Miscellanea - Volume 59

Dr A. R. H. Baker FBA is an historical geographer and former head of the Department of Geography at Cambridge University. He has published widely on historical geography generally. His research is focused upon the changing society, economy, culture and landscape of France during the nineteenth century.

Alan Cirket was a member of staff in Bedfordshire County Record Office from 1936 to 1983, except for war service.  He was also honorary curator of the Bunyan Museum, Bedford.

Clive Emsley (1944-2020) was Emeritus Professor of History at the Open University, which he first joined as a lecturer in 1970. He also held posts at universities in Paris, Calgary (Canada), Griffith (Australia), and Christchurch (New Zealand) and the Australian National University in Canberra. He was a leading authority on the history of crime and policing and was President of the International Association for the History of Crime and Criminal Justice. His books include The Great British Bobby: A history of British policing from the 18th century to the present.

Patricia Bell was Bedfordshire County Archivist 1968-1986 and also General Editor for BHRS. She both edited and contributed to many BHRS volumes.

Dr Carlos T. Flick (1927-1993) taught in the Department of History at Mercer University. He published on social history and British Parliamentary reform in the nineteenth century.

Harley W. Forster writes on Australian nineteenth century history and has contributed to the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Yvonne Nicholls worked for Bedfordshire County Record Office in the 1970s, later moving away from the county. She has contributed to the Bedfordshire Magazine and compiled the index to volumes 1-20 (1987).

Eric Stockdale was called to the Bar in 1950 and appointed a Circuit judge in the 1970s.  He is a senior bencher of the Middle Temple.  He has published many articles and books on criminal justice and historical topics, including two works inspired by the links of many leaders of the American Revolution with the Middle Temple.  His book From wig and pen to computer: reflections of a legal author (London, Wildy, Simmonds and Hill, 2008) is about his experiences as a legal author and one chapter deals with crime and punishment in Bedfordshire.

Gaston Denis Gilmore (1911-1979) was a solicitor in a Bedford firm. In 1974 he became keeper of Bedford Borough muniments.

Joyce Godber (1906-1999) was Bedfordshire-born.  Following a history degree, she spent a few years teaching, then worked at Oxford University Press.  She was  assistant secretary at the Institute of Historical Research before becoming clerk of the records, then County Archivist of Bedfordshire (1946-68).  She was general editor of BHRS (1946-76) and an active member of the Society of Archivists and the British Records Association.  She planned the transfer of the record office to its new premises, which took place in 1969, the year in which her History of Bedfordshire was published.

Sylvia Woods was an archivist at Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service until the 1990s. She has been Secretary and, later, Chairman of the Bedford Archaeological Society (now the Bedford Architectural, Archaeological and Local History Society (opens in a new window)) and a member of BHRS Council.

Dorothy Owen MBE (nee Williamson) (1920-2002) was a medieval historian and archivist. She published extensively on medieval church and administrative history and produced editions of manuscripts. She worked in Lincolnshire Archives, Lambeth Palace archives, was Curator of Ecclesiastical Archives and then Keeper of the University Archives at Cambridge, where she also taught palaeography and diplomatic. She was Editor and later President of Lincoln Record Society, and Chairman of the British Records Association.

Peter S. Richards has written extensively about the history of railways in Bedfordshire and neighbouring counties