Sarah Jacqueline Tyacke, (''née'' Jeacock; born 29 September 1945) is an English historian of

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

and travel and a former

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

and

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

. From 1991 to 2005 she served as

Keeper of Public Records 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 ...

and chief executive of the UK

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 ...

, overseeing its transition to be the new

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

in 2003.

Early life and education

Tyacke was born Sarah Jeacock in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, on 29 September 1945: her father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been school headmasters. She was educated at

Chelmsford County High School for Girls Chelmsford County High School for Girls or "CCHS", is a selective grammar school for girls aged 11–18 located in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Entrance to the school is by an academic selection test. CCHS is traditionally rated among the most co ...

, before studying history at Bedford College,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, and graduating in 1968. During vacations from 1962 to 1968, she worked as a volunteer at Essex Record Office.

Career

In 1968, Tyacke became an assistant keeper in the Map Room of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. From 1973 to 1985 she was Deputy Map Librarian in what had now become the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

; and from 1986 to 1991 she was its director of special collections. At the end of 1991 she was appointed

, the first woman to hold the post. Her tenure at the

included the building of a much expanded repository on the office's site at

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

in 1995, and subsequent removal of services from the old Public Record Office building in

Chancery Lane Chancery Lane is a one-way street that forms part of the City of London#Boundary, western boundary of the City of London. The east side of the street is entirely within the City,Family Records Centre The Family Records Centre (FRC) provided access to family history research sources mainly for England and Wales. It was administered jointly by the General Register Office (GRO) and The National Archives. It opened in March 1997 and was fully ...

for family historians in 1997; and merger of the office with the

Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts 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 Co ...

in 2003 to form the

. At the merger, Tyacke was appointed its chief executive and sole historical manuscripts commissioner. She also oversaw numerous technical initiatives, including the launch of the 1901 census website as a pay-per-view service in 2002 and development of strategies for preserving

born-digital The term born-digital refers to materials that originate in a Digital data, digital form.NDIIPP"Preserving Digital Culture,"Library of Congress. This is in contrast to digital reformatting, through which analog recording, analog materials become D ...

records. She retired in 2005.

Scholarship

Tyacke's personal scholarly interests cover the history of

and travel. She has written or edited several books and articles on these, and others on broader archival matters and archive management.

Activities and honours

Tyacke was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 1968; of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

in 1984; of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

in 1992; and of the British Cartographic Society in 1994. She served as president of the

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishin ...

from 1997 to 2002, and as a vice-president from 2002 to 2006. She was a vice-president of the Royal Historical Society from 2000 to 2003, and has been an honorary vice-president since 2004. She has also sat on the council of the

Society for Nautical Research The Society for Nautical Research is a British society that conducts research and sponsors projects related to maritime history worldwide. Founded in 1910, the Society initially encouraged research into seafaring, ship-building, the language and ...

. She was vice-president of the

International Council on Archives The International Council on Archives (ICA; French: ''Conseil international des archives'') is an international non-governmental organization which exists to promote international cooperation for archives and archivists. It was set up in 1948, w ...

from 1996 to 2000. She was a trustee of the International Records Management Trust from 1995 to 2004, and has been its chair since 2004. In 1999 she became an honorary fellow and visiting professor of

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

. She received honorary

doctorates A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from London Guildhall and

Universities. Tyacke was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

(CB) in 1998. On 25 November 2010, she was awarded the President's Medal by the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies 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 sa ...

"for her service to historical records, in particular through her work as head of the National Archives". In 2006–2007 she held the Sandars Readership in Bibliography at

Cambridge University 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 ...

Other activities

From 2009 to 2011 Tyacke chaired the Mount Everest Foundation, a non-profit-making humanitarian and development body active in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. From 2009 to 2012 she sat on the Hillsborough Independent Panel investigating the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

of 1989.

Personal life

Tyacke is married to the

early modern The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

historian Nicholas Tyacke. She has one daughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyacke, Sarah 1945 births Living people English archivists Historians of cartography Employees of the British Library People associated with the National Archives (United Kingdom) English women historians Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Historical Society People educated at Chelmsford County High School for Girls Alumni of Bedford College, London Women archivists Recipients of the President's Medal (British Academy)