Hancock, (William) Keith (born 1898)

Australian historian.

He was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He was a fellow of All Soul's, Oxford, 1924–30, professor of modern history at Adelaide, 1924–33; professor of history at Birmingham, 1934–44, Chichele professor of economic history at Oxford, 1944–49, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and professor of British commonwealth affairs, London, 1949–56, director of the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, 1957–61, and professor of history, Australian National University, 1957–65. Hancock has published on a variety of subjects, including the life of Jan Smuts. He also edited the United Kingdom history of World War II.

Hancock's publications have included British War Economy (1949), Wealth of Colonies (1950), Four Studies of War and Peace, (1961), a biography of Smuts (1962–68), Attempting History (1969), and Discovering Monaro (1972). He has also edited, with Jean van der Poel, Selections from the Smuts Papers (1966).