Editing Victoria County History

{{Short description|English history project}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox book series
| name = Victoria History of the Counties of England
| image = Victoria County History (shield).png
| image_caption = The VCH logo
| books = 
| author = 
| editors = 
| title_orig = 
| translator = 
| illustrator = 
| cover_artist = 
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| discipline = History
| publisher = [[Institute of Historical Research]]
| pub_date = 
| english_pub_date = 
| media_type = Print
| number_of_books = 
| list_books = 
| oclc = 
| preceded by = 
| followed by = 
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
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 England]], and was dedicated to [[Queen Victoria]]. In 2012 the project was rededicated to Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee year.<ref name="Jubilee">{{cite book|last1=Beckett|first1=John |first2=Matthew |last2=Bristow |first3=Elizabeth |last3=Williamson |title=The Victoria County History 1899-2012: a Diamond Jubilee celebration|date=2013|publisher=University of London, Institute of Historical Research|location=London|isbn=9781905165919|edition=2nd }}</ref>{{rp|7}} Since 1933 the project has been coordinated by the [[Institute of Historical Research]] in the [[University of London]].

==History==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:VCH counties.JPG|right|thumb|Map showing the state of completion of the VCH across England, c.2006]] -->

The history of the VCH falls into three main phases, defined by different funding regimes: an early phase, 1899–1914, when the project was conceived as a commercial enterprise, and progress was rapid; a second more desultory phase, 1914–1947, when relatively little progress was made; and the third phase beginning in 1947, when, under the auspices of the Institute of Historical Research, a high academic standard was set, and progress has been slow but reasonably steady.<ref name="Lewis1989">{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Christopher |date=1989 |chapter=The Victoria County History |title=Particular Places: an introduction to English local history |location=London |publisher=British Library |isbn=0712301755}}</ref>{{rp|54–6}}

These phases have also been characterised by changing attitudes towards the proper scope of [[English local history]]. The early volumes were planned on the model of traditional [[English county histories]], with a strong emphasis on [[Manor (feudal Europe)|manor]]ial descents, the [[advowson]]s of parish churches, and the local [[landed gentry]]: a prospectus of {{Circa|1904}} stated that "there is ''no Englishman'' to whom [the VCH] does not in some one or other of its features make a direct appeal".<ref name="Lewis1989" />{{rp|55}} More recent volumes – especially those published since the 1950s – have been more wide-ranging in their approach, and have included systematic coverage of [[Social history|social]] and [[economic history]], [[industrial history]], [[Historical demography|population history]], [[History of education|educational history]], [[landscape history]], [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|religious nonconformity]], and so on; individual parish histories have consequently grown considerably in length and complexity.

From 1902 the joint general editors were H. Arthur Doubleday and [[William Page (historian)|William Page]]. Doubleday resigned (in acrimonious circumstances) in 1904,<ref name="Powell2001">{{cite book |last=Powell |first=W. Raymond |year=2001 |title=John Horace Round: Historian and Gentleman of Essex |place=Chelmsford |publisher=Essex Record Office |isbn=1-898529-19-1}}</ref>{{rp|148–52}} leaving Page as sole general editor until his death in 1934. In 1932 Page bought the rights to the ailing project for a nominal sum, donating it to the Institute of Historical Research the following year.<ref name=MakingHistory>{{cite web |last=Lewis |first=Chris |title=William Page (1861–1934), general editor of the Victoria County History 1902–34 |work=[[Institute of Historical Research|Making History]] |year=2008 |url=http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/articles/william_page.html}}</ref> Page was succeeded as general editor by [[Louis Francis Salzman|L. F. Salzman]], who remained in post until 1949.<ref name=MakingHistory/> The early volumes depended heavily on the efforts of a large number of young research workers, mostly female, fresh from degree courses at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], [[University of London|London]] or the [[Universities in Scotland|Scottish universities]], for whom other employment opportunities were limited: the VCH of this period has been described as "a history for gentlemen largely researched by ladies".<ref name="Lewis1989" />{{rp|54}}

From 1909 until 1931 [[Frederick Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambleden|Frederick Smith]], later 2nd [[Viscount Hambleden]], was the VCH's major sponsor.<ref name=MakingHistory/> In February 2005 the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]] awarded the VCH £3,374,000 to fund the [[England's Past for Everyone]] project, which ran from September that year until February 2010.<ref name=EPE>{{cite web|title=England's Past for Everyone|url=http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/publications-projects/epe|website=Victoria County History|access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>

==Progress==
[[File:VCH counties.svg|thumb|250px|VCH progress by county]]
The first VCH volume was published in 1901, and publication continued slowly throughout the 20th century, although in some counties it has come to a halt, especially during [[World War I]]<ref name=MakingHistory/> and again in the 1970s. Some inactive counties have recently been reactivated.

