Roger Hugh Vaughan Charles Morgan (8 July 1926 – 10 June 2018) was an English librarian who spent four decades in the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

. He is credited with modernising the

House of Lords Library The House of Lords Library is the library and information resource of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provides Members of the House and their staff with books, Parliamentary material and reference ...

as head librarian from 1977–91.

Early life and education

Morgan was born in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

, the son of novelists

Charles Langbridge Morgan Charles Langbridge Morgan (22 January 1894 – 6 February 1958) was a British playwright and novelist of English and Welsh parentage. The main themes of his work were, as he himself put it, "Art, Love, and Death", and the relation between t ...

and

Hilda Vaughan Hilda Campbell Vaughan (married name Morgan, 12 June 1892 – 4 November 1985) was a Welsh novelist and short story writer writing in English. Her ten varied novels, set mostly in her native Radnorshire, concern rural communities and heroines. ...

. His paternal grandfather was engineer Sir Charles Langbridge Morgan. He was the younger brother of

Shirley Paget, Marchioness of Anglesey Elizabeth Shirley Vaughan Paget, Marchioness of Anglesey, (''née'' Morgan; 4 December 1924 – 21 January 2017), better known as Dame Shirley Paget, was a British public servant and writer. Early life and education She was born in Chelsea, ...

(1924–2017). He and his sister grew up in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

until 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 opposi ...

, when, fearing a Nazi invasion after the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk (french: Bataille de Dunkerque, link=no) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on t ...

, they moved with their mother to America. He spent two years at Phillips Academy in

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andove ...

, before returning home in 1942 to finish his schooling at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

. From 1944–47, Morgan was a member of the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, rising to the rank of captain and serving in postwar Germany. He read history at Brasenose College, Oxford, earning an MA.

Career

After leaving Oxford, Morgan worked as a photographer for society magazine ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

'' while studying for the bar exam. In 1951, he began what he thought was a temporary job working in the House of Commons Library, Palace of Westminster. He spent 12 years there before moving to the

, which was badly in need of updating. He took over as head librarian following a report by a working group, led by

David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles David McAdam Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles (18 September 1904 – 24 February 1999), was an English Conservative politician. Education and early career Eccles was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a sec ...

, that recommended creating a research service, hiring qualified librarians for the first time, acquiring updated books, and "dipping a toe in

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

." Between 1977 and his retirement, Morgan transformed the Lords library at a time when the composition of the House of Lords was evolving. He oversaw its modernisation "from a parliamentary backwater" and "gentleman"s reading library" into a "hi-tech source of information for the increasing number of expert, working

life peers In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...

." Morgan recruited a research staff and began the massive project of transferring the library's index of some 120,000 books from cars to

microfiche Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

. He continued to improve the library as technology advanced. In 1978, the library was equipped with its first two computer terminals and a

Prestel Prestel (abbrev. from press telephone), the brand name for the UK Post Office Telecommunications's Viewdata technology, was an interactive videotex system developed during the late 1970s and commercially launched in 1979. It achieved a maxim ...

machine. When he retired in 1991, the library's entire catalogue was online and had started subscribing to online databases. Morgan 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

1991 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1991 were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by people of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. They were published on 28 December 1990 for the United Kingdom, N ...

Personal life

From 1951–65, Morgan was married to Catherine Harriet Waterfield, with whom he had a son and daughter, James and Lucie, and two sons, Luke and Piers, who predeceased him. He married secondly American Susan Vogel Marrian in 1965,''England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005'' and had another son, Tobias. He suffered three strokes before dying in 2018, aged 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Roger Hugh Vaughan Charles 1926 births 2018 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Chelsea, London English librarians Phillips Academy alumni People educated at Eton College Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford House of Lords British Army personnel of World War II Grenadier Guards officers

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References