Sir Cyril Thomas Flower, (31 March 1879 – 10 August 1961) was a British historian and civil servant. He was the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, the ''de facto'' head of the

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was m ...

, between 1938 and 1947.

Biography

Flower was born in

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, the only son of Thomas Flower, a doctor. He was the nephew of the academic and politician

Henry Fawcett Henry Fawcett (26 August 1833 – 6 November 1884) was a British academic, politician, statesman and economist. Background and education Henry Fawcett was born in Salisbury, and educated at King's College School and the University of Cambri ...

. Flower was educated at

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...

, and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, where he took a First in

Classical Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ' ...

(1899) and a Second in '' Literae humaniores'' in 1901. He entered the

in 1903 and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

by the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1906. In 1910, he began to work on the '' curia regis'' rolls, which he continued for the next fifty years, eventually publishing fourteen volumes of transcriptions of the rolls. In 1914, Flower became private secretary to the director of contracts at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

. In 1915 he was commissioned into the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

. In 1916 he and his battery went to France, where he was severely wounded in October. He returned to the War Office from 1917 to 1919. Between 1926 and 1938 he was Secretary of the Public Record Office. In 1938 he was appointed Deputy Keeper of the Public Records by the

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales a ...

. During World War II, he oversaw the evacuation, and the eventual reassembly, of the PRO's holdings. He retired in 1947. He was also a member of the

Historical Manuscripts Commission The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (widely known as the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and abbreviated as the HMC to distinguish it from the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England), was a United Kingdom Royal Com ...

between 1938 and 1960 and the acting director of

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

between 1939 and 1944.

Honours

In 1919 Flower was awarded the ''

Croix de guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

'' with palm. He was appointed CB in 1939 and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1946. He was elected to the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in 1947.

Family

In 1910 Flower married Helen Mary Harding, daughter of David Thompson, a retired inspector of schools in the Punjab. They had one daughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flower, Cyril (historian) 1879 births 1961 deaths British medievalists English archivists People associated with The National Archives (United Kingdom) Royal Garrison Artillery officers Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Members of the Inner Temple Civil servants in the War Office British Army personnel of World War I