Anthony Patrick Hodgins Saul

OBE 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 October 1913 – 9 May 1999) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

. Known as Patrick Saul, he was born in

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, the son of a dentist. The family's house overlooked the seafront meaning they were inadvertently entertained by a brass band during the summer. He was educated at

Dover College Dover College is an independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in Dover in south east England. It was founded in 1871, and takes both day pupils and boarders from the UK and internationally. The schoo ...

, a public school, but his musical education came from records and overseas radio stations. He began his working life as a bank clerk and was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, he gained a Psychology degree read as an external mature student of

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

, later working as an organiser of extension lectures at the university's Birbeck College. At the end of the war, Saul met ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' music critic,

Frank Howes Frank Stewart Howes (2 April 1891 – 28 September 1974) was an English music critic. From 1943 to 1960 he was chief music critic of ''The Times''. From his student days Howes gravitated towards criticism as his musical specialism, guided by the a ...

, who encouraged him to pursue his idea for a national sound archive. The Association of Libraries and Information Bureaux (Aslib) held a conference on the need for a national sound archive in 1947 resulting in the a working committee being established chaired by Howes. It became a formal institute in 1948 with Saul as secretary and his own collection at its core. The British Institute of Recorded Sound moved into public premises, and became an educational charity in 1955. Saul and the new organisations governors appealed to the public for donations saying nothing would be rejected "on aesthetic grounds". One governor said at the time: "We cannot tell just what will interest posterity… the only safe rule is to be omnivorous." The BIRS eventually became the

British Library Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word ...

. His own favourite recording in the

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

he created was of the

mating call A mating call is the auditory signal used by animals to attract mates. It can occur in males or females, but literature is abundantly favored toward researching mating calls in females. In addition, mating calls are often the subject of mate choi ...

of the

haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the Monotypy, monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Oce ...

. A Francophile, his personal taste was for French music, though this did not prejudice the priorities of the collection. He was involved in establishing the International Association of Sound Archives in 1969 and was a member of its executive committee for many years. Patrick Saul was created

in 1971, the same year he married Diana Hull. He retired as BIRS director in 1978, but maintained a consulting role for another five years. At the time, Lord Boyle of Handsworth, who was

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the ch ...

when the Archive received government funding in the early 1960s, described Patrick Saul's career as one of "quite exceptional modesty and humility on the one side and ruthless determination on the other." He died in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

; his wife survived him.

References

1913 births 1999 deaths Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London English archivists Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Dover College People from Dover, Kent {{England-bio-stub