester, where he took his first degree, and at
Balliol College, Oxford, where he took another with
first-class honours. From 1908 to 1915 he was a
fellow of
Merton College, Oxford, although in 1909 he was appointed as Professor of Modern History in the
Queen's University, Belfast, where he remained for ten years. From 1919 to 1928 he was Professor of Mediæval History at the
Victoria University of Manchester, and during his time in Manchester he was a member of the
Chetham Society and served on its council from 1920 to 1933. He also served as Ford's Lecturer in English History at
Oxford for 1927. In 1928 he became Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, remaining in post until 1947. He was President of the
Royal Historical Society from 1933 to 1937. He was small in build. At Oxford he was determined to reinvigorate history there and make the university the leading centre in England for historical study. Powicke was the author of the volume
The Thirteenth Century in the
Oxford History of England. In 1909 Powicke married Susan Irvine Martin, daughter of
Anna and
Thomas Martin Lindsay. Together they had two daughters. Their daughter Janet married the historian
Richard Pares. He died in the
Radcliffe Infirmary in
Oxford on 19 May 1963. ==Works==