Vincent Burrough Redstone (1853 – 26 April 1941) was a Suffolk historian who suggested to

Edith Pretty Edith May Pretty (née Dempster; 1 August 1883 – 17 December 1942) was an English landowner on whose land the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered after she hired Basil Brown, a local excavator and amateur archaeologist, to determine whether ...

that the

Sutton Hoo Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeology, Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when an undisturbed ship burial containing a wea ...

Ship-burial should be excavated. He was a master of

Woodbridge School Woodbridge School is a private day and boarding school in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, founded in 1577, for the poor of Woodbridge. It was later supported by the Seckford Foundation. Woodbridge School has been co-educational since September ...

and secretary of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. He retired from Woodbridge School in 1921 and spent the remainder of his life researching historical topics. He was particularly noted for his study of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

settlement in Suffolk.

Career

Redstone's father came from Hampshire and was Master of Alton Workhouse. His father died two months after the birth of his son, from

Scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...

. Redstone had been brought up in an orphanage at

Wanstead Wanstead () is an area in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge to the east and Manor Park to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is located 8 m ...

in Essex and trained to be a teacher at Winchester Training College. He returned to teach at Wanstead. In 1880 Redstone moved to Woodbridge to teach at Woodbridge school. in 1880 and took up the post of ''General English master and Commercial Subjects''. He was later to become 2nd master at Woodbridge School. He rapidly became a historian of note studying the archives of the Seckford Trust. He became a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries. With his daughters Lillian and Elsie, he was to build up a large reference on Suffolk history at the Seckford Library and in his adjacent house, which was widely consulted by a wide range of scholars. It was here that

Basil Brown Basil John Wait Brown (22 January 1888 – 12 March 1977) was an English archaeologist and astronomer. Self-taught, he discovered and excavated a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo in 1939, which has come to be called "one of t ...

was able to glean much of his information on the Saxon archaeology of Suffolk.

Meeting with
Edith Pretty Edith May Pretty (née Dempster; 1 August 1883 – 17 December 1942) was an English landowner on whose land the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered after she hired Basil Brown, a local excavator and amateur archaeologist, to determine whether ...
and the Sutton Hoo excavations

At the 1937 Woodbridge Flower Fete, at Woodbridge Abbey, Edith discussed the possibility of an excavation with Vincent Redstone. Redstone then wrote to his friend Guy Maynard at

Ipswich Museum Ipswich Museum is a registered museum of culture, history and natural heritage, located in a Grade II* listed building on High Street in Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk. It was historically the leading regional museum in Suffolk, housing ...

that Mrs Pretty had invited him to lunch and would he accompany him "Mrs Pretty is very pleasing, intelligent JP’’ The luncheon appears to have taken place on 26 July. Redstone took part in the excavations. In August 1939 he wrote with his daughter Lilian' an article in the ''Woodbridge Reporter'' asking ''Was it King Redwald?'' who was buried at Sutton Hoo.

Family

Vincent Redstone married Grace Linsey. They lived at 3 Seckford Street, Woodbridge in the old

Masters House, which was adjacent to the Seckford Library. They had three daughters. Lilian Jane Redstone (1885–1955) was the first archivist for East Suffolk and Elsie became the Seckford Librarian in Woodbridge.

References

Publications

* Redstone, Vincent Burrough ''Bygone Woodbridge'' (1893) * Redstone, Vincent Burrough ''Annals of Wickham Market'' (1896) * Redstone, Vincent Burrough (ed.) ''The ship-money returns for the county of Suffolk, 1639–40 (Harl. MSS. 7,540–7,542)''. (Ipswich: W. E. Harrison, 1904), also by Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History and Suffolk (England) (page images at HathiTrust) * Redstone, Vincent Burrough (ed.) ''Calendar of pre-reformation wills, testaments, probates, administrations: registered at the probate office, Bury St. Edmunds'' (1907) * Redstone Vincent Burrough (ed.) ''Memorials of Old Suffolk'' Bemrose & Sons, London (1908) * Redstone, Vincent Burrough ''The Ancient House or Sparrowe House, Ipswich'' (1912) * Redstone, Vincent Burrough ''Records of Protestant dissenters in Suffolk'' (Woodbridge: G. Booth, 1912) (page images at HathiTrust; US access only) * Redstone, Vincent Burrough 'The Dutch and Huguenot Settlements of Ipswich', ''Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London'', 12 (1921), pp. 183–204. Huguenot Society of London (images at Internet Archive)

Bibliography

*Obituary: Suffolk Institute of Archaeolog

*

Norman Scarfe Norman Scarfe MBE, FSA, (1 May 1923, Felixstowe - 2 March 2014, Ipswich was an English historian of locality noted for his work as regards his native Suffolk. His first publication was ''Assault Division: A History of the 3rd Division from the ...

(1958) ''Vincent Burrough Redstone, F.S.A.., F.R. Hist.Soc. 1853–1941: Lilian Jane Restone, M.B.E., B.A. 1885–1955.'' Redstone Memorial Volume, Suffolk Records Society, Vol. 1. pp. 7–13. *Weaver M & C (1987) ''The Seckford Foundation: Four Hundred Years of a Tudor Foundation'' The Seckford Foundation, Woodbridge. *Weaver M (1999) ''In the Beginning....'' Saxon The Newsletter of the Sutton Hoo Society, No.30. pp1–2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Redstone, Vincent Burrough 1941 deaths 1853 births 19th-century English historians 20th-century English historians Alumni of the University of Winchester Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Historians of England People from Wanstead Schoolteachers from Essex Schoolteachers from Suffolk Sutton Hoo