The Publications of the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, vol. 11

Joseph Hight Blundell (1852-1929) was a businessman.  He was born in the Luton area and later lived in Toddington.  He was a numismatist, genealogist and historian, writing books about Bedfordshire tokens, the Blundells, a history of Toddington and contributing to VCH Bedford vol. 3.  He saw Austin’s History of Luton through to publication after the author’s death.

William Farrer (1861–1924) was an historian and genealogist, whose main published works were on Lancashire and Yorkshire. After the first World War his project on honors and knights’ fees resulted in two books published before his death.

Dr G. Herbert Fowler (1861-1940) was a zoologist working in London before he retired to Bedfordshire, where he became a county councillor and chairman of the county’s Records Committee in 1913.  He immediately reformed the existing record room, established standard procedures and ran it as a public service, the first in the country. He was a founder member of BHRS in 1912 and its Secretary, General Editor and principal contributor to the annual volumes until his death.  He also published extensively on sources in Buckinghamshire and elsewhere.

Dr Sidney Augustus Peyton (1891-1982) was an historian, writer and contributor to several record societies’ publications. He was Librarian of the Universities of Reading (1922-1941) and Sheffield (1941-1956).

Professor James Tait FBA (1863-1944) was a medieval historian and author. He was Professor of Ancient and Medieval History at Manchester University and played a key role in the development of the Manchester History School, retiring in 1919 to concentrate on research into local and regional medieval history, especially municipal history. He produced seminal works on medieval boroughs, published editions of many cartularies and contributed extensively to the Dictionary of National Biography and the VCH.