13 May 1907 – 23 December 1997

Austin Whitaker was born in Hull, grew up in Cheshire and was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Liverpool College, crossing the Mersey to school every day from his home in Birkenhead.  In 1925 he went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, obtaining a degree good enough to land him a post as a lecturer in Classics at Durham University.

In 1932 he married Mary Milner Cowburn and became an assistant master at Tonbridge School. Ten years later he moved to Winchester College and, in his 27 years there, taught Classics, English Literature and History.

From 1966 to 1983, he was Winchester City Archivist, retiring at the advanced age of 76.  During those years he built up an unrivalled knowledge of the city’s records and supervised their transfer to the County Record Office in 1975. It was a post for which he was ideally suited. Among other initiatives he recorded a valuable series of audio interviews with older residents of the city.

Whitaker also lectured on local history for the Workers’ Educational Association and held various posts for the Hampshire Field Club and Hampshire Archivists Group, as well as supporting the Society of Archivists and British Records Association.

Sources

• Obituary in HFC Newsletter, 29, 1998 (Gill Rushton), Funeral address Compton

Portrait

Contribution to county’s history

Winchester City Archivist and active supporter of the Field Club and Archivists Group. 

Relevant published works

• Whitaker, A (1985) Compton and Shawford, Boyatt Wood Press, Southampton

Critical Comments

Other Comments

Contributor

Dave Allen October 2021

Key Words

Hampshire Field Club, Winchester City Archive

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