Christopher Selby Austin Dobson (25 August 1916 – 22 December 2005) was an English librarian who was the librarian of the House of Lords Library from 1956 to 1977.

Early life and education

Dobson was born in 1916 in Isleworth to Alban Tabor Austin Dobson (1885–1962), a civil servant, and Katharine Jean Selby Dobson. His father managed the literary estate of his own father, the poet and essayist Austin Dobson. Dobson grew up in Ealing. He was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. During the Second World War, he served in The Middlesex Regiment and was mentioned in dispatches, rising to the rank of lieutenant.

Career

In 1947, Dobson became assistant to House of Lords Library librarian Charles Travis Clay, who had been in the post since 1914. Under Clay's guidance, Dobson compiled an edition of the '' Oxfordshire Protestation Returns 1641–1642'', published in 1955, and organised the legal collections. However, Dobson lacked passion for statistics and historical research, far preferring the literary world. Following Clay's retirement in 1956, Dobson succeeded him and maintained the library largely as his predecessors had, with the library acquiring about 250 titles per year. At this time, there was little impetus for modernisation of library standards. Dobson's main interest was in the acquisition of rare and historical volumes, and grew the library's collection of works from the reigns of Henry VIII through

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

. In 1960, he and Earl Spencer edited ''Letters of David Garrick and Georgiana Countess Spencer, 1759–1779.'' He was described in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' as: He retired in 1977 as the need for drastic change became apparent, owing to technology advances and the growing numbers of life peers who had larger research demands than their hereditary counterparts. He was succeeded by Roger Morgan, who saw the library through a period of modern transformation of increasing digitisation, from 1977 to 1991. In 1964, he became a member of the

Roxburghe Club The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 day ...

for bibliophiles. He had a considerable private collection of books and was an enthusiast of Victorian bindings. Dobson was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 1976 New Year Honours. In 1941, he married Helen Broughton Turner, and had a son and a daughter. He died in December 2005 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Christopher Selby Austin 1916 births 2005 deaths People from Ealing English librarians People educated at Clifton College Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire