Oliver James Padel (born 31 October 1948 in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

, England) is an English

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and

toponymist Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

specializing in Welsh and Cornish studies. He is currently Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic in the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and visiting professor of Celtic at the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

Biography

Padel was born in 1948, the son of

John Hunter Padel John Hunter Padel (3 May 1913 – 24 October 1999) was a British psychoanalyst and classicist. He was born in Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked b ...

and his wife Hilda (née Barlow), daughter of

Sir Alan Barlow, 2nd Baronet Sir James Alan Noel Barlow, 2nd Baronet (25 December 1881 – 28 February 1968) was a British civil servant and collector of Islamic and Chinese art. He was Principal Private Secretary to Ramsay MacDonald, 1933–1934, and later Under-secret ...

and his wife Nora, (née Darwin), through whom he is a great-great-grandson of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. His older sister is the poet

Ruth Padel Ruth Sophia Padel FRSL FZS (born 8 May 1946) is a British poet, novelist and non-fiction author. Life She studied Greek at Oxford, where she sang in Schola Cantorum of Oxford, wrote a PhD on ancient Greek poetry, and was a Research Fellow at W ...

. He was educated at

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

, Hampstead, and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

, whence he graduated with a BA in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic in 1970. He was subsequently awarded an M.Litt. for his thesis on the inscriptions of

Pictland The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pictish stones. The name appears in ...

by the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1972. In 1992, he took a Litt.D. for his work on Cornish place-names. He was a founding member of staff of the

Institute of Cornish Studies The Institute of Cornish Studies (, ICS) is a research institute affiliated with the University of Exeter. Formerly located at Pool, near Redruth, then in Truro, it is now on the University's Penryn Campus near Penryn, Cornwall. History The ...

(in the Charles Thomas era) from 1972 to 1988. In 1988–90 he had a temporary post in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNaC) at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

while

Patrick Sims-Williams Patrick Sims-Williams is Emeritus Professor of Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University and founding editor of the journal '' Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies''. Education Sims-Williams was educated at Borden Grammar School in Sittingbourne, K ...

was on research leave, followed by posts in the Department of History and Welsh History at the

University of Aberystwyth Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

and at the

Cornwall Record Office Kresen Kernow ( Cornish for Cornwall Centre) in Redruth, United Kingdom is Cornwall's archive centre, home to the world's biggest collection of archive and library material related to Cornwall. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Co ...

. In 1994, he was appointed University Lecturer in Celtic Literature in ASNaC, replacing the former incumbent,

. Padel was president of the

English Place-Name Society The English Place-Name Society (EPNS) is a learned society concerned with toponomastics and the toponymy of England, in other words, the study of place-names ( toponyms). Its scholars aim to explain the origin and history of the names they st ...

, from 2004 to 2014, and is a past president of the

Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland The Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland (SNSBI) is a registered charity and a learned society of members with interests in proper names, including place-names, personal names, and surnames relating to the British Isles. The SNSBI is th ...

. He is a member of council of the

Devon and Cornwall Record Society The Devon and Cornwall Record Society is a text publication society A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literar ...

, and he edits the ''Journal of the

Royal Institution of Cornwall The Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) is a Learned society in Truro, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was founded in Truro on 5 February 1818 as the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Institution. The Institution was one of the earliest ...

''. Cornish nationalist,

John Angarrack John Angarrack is a Cornish nationalist who campaigned for greater recognition of Cornish identity and an author on Cornish history and affairs. His campaign to revive Cornish culture and language featured in a 2005 article in the European edit ...

criticised Padel for cultural suppression by disregarding Cornish etymology of place-names in an attempt to make a connection to Saxon naming conventions.Angarrack J., ''Our Future is History – Identity, Law and the Cornish Question''. Self-published, 2002

Selected publications

Linguistic and literary studies

* ''Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature'' (Writers of Wales series); Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000. (pbk) 0708316891 (hbk) * ''Cornish Place-name Elements'' (English Place-Name Society series; v.56/57); Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1985. : No price * ''A Popular Dictionary of Cornish Place-names''; Penzance: A. Hodge, 1988.

Editions, translations and other contributions

* ''A Commodity of Good Names: essays in honour of

Margaret Gelling Margaret Joy Gelling, (''née'' Midgley; 29 November 1924 – 24 April 2009) was an English toponymist, known for her extensive studies of English place-names. She served as President of the English Place-Name Society from 1986 to 1998, and ...

''; edited by O. J. Padel and David N. Parsons. Donington, Lincolnshire: Shaun Tyas, 2008. (hbk.) * ''The Cornish Lands of the Arundells of Lanherne, fourteenth to sixteenth centuries'' / edited by H. S. A. Fox and O. J. Padel. (Devon and Cornwall Record Society. New series; v. 41); Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 2000. (pbk.) * ''The Cornish Writings of the Boson Family. Nicholas, Thomas and John Boson, of Newlyn: circa 1660 to 1730.'' Edited with translations and notes by O. J. Padel; Redruth: Institute of Cornish Studies, 1975. * ''Domesday Book'' / text and translation edited by John Morris. 10, Cornwall / edited by Caroline and Frank Thorn from a draft translation prepared by Oliver Padel (History From the Sources series); Chichester : Phillimore, 1979. (hbk) (pbk) * Gascoyne, Joel ''A Map of the County of Cornwall, 1699''; reprinted in facsimile with an introduction by W. L. D. Ravenhill and O. J. Padel (Devon and Cornwall Record Society: new series; vol. 34.); Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1991. * Padel, O. J. "Two new pre-conquest charters for Cornwall". ''Cornish Studies''; 6, 1979. pp. 20–27. * Royal Institution of Cornwall: ''Exhibition of Manuscripts and Printed Books on the Cornish Language'' (15th century - 1904). ompiled by O. J. Padel. edruth:Institute of Cornish Studies, 1975. Note: Arranged in association with the 5th International Congress of Celtic Studies, held at Penzance. * ''A Medieval Cornish Miscellany'' / W. M. M. Picken; edited by O. J. Padel; Chichester: Phillimore, 2000. * Thomas, Charles ''A Provisional List of Imported Pottery in Post-Roman Western Britain & Ireland'' / Charles Thomas; (with an appendix on Tintagel by O. J. Padel) (Special report; no.7); Redruth: Institute of Cornish Studies, 1981.

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padel, Oliver Education in Cornwall Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of the West of England, Bristol Living people Historians of Cornwall Academics of the University of Cambridge Toponymists 1948 births Arthurian scholars Celtic studies scholars People educated at University College School