Sydney George Checkland

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(9 October 1916 – 22 March 1986) was a British-

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

economic historian.

Life

Born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Checkland worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia, then the Ottawa Sanitary Laundry Company, while he gained associate membership of the Canadian Bankers' Association. In 1938, he moved to England to study at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, and in his final year served as President of the Guild of Students at the university. In 1941, he was elected as President of the National Union of Students, serving for only one year before becoming President of the International Council of Students.Checkland, Sydney George
, ''

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

'' In late 1942, Checkland enrolled at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, then was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Manchester Regiment, before becoming a tank commander in the

Governor General's Foot Guards The Governor General's Foot Guards (GGFG) is the senior reserve infantry regiment in the Canadian Army. Located in Ottawa at the Cartier Square Drill Hall, the regiment is a Primary Reserve infantry unit, and the members are part-time soldiers. ...

of the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

. An injury during the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

at Falaise left him with permanent nerve damage. After the war, Checkland joined the

Common Wealth Party The Common Wealth Party (CW) was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom with parliamentary representation in the House of Commons from 1942 (the middle of the Second World War) until 1946. Thereafter CW continued to function, e ...

and stood unsuccessfully in Sheffield Ecclesall at the 1945 general election. He then returned to study for a master's degree at Birmingham, after which he took up an academic post in economic science at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, where he also obtained a doctorate. In 1953, he transferred to the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, then in 1957 he accepted a personal chair at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and founded the Department of Economic History. He quickly developed a strong reputation in a range of fields relating to economic history, and continued to write until his death in 1986. He is credited with "being instrumental" in the establishment in 1976 of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow "strong in the fields of business, banking, and urban history". Sydney Checkland was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 1977, and as Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1981. He was a member of the Economic History Committee of the Social Science Research Council and then a Council member between 1970 and 1972. He was President of the Economic History Society between 1977 and 1980. Of his many scholarly publications, ''The Gladstones: a Family Biography, 1764-1851'' (1971) won a Scottish Arts Council book award and ''Scottish Banking: a History, 1695-1973'' (1975) won a Saltire Society prize. Checkland also served as a board member with the East Kilbride Development Corporation, 1964 to 1968. During his career as a historian Checkland contributed to the development of archival records. In Liverpool he collected the archives of merchant firms and he later initiated the University of Glasgow's collection of business records. He chaired of the Scottish Records Advisory Council, the National Register of Archives (Scotland) and was vice-president of the Business Archives Council of Scotland. Checkland's own papers are held by Glasgow University Archive Services.

Family

Checkland met Edith Olive Anthony in Birmingham and they married in 1942. Olive nursed Sydney back to health following his war injuries. Olive Checkland was an eminent scholar in her own right in the field of social history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Checkland, Sydney George 1916 births 1986 deaths Academics of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Liverpool Alumni of the University of Birmingham Canadian emigrants to the United Kingdom Common Wealth Party politicians British economic historians Presidents of the National Union of Students (United Kingdom) Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Manchester Regiment officers Canadian Army officers Canadian military personnel of World War II Fellows of the British Academy British Army personnel of World War II Governor General's Foot Guards Common Wealth Party Historians from Ontario 20th-century British historians Academics from Ottawa Military personnel from Ottawa