Christopher Charles Pond (born 1949) is a British historian, librarian, and local government politician.

Early life

Chris Pond was born in 1949 in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

, Essex (now part of the

London Borough of Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an Outer London, outer London boroughs, London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Municipal Borough of Leyton, Leyton, Municipal Borough of Walthamstow, Walthamstow an ...

), and grew up in

Chingford Chingford is a suburban town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The centre of Chingford is north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walt ...

, moving to

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

, Essex in 1981. He attended Sir George Monoux Grammar School and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

. His

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

(faculty of geography and geology) was obtained in 1981 under Sir Clifford Darby. Latterly an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, he was Head of Reference Services at the

House of Commons Library The House of Commons Library is the library and information resource of the lower house of the British Parliament. It was established in 1818, although its original 1828 construction was destroyed during the burning of Parliament in 1834. Th ...

, secretary and then chairman of the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

House of Commons branch, and then for 15 years President of the Trade Union Side, House of Commons. He was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 2002. Officers of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

serve with complete political impartiality, and are generally debarred from seeking elected office, but Pond, as an independent, was permitted to stand whilst an officer of the House. Pond is the author of numerous books and articles on the history of

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 ...

and the

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...

area, and on railways and architectural history; and has served in various capacities in the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK charity and amenity society that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. As a statutory consultee, by l ...

and Loughton & District Historical Society, and as president of the Walthamstow Historical Society.

Political career

A member of the

Loughton Residents Association Loughton Residents Association is a residents association and local political party formed (as the Central Loughton Residents' Association) in 1981, and based in Loughton, Essex, United Kingdom. The first such councillor to be elected was Howard ...

, Pond has been an elected

independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

, as town councillor on Loughton Town Council since 1996, district councillor on

Epping Forest District Council Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a h ...

since

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, and county councillor on

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock which ...

since

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, where he was (2017) leader of the Non-aligned Group and (in 2021)

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. He was a member, and latterly Chairman, of the Lopping Hall Trust charity from 2000 to 2014. He was instrumental in securing refusal of an application to demolish most of the cordite factory at the

Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills The Royal Gunpowder Mills are a former industrial site in Waltham Abbey, England. It was one of three Royal Gunpowder Mills (disambiguation), Royal Gunpowder Mills in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom (the others ...

in 2016. At

in 2021, he moved the motion and outlined the reasons for rejecting an application to build a large depot on

green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

land at Waltham Abbey for

Next plc Next plc, trading as Next (styled as NEXT) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, Leicestershire, Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of ...

, a decision that was subsequently upheld by the Planning Inspectorate and was reported as a victory for the countryside over big business. During the years 1997 to 2005, he was often confused with

Chris Pond Christopher Richard Pond (born 25 September 1952) is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham in Kent, from 1997 to 2005. Early life He went to the Minchenden School (became com ...

, then MP for

Gravesham Gravesham ( ) is a local government district with borough status in north-west Kent, England. The council is based in its largest town of Gravesend. The borough is indirectly named after Gravesend, using the form of the town's name as it appear ...

, because of the unusual coincidence of the shared name and age.

Personal life

He married Caroline Copeman in 1973."University Wedding"; Waltham Forest Guardian (Chingford Edition) 14 September 1973 p9

Elections contested

Essex County Council elections Epping Forest District Council elections

Selected bibliography

* The Railway to Walthamstow and Chingford (1970, with others as part of the ''Line 112 Group'') * Walks in Loughton's Forest: Short Epping Forest Walks in and Around Loughton by Chris Pond and Caroline Pond (Paperback - 3 Mar 2007) * The Loughton Railway 150 Years on: The Leyton-Woodford-Loughton Railway from Eastern Counties to Central Line by Chris Pond, Ian Strugnell, and Ted Martin (Paperback - 10 Jun 2006) * The Early History of the House of Commons Library: Reports from Standing Committees on the Library of the House 1840-1856 (House of Commons Library Document) * The Buildings of Loughton (2nd ed., 2009) * Larkswood : a history of Larkswood school, formerly South Chingford Primary, New Road, Chingford 1906-2006; by John Conen with Chris Pond. Loughton: The authors, 2006. 60 p., p. of plates. .

References

External links

ASLIB Training: Public Courses
* http://www.cilip.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/18D406E6-CCBE-4CF7-A8F6-3AE3A91813F9/0/SCOOPParltOnline2007AprilProgramme.pdf
Councillors by District - Epping Forest
* http://www.loughton-tc.gov.uk/7anrep3.pdf

Order of the British Empire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pond, Chris 1949 births Living people English librarians Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge People from Loughton People from Walthamstow Independent politicians in England Members of Essex County Council