(Arthur) Oswald Barron (3 January 1868 – 24 September 1939) was a journalist and scholar on heraldic and genealogical subjects.

Early life

Born at

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, he was one of five children of Henry Stracey Barron (1838–1918), a consulting mechanical engineer, one-time chief engineer of the Imperial Ottoman Arsenal, and his wife Harriet (née Marshall). The Barron family later lived at Lewisham. Barron was educated at Merchant Taylors' School in London, as his father had been.

Career

Most of his career was spent on the staff of the London ''

Evening News Evening News may refer to: Television news *''CBS Evening News'', an American news broadcast *''ITV Evening News'', a UK news broadcast *'' JNN Evening News'', a Japanese news broadcast *''Evening News'', an alternate name for '' News Hour'' in so ...

'', where he had a daily column which he signed as "The Londoner". He was deeply attached to

Edith Nesbit Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her books for children as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist a ...

and co-wrote ''The Butler in Bohemia'' with her. He also suggested the plot of ''

The Railway Children ''The Railway Children'' is a children's book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in ''The London Magazine'' during 1905 and published in book form in the same year. It has been adapted for the screen several times, of which the 1970 fil ...

'', and her book ''

The Story of the Treasure Seekers ''The Story of the Treasure Seekers'' is a novel by E. Nesbit first published in 1899. It tells the story of Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and Horace Octavius (H. O.) Bastable, and their attempts to assist their widowed father and recover ...

'' (1899) is dedicated to him, "in memory of childhoods identical but for the accidents of time and space".E. Nesbit, ''The Story of the Treasure Seekers'' (Harmondsworth 1958), 5. He founded and edited a profusely-illustrated quarterly scholarly periodical on genealogical subjects, called ''The Ancestor'' (1902–1905), which attempted to debunk many popular myths of the Victorian era and to replace them with properly referenced facts, concentrating especially on the medieval period. ''The Ancestor'' discontinued publication after its twelfth volume. From this venture, he moved to the ''

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

'', where he contributed on matters on heraldry and genealogy. He also contributed a major article on heraldry to the 1911 edition of the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'', which according to John Campbell-Kease in the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' remains "one of the best and most erudite introductions to the subject". His interest in medieval rather than contemporary heraldry, and his opinion (based on medieval practice) that assumption of arms was not prohibited by the Law of Arms, pitted him against the more prolific and popular heraldic author, A. C. Fox-Davies. It did not, however, deprive him of friends in the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovere ...

, and he was, towards the end of his life in 1937, appointed Maltravers Herald Extraordinary at the College. However, the demands of his daily column for the ''Evening News'', on which he depended for his living, kept him away from any sustained work of scholastic endeavour, despite the high quality of his periodical contributions. He was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1901, was appointed gold staff officer at the coronation of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and Queen Mary in 1911, served as Lieutenant in the Inns of Court Reserve Corps 1916–1919, and attended at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937 by virtue of his appointment as Maltravers Herald.

Personal life

Barron married Hilda Leonora Florence Sanders in 1899, by whom he had one daughter.

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Oswald 1868 births 1939 deaths People from West Ham People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London English officers of arms British heraldists British male writers English genealogists Contributors to the Victoria County History Male non-fiction writers