Ethel Stokes (17 January 1870 – 19 October 1944) was a British (historic) record agent who played an integral role in establishing a system for preservation of local archives throughout England, and was involved in several major historical, literary and archival endeavours.

Life

Stokes was born in 1870 in Holloway in London to Edwin James Stokes, a stockbroker's clerk, and Elizabeth ("Fanny") Augusta (née Baker). The family were middle-class, and lived at

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the southeastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manorialism, Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man c ...

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. Her parents gave her a liberal education, telling her to travel where she wished and to read what she wanted to. As a result she had travelled around a lot in London by the age of twelve. Stokes went to Ada Aubrey's school in Margate, Miss Sutton's Collegiate School at

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

, and in 1885 to

Notting Hill High School Notting Hill and Ealing High School is a private day school for girls aged 4–18 in Ealing, London. Founded in 1873, it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust. It has a junior department of 310 girls (ages 4–11) and ...

, where she did well academically, despite having no interest in attending university, which at any rate was not possible due to family circumstances. She then went to work at the

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 ...

in 1891. She had found her life's work. By 1900 she had a business, "Stokes & Cox", in Chancery Lane looking at records with her business partner and friend, Mary Cox, with whom she would live and work for 35 years. Her father had left her mother by 1911 and she was living with her mother and an aunt. During the 1911 census she described her job as "hunting up genealogies and other historical records in British Museum and other places". They worked in support of some biographers but they gained a lot of work investigating and documenting the necessary evidence to support claims to a British peerage. Stokes became involved with ''

The Complete Peerage ''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant''); first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition re ...

'' though her association with Herbert Arthur Doubleday. Doubleday had initially been the publisher of the volumes as they were put together by Vicary Gibbs, but he became assistant editor until by volume six he was the lead editor. She had first worked with Doubleday on the

Victoria History of the Counties of England The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

. In the section on Essex, Stokes is the co-author of the section on Essex's political history. She put together the Records Preservation Section of the

British Records Association The British Records Association (widely known as the BRA, pronounced as three letters) is a British learned society founded in 1932 to promote the preservation, understanding, accessibility and study of historic records and archives. It is a regi ...

Joan Wake Joan Wake CBE (29 February 1884 – 15 January 1974) was an English historian and archival activist, with a particular interest in the history and records of her native Northamptonshire. She led a successful campaign to save Delapré Abbey from de ...

said much later in 1954 that "If there is one person to whom historians of the present and the future should acknowledge their debt, that person is Ethel Stokes". Stokes had been aware that many documents were now thought to be redundant. From 1933 to 1939 she worked with volunteers to sort through 270 archives in London and then post them out to the growing number of local studies libraries in the provinces. Stokes died in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1944 when she suffered a head injury after being hit by a lorry during the

blackout Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to: Loss of lighting or communication * Power outage, a loss of electric power * Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event * Blackout (fabric), a t ...

. Mary Cox had died in 1936 from heart failure.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Ethel 1870 births 1944 deaths People from Holloway, London British archivists Women archivists Contributors to the Victoria County History