There are now more than 230 VCH volumes, with around three new volumes published per year. Each is published with a red cover, and they are therefore sometimes known as "the big red books". When the Institute of Historical Research published a short history of the project to mark the 75th anniversary of taking it over, it was titled ''The Little Big Red Book''.<ref name="Little Big Red Book">{{cite web |url=http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/about/75-years-ihr |title=75 years at the IHR |website=Victoria County History | access-date=24 May 2009}}</ref> A special edition Jubilee book was published in 2012, ''A Diamond Jubilee Celebration 1899–2012.''<ref name="Jubilee" />

A map showing the publication status appears on the VCH website.<ref>{{Cite web|website=Victoria County History|title=VCH Counties|url=http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/counties|access-date=24 March 2013}}</ref>

==Structure and content of the county histories==
From its inception, responsibility for writing the volumes was delegated to local editors for each individual county. The county editors traditionally worked under the direction of a general editor, following a uniform format and style.

In general, the histories begin with one or more volumes of general studies of the county as a whole, including major themes, such as religious history, agriculture, industries, population (with summary tables of decennial census totals 1801–1901), and an introduction to and translation of the relevant section of [[Domesday Book]].<ref name="Tiller">{{Cite book|last=Tiller|first=Kate|title=English local history: an introduction|publisher=Sutton Publishing|location=Stroud |year=1992 |isbn=0-86299-958-8}}</ref> These volumes are followed by others consisting of detailed historical surveys of each [[Hundred (county division)|Hundred]], [[Wapentake]] (discussed in separate [[Riding (division)|riding]] volumes) and [[Ward (electoral subdivision)|ward]], parish by parish. At first, [[Civil parishes in England#Ancient origins|ancient ecclesiastical parishes]] formed the unit of investigation, but since the mid-1950s the VCH parish is the [[civil parish]], the modern successor of the ancient parishes or of townships within them. Large towns are dealt with as a whole, including, since the 1960s, built-up areas of adjoining, formerly rural parishes.<ref name="Tiller" />{{rp|18–19}}

Under the original plan, each county, in addition to its general and topographical volumes, was to have a genealogical volume containing the [[Pedigree chart|pedigrees]] of [[Landed gentry|county families]]. Genealogical volumes were published in a large [[folio]] format for [[Northamptonshire]] (1906) and [[Hertfordshire]] (1907), but the research costs were found to be excessive, and this side of the project was discontinued.<ref name="Powell2001" />{{rp|156–57}}

==Completed county histories==
Some of the county histories have been completed, as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! County !! Number of volumes !! Year completed
|-
| [[Bedfordshire]] || 3 + index || 1914
|-
| [[Berkshire]] || 4 + index || 1927
|-
| [[Buckinghamshire]] || 4 + index || 1928
|-
| [[Cambridgeshire]] || 10 + index || 2002
|-
| [[Hampshire]] || 5 + index || 1914
|-
| [[Hertfordshire]] || 4 + index || 1923
|-
| [[Huntingdonshire]] || 3 + index || 1938
|-
| [[Lancashire]] || 8 || 1914
|-
| [[Rutland]] || 2 + index || 1936
|-
| [[Surrey]] || 4 + index || 1914
|-
| [[Warwickshire]] || 8 + index || 1969
|-
| [[Worcestershire]] || 4 + index || 1926
|-
| [[Yorkshire]] (general volumes) || 3 + index || 1925
|-
| [[North Riding of Yorkshire|Yorkshire (North Riding)]] || 2 + index || 1925
|}

