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Prof Christopher Elrington |
Historian walked the counties he surveyed
ONE of Britain’s most distinguished historians, Professor Christopher Elrington, has died at his home in Clerkenwell. He was 79.
Professor Elrington, who lived in Lloyd Baker Street, was a man who lived and breathed antiquity.
He combined his day job as general editor of the Victoria County History (VCH) with his role as president of Islington Historical and Archaeological Society.
At VCH, before he retired in 1992, he wrote the history of every county in England, professionally, systematically and from original sources, on behalf of the Institute of History, based at the University of London.
He was educated at Wellington College and Oxford, where he met and married Jean Buchanan, an architect, who survives him, along with two children – twins – and seven grandchildren.
A former president of the Amwell Society, he campaigned to protect Islington’s historical heritage.
Prof Elrington was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1964 and of the Royal Historical Society in 1969.
He was made Professor of History at the University of London in 1992 and emeritus professor on retirement.
He marked his retirement with a “Hike for History” in 1996 – three long sweeps of sponsored walking (1,100 miles in all, and conducted at a cracking pace), which passed through all 39 historic English counties and resulted in publicity for VCH.
Sponsorship money went into the County History Trust, which he set up as an independent charity to support the work of VCH and to complement the University of London’s Victoria History Trust. |
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