Herbert (Howard) Sergeant MBE (1914–1987) was a poet and editor from Hull and the publisher of Britain's oldest independent

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

magazine ''Outposts''. He was appointed MBE in 1978 for services to literature. He edited nearly 60

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

of contemporary poetry and was himself a poet of considerable talent. The Sergeant archive was deposited with

Hull University , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 millio ...

by his widow, Jean Sergeant, in 1998 and provides extensive coverage of the full range of his literary work. Sergeant was the subject of a

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

by Bruce Meyer of

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical ...

. ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pa ...

'' obituary of

Muriel Spark Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Life Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an ...

, referring to her

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English p ...

''Curriculum Vitae'', stated:

The title was precise. A CV is an impersonal account of one's career suggesting progress from strength to strength. It now seems clear that she did love with passion one of the boyfriends mentioned: the poet, Howard Sergeant. Without passion but with great loyalty, she also loved the man whose misinformation had prompted Spark's desire to set the record straight: Derek Stanford. She had hoped, in turn, to marry both men, and both had deserted her. - ''The Scotsman''

He married Jean Crabtree in 1954. She survived him with a son and three daughters.

References

1914 births 1987 deaths 20th-century British poets {{UK-poet-stub