David George Vaisey,

CBE 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 ...

(15 March 1935 – 8 January 2025) was a British librarian who was

Bodley's Librarian The head of the Bodleian Library, the main library at the University of Oxford, is known as Bodley's Librarian: Sir Thomas Bodley, as founder, gave his name to both the institution and the position. Although there had been a university library a ...

(head of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

) from 1986 until 1996.

Biography

Vaisey was educated at

Rendcomb College Rendcomb College is a public school (English private boarding and day school) for pupils aged 3–18, located in the village of Rendcomb five miles north of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. Rendcomb College was founded in 1920 by ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

and at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

, where he studied

Modern History The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

, graduating in 1959, followed by qualification as an archivist at the Bodleian Library in 1960. While performing his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

Gloucestershire Regiment The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the ...

on 23 April 1955, and transferred to the Territorial Army on 21 September 1956, and was promoted to acting

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 28 December 1956. His ''Who's Who'' entry states also he served with the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces regiment raised from Britain's East African colonies in 1902. It primarily carried out internal security duties within these colonies along with military service elsewher ...

. After working as assistant archivist for

Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includ ...

between 1960 and 1963, he joined the

in Oxford in 1963, initially as Assistant Librarian before becoming Senior Assistant Librarian, then Keeper of Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian in 1975; he also became a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of Exeter College in 1975. He was, in addition, Deputy Keeper of the Oxford University Archives between 1966 and 1975. He was appointed Bodley's Librarian in 1986, succeeding John Jolliffe who had died in the previous year. He retired from the Bodleian in 1996, with the title of Bodley's Librarian Emeritus, and was appointed a Commander of 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 ...

(CBE) in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

. Between 1995 and 2000, he was

Keeper of the Archives The position of Keeper of the Archives at the University of Oxford in England dates from 1634, when it was established by new statutes for the university brought in by William Laud (Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the University of ...

of the university. Other positions that he has held include a visiting professorship in Library Studies at the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

(1985), membership of 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 ...

(1986 to 1998), and President of the

Society of Archivists The Society of Archivists (SoA), which was in existence from 1947 to 2010, was the principal professional body for archivists, archive conservators and records managers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2010 the Society amalgamated with the Na ...

from 1999 to 2002. He was made an Honorary Fellow of

Kellogg College, Oxford Kellogg College is a graduate-only colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1990 as Rewley House, Kellogg is the university's 36th college and the largest by number of students ...

in 1996, and was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and 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 ...

. A historian with a particular interest in the use of local source materials, his publications include ''Staffordshire and The Great Rebellion'' (1964, jointly), ''Victorian and Edwardian Oxford from old photographs'' (1971, jointly), ''The Diary of Thomas Turner 1754–65'' (1984) and various journal articles. Vaisey died on 8 January 2025, at the age of 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaisey, David 1935 births 2025 deaths Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford English librarians Bodley's Librarians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Gloucestershire Regiment officers King's African Rifles officers Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Historical Society People educated at Rendcomb College Keepers of the Archives of the University of Oxford 20th-century British Army personnel