==Counties in progress==
For each uncompleted county history on which work is continuing (i.e.: "active" in VCH terminology), progress is as follows:
[[File:(105) VictoriaCountyHistoryLogo.jpg|thumb|upright|From a VCH frontispiece, 1911]]
{| class="wikitable"
! County !! Number of volumes published !! Year of most recent volume
|-
| [[Cornwall]] || 1 in two parts || 1925
|-
| [[County Durham]] || 5 || 2015
|-
| [[Cumberland]] || 2 || 1968
|-
| [[Derbyshire]] || 3 || 2013
|-
| [[Essex]] || 12 || 2022
|-
| [[Gloucestershire Victoria County History|Gloucestershire]] || 11 || 2016
|-
| [[Herefordshire]] || 1 || 1975
|-
| [[Kent]] || 3 || 1974
|-
| [[Leicestershire]] || 5 || 1988
|-
| [[Middlesex]] || 13 || 2009
|-
| [[Northamptonshire]] || 7 || 2013
|-
| [[Nottinghamshire]] || 2 || 1907
|-
| [[Oxfordshire]] || 20 || 2022
|-
| [[Shropshire]] || 11 || 2014
|-
| [[Somerset Victoria County History|Somerset]] || 11 || 2015
|-
| [[Staffordshire]] || 15 || 2021
|-
| [[Sussex]] || 11 || 2009
|-
| [[Westmorland]] || none ||
|-
| [[Wiltshire Victoria County History|Wiltshire]] || 18 || 2011
|-
| [[East Riding of Yorkshire|Yorkshire (East Riding)]] || 10 || 2021
|-
| [[West Riding of Yorkshire|Yorkshire (West Riding)]] || none ||
|}

==Dormant counties==
[[File:Constable&CoLogo.jpg|thumb|upright|Logo of VCH publisher, ''Constable & Co. Ltd'']]
Several volumes are not currently being worked on.

{| class="wikitable"
! County !! Number of volumes published !! Year of most recent volume
|-
| [[Cheshire]] || 6 || 2005
|-
| [[Devon]] || 1 || 1906
|-
| [[Dorset]] || 2 || 1968
|-
| [[Lincolnshire]] || 1 || 1906
|-
| London || 1 || 1974
|-
| [[Norfolk]] || 2 || 1975
|-
| [[Suffolk]] || 2 || 1975
|-
| [[Yorkshire]] (general volumes and city of [[York]]) || 4 || 1974
|}

==Counties with no published volumes==
* [[Northumberland]] produced its own, non-VCH, history in 15 volumes, published by the Northumberland County History Committee, completed in 1940.
* [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]], sometimes regarded between the 16th and 20th centuries as an English county, has never been treated as such by the VCH, and has never been proposed for inclusion within the project. A non-VCH county history of [[Gwent (county)|Gwent]]/Monmouthshire was published by the [[University of Wales Press]] in five volumes between 2004 and 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/the-gwent-county-history-volume-1/ |title=The Gwent County History, Volume 1: Gwent in Prehistory and Early History |author=<!--Not stated-->  |website=[[University of Wales Press]]|access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/the-gwent-county-history-volume-5/ |title=The Gwent County History, Volume 5: The Twentieth Century |author=<!--Not stated-->  |website=[[University of Wales Press]]|access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref>
* [[Westmorland]] has not yet produced a VCH volume, but the area is included within the VCH Cumbria project.

==General editors==
* [[William Page (historian)|William Page]] (General Editor 1904–34)
* [[Louis Francis Salzman]] (General Editor 1934–49)
* [[Ralph Pugh]] (General Editor 1949–77)
* [[Christopher Elrington]] (General Editor 1977–94)
* Christopher Currie (General Editor 1994–2000)<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr Christopher Currie, MA, D Phil (Oxon), FRHistS, FSA|url=http://www.history.ac.uk/about/christopher-currie|website=IHR|access-date=25 February 2015}}</ref>
* [[Anthony Fletcher]] (General Editor/Director 2000–2005)<ref name=VCH_eds>{{cite web|title=Contributors to the VCH|url=http://blog.history.ac.uk/category/victoria-county-history/|website=IHR|access-date=25 February 2015}}</ref>
* [[John Beckett (historian)|John Beckett]] (General Editor/Director 2005–2010)<ref name=VCH_eds/>
* Elizabeth Williamson (Executive Editor 2010–2014)<ref name=VCH_eds/>
* Richard Hoyle (General Editor/Director 2014–2016)<ref>{{cite web|title=Professor Richard Hoyle appointed as VCH Director & General Editor|url=http://blog.history.ac.uk/2014/05/professor-richard-hoyle-appointed-as-vch-director-general-editor/|website=IHR|date=22 May 2014|access-date=25 February 2015}}</ref>
*[[Catherine Clarke (academic)|Catherine Clarke]] (Director 2019–present)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/news/medieval-specialist-catherine-clarke-lead-new-ihr-research-centre-and-vch|title=Medieval specialist Catherine Clarke to lead new IHR research centre and the VCH {{!}} Victoria County History|website=victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk|access-date=2019-07-08}}</ref>

