Peter Alan Martin Clemoes (20 January 1920 – 16 March 1996) was a British historian. Born in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

and educated at Brentwood School, he originally wished to become an actor and won a scholarship to

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

but the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

intervened and he served with the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

. After the war he took a degree in English from

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

, London, which was followed by postgraduate work on Anglo-Saxon at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, gaining a PhD in 1956. He then held a research fellowship at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

until 1961 when he returned to Cambridge under

Dorothy Whitelock Dorothy Whitelock, (11 November 1901 – 14 August 1982) was an English historian. From 1957 to 1969, she was the Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. Her best-known work is ''English Historical ...

, whom he replaced as

Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon The Elrington and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon is the senior professorship in Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. The first chair was elected in 1878, when a gift endowed in 1867 by Joseph Bosworth, Rawlinsonian Professor of Angl ...

in the

Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic The Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC or, informally, ASNaC) is one of the constituent departments of the University of Cambridge, and focuses on the history, material culture, languages and literatures of the various peoples who i ...

in 1969. His son Martin is the founder of Eye2eye Software Ltd, based in Cambridge, England.

Anglo-Saxon England

Clemoes was the editor of the journal ''Anglo-Saxon England'', an annual survey of the literature on the subject, which also included a number of substantial papers. The journal is a key publication in the field and is still published annually as of 2017.

External links

* 1920 births 1996 deaths Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Reading Elrington and Bosworth Professors of Anglo-Saxon People from Southend-on-Sea 20th-century British historians British Army personnel of World War II Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Military personnel from Southend-on-Sea {{UK-historian-stub