Bernard John Porter (born 5 February 1941) is a British historian and academic.^[1] He is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at Newcastle University.^[2]

Porter read history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After receiving his BA, MA, and PhD from Corpus, he took a position as a research fellow at his old college before moving to the University of Hull to become a senior lecturer in modern history. Since 1992, he has been an Emeritus Professor at Newcastle.^[3] He is perhaps best known for his most recent book, Absent-Minded Imperialists, published in 2004 which sparked a historiographical debate with John Mackenzie on the place of imperialist sentiment within British popular culture.^[4]

• The Lions Share (Longman, 2004)
• The Refugee Question in Mid-Victorian Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1979)
• Britain, Europe, and the World, 1850-1986 (Allen and Unwin, 1983)
• Origins of the Vigilant State (Boydell and Brewer, 1987)
• Britannia's Burden (Hodder, 1994)
• Absent-Minded Imperialists (Oxford University Press, 2004)

He lives in Stockholm, Sweden. He is fond of art, architecture, cricket, classical music, and science fiction books. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.