Charles Bean

Charles Bean
Portrait by George Lambert, 1924
Born
Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean

(1879-11-18)18 November 1879
Died30 August 1968(1968-08-30) (aged 88)
AwardsMentioned in despatches (1915)
Chesney Gold Medal (1930)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
InfluencesBanjo Paterson
Academic work
Main interestsAustralian military history
First World War
Notable worksOfficial History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918
InfluencedGavin Long
Bill Gammage

Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean (18 November 1879 – 30 August 1968), also commonly identified as C. E. W. Bean, was an Australian historian and one of Australia's official war correspondents. He was editor and principal author of the 12-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, and a primary advocate for establishing the Australian War Memorial (AWM).

According to the Online International Encyclopedia of the First World War, no other Australian has been more influential in shaping the way the First World War is remembered in Australia.

When Bean died on 30 August 1968, aged 88, an obituary written by Guy Harriott, associate editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and a former war correspondent, described Bean as being "one of Australia's most distinguished men of letters".