Rev. Peter Hampson Ditchfield, FSA (20 April 1854 – 16 September 1930) was a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
priest, historian and prolific author. He is notable for having co-edited three Berkshire volumes of the ''
Victoria County History
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 ...
'' which were published between 1907 and 1924.
Life
Peter Ditchfield was born in
Westhoughton
Westhoughton ( ) is a List of towns in England, town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and studied at
Oriel College, Oxford
Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...
. He was ordained
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions.
Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
in 1878 and priest in 1879. He served as curate of St Michael's parish church, Sandhurst until 1880, followed by a second curacy at Christ Church, Reading, Berkshire.
He was appointed Rector of
Barkham
Barkham is a village and civil parish in the borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England, located around southwest of the town of Wokingham.
History
Barkham dates back to 951, when a Saxon thane gave ''Bloreham'' to the monks of Abingdon Abb ...
in 1886: a post that he held until his death. From 1886 until 1903 he was Inspector of Schools for the
Diocese of Oxford
The Diocese of Oxford is a Church of England diocese that forms part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Oxford (currently Steven Croft (bishop), Steven Croft), and the bishop's seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, ...
.
He was an historian and a prolific author. He also co-edited with William Page three Berkshire volumes of the ''
Victoria County History
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 ...
'', which were published in 1907, 1923 and 1924.
Ditchfield was concerned about the urban development of historic towns and published ''Vanishing England'' in 1919.
He served as Secretary of the Berkshire Archaeological Society for 38 years until 1929, when he became its president. He edited the ''Berks, Bucks and Oxon Archaeological Journal'' from 1897 until his death.
Ditchfield was a
Freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...