Alfred Brotherston Emden (1888–1979) was an

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

historian and Principal of

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the last ...

from 1929 to 1951. He published widely on matters concerning St Edmund Hall and the medieval church. His generous gifts, and lifelong association with the Hall are honoured with his name being conferred on several buildings and rooms within the college.

Early life

Emden, the eldest son of

Alfred Charles Emden Alfred Charles Richard Emden (1849 – 18 February 1911) was a barrister and County Court judge, best remembered as the author of the building law text ''The Law relating to Building Leases and Building Contracts''. This text gave rise to the Emde ...

- a barrister and county-court judge - was born on 22 October 1888 in

West Ealing West Ealing is a district in the London Borough of Ealing, in West London. The district is about west of Ealing, Ealing Broadway. Although there is a long history of settlement in the area, West Ealing in its present form is less than one hundre ...

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.Ramsay (2004) He held a scholarship at

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

(1903–1907) and Lincoln College,

from where he graduated in 1911 with a second class degree in modern history. After his graduation, he qualified for the bar at the Inner Temple but instead of practicing law, ran a home for disadvantaged boys in Sydenham from 1913 to 1915 and thereafter became schoolmaster at Strand School, Brixton. Shortly after taking up his last post, he enlisted in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

and served as an Able Seaman on the destroyer HMS ''Parker''. In 1919, while still enlisted, he accepted a tutorship in Modern history at

, Oxford.

St Edmund Hall

After arriving at the Hall in 1919, Emden was appointed

Bursar A bursar (derived from ''wikt:bursa, bursa'', Latin for 'Coin purse, purse') is a professional Administrator of the government, administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usual ...

and in 1920, Vice Principal. He was to remain with the Hall for another thirty years. He developed an intense interest in the history of St Edmund Hall on which he produced an article in the ''St Edmund Hall Magazine'' which he founded in 1920. In 1927 he published ''An Oxford Hall in Medieval Times'' - a standard history of the college that was republished in 1968 and remained in print until 1972. In 1929, he was appointed principal on the retirement of Dr G.B. Allan and shortly thereafter the death of Allan's chosen successor. Emden oversaw the restoration of the old buildings of the Hall and the completion of the

quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

in 1934 with buildings on its southside.Anon. (1934) A reorganisation of the Hall's constitution in 1937 saw the acquisition of its freehold from Queen's College which had held it since 1557. Emden tutored in medieval history until 1939. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Emden was placed in charge of the Oxford University Naval Division as a Lieutenant-commander having persuaded the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

to raise such divisions in several British universities. During his war service, he accompanied a submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay.

Retirement

After World War II, Emden's health started to fail and he resigned his Principalship at the age of 63 and was succeeded by his Vice-Principal Rev. J.N.D. Kelly. His retirement did not curtail his academic career, and from 1957 to 1959 he published ''A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500'' with a similar work on

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in 1963. This was followed in 1967 by a ''Survey of Dominicans in England'' and in 1974 a supplement to ''A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1501-1540''. A.B. Emden died on 8 June 1979 a bachelor at his home in

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston, Oxford, Marston to the north-west, Cowley, Oxfordshire ...

, Oxford - a home he shared with his mother until her death in 1955. He left the bulk of his £400,000 estate to St Edmund Hall and his ashes are interred in the college's ante-chapel.

Selected bibliography

* Emden, A.B.

927 Year 927 ( CMXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * May 27 – Simeon I, emperor (''tsar'') of the Bulgarian Empire, dies of heart failure in his palace at Preslav after a 34- ...

(1968) ''An Oxford hall in medieval times : being the early history of St. Edmund Hall'', Oxford : Clarendon Press, 322 p. * Emden, A.B. (1932) ''An account of the chapel and library building, St. Edmund Hall, Oxford : written in the year of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the consecration of the chapel'', Oxford : Printed by John Johnson at the University Press, 73 p. * Emden, A.B. (1957) ''A biographical register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500: vol. 1. A.-E.'', Oxford : Clarendon Press, * Emden, A.B. (1958) ''A biographical register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500: vol. 2. F.-O.'', Oxford : Clarendon Press, * Emden, A.B. (1959) ''A biographical register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500: vol. 3. P.-Z.'', Oxford : Clarendon Press, * Emden, A.B. (1963) ''A biographical register of the University of Cambridge to 1500'', Cambridge University Press, 695 p * Emden, A.B. (1967) ''A survey of Dominicans in England based on the ordination lists in episcopal registers (1268 to 1538)'', Institutum historicum ff. praedicatorum Romae ad S. Sabinae. Dissertationes historicae, 18, Rome : S. Sabina, 497 p. * Emden, A.B. (1974) ''A biographical register of the University of Oxford, A.D.1501-1540'', Oxford : Clarendon Press, * Emden, A.B. (1977) ''Medieval decorated tiles in Dorset'', London : Phillimore,

Notes

References

* Anon. (1934) ''Hall and College'', Newspaper clipping dated 11 October found pasted inside the front cover of a library copy of Emden (1927) * Kelly, J.N.D. (1989) ''St. Edmund Hall: Almost Seven Hundred Years'', Oxford University Press, * Pugh, Ralph B. (1980) "Alfred Brotherston Emden, 1888–1979", biographical memoir, ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', 65, Oxbow Books, p. 641-652, * Ramsay, Nigel (2004) "Emden, Alfred Brotherston (1888–1979)", rev. ed., ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, * ''The Times'' (1979) "Dr Alfred Emden"
Obituary Supplement
23 November, p. VII: Accessed online via ''Times Digital Archive 1785-1985'', 9 September 2008, accessed through local UK library membership {{DEFAULTSORT:Emden, Alfred Brotherston 1888 births 1979 deaths People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Principals of St Edmund Hall, Oxford People from Ealing Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I Royal Navy sailors Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America