==Notable county editors==
* [[William Page (historian)|William Page]] (Somerset, also general editor)
* [[David Crouch (historian)|David Crouch]] (Yorkshire, East Riding)
* [[Peter Ditchfield]] (Berkshire)
* [[Mary Lobel]] (Oxfordshire)
* [[Susan Reynolds]] (Middlesex)
* [[John Horace Round|J. Horace Round]] (Essex)
* [[John William Willis-Bund]] (Worcestershire)
* [[Oswald Barron]] (general editor of the genealogical volumes for Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire)

==Notable contributors==

*[[Mary Bateson (historian)|Mary Bateson]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Bateson |url=https://beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud/wiki/Item:Q735 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud}}</ref>
*[[Madeleine Hope Dodds]] (contributed to Durham)<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Dodds, Madeleine Hope (1885–1972), historian|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-60805|access-date=2020-10-11|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/60805}}</ref>
*[[Charles Reed Peers]] (Architectural Editor, 1903–10)
*[[Maud Sellers|Maud Sellars]] (contributed to Yorkshire, Durham)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maud Sellers |url=https://beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud/wiki/Item:Q577 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud}}</ref>
*[[Ethel Stokes]] (contributed to Essex)
*[[Margerie Venables Taylor]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Margerie Venables Taylor |url=https://beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud/wiki/Item:Q133 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud}}</ref>

== Online availability ==
Much of the content of the older VCH volumes is now accessible via the ''[[British History Online]]'' [[digital library]], digitised by double rekeying. Priority has been given to the topographical volumes containing histories of individual parishes. The more general introductory volumes are excluded for the time being, with the exception of those sections covering the [[religious house]]s of each county.

==See also==
* [[Gloucestershire Victoria County History]]
* [[Somerset Victoria County History]]
* [[Wiltshire Victoria County History]]
* [[Cambridge County Geographies]]
* [[English county histories]]
* [[Historiography of the United Kingdom]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |first=Timothy |last=Baker |title=The Victoria County History of Middlesex |journal=The Local Historian |volume=23 |year=1993 |pages=155–62 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=Local history, family history and the Victoria County History: new directions for the twenty-first century |journal=Historical Research |volume=81 |year=2008 |issue=212 |pages=350–65 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.2007.00426.x}}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=The Thoroton Society and the Victoria County History |journal=Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire |volume=113 |year=2009 |pages= 119–36 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=Libraries and the Victoria County History |journal=Library & Information History |volume=25 |year=2009 |issue=4 |pages=217–26 |doi=10.1179/175834809x12489648790016|s2cid=162269824 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=Writing Hampshire's history: the Victoria County History, 1899–1914 |journal=Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archaeological Society |volume=66 |year=2011 |pages=201–214 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=W. G. Hoskins, the Victoria County History, and the study of English local history |journal=Midland History |volume=36 |year=2011 |pages=115–127 |doi=10.1179/004772911x12956221816321|s2cid=159827576 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=W. G. Hoskins and the Victoria County History in Leicestershire |journal=Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society |volume=85 |year=2011 |pages=165–191 |doi=10.5284/1107445 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=Topography and landscape history: the role of the Victoria County History |journal=Landscape History |volume=32 |year=2011 |issue=2 |pages=57–65 |doi=10.1080/01433768.2011.10594659|s2cid=162189941 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=The Victoria County History in Devon, 1899–1910 |journal=Devonshire Association Report and Transactions |volume=143 |year=2011 |pages=283–310 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=The Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society and the Victoria County History |journal=Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society |series=3rd ser. |volume=11 |year=2011 |pages=207–225 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=Canon Thomas Taylor of St Just and the Victoria County History in Cornwall, 1899–1938 |journal=Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall |year=2011 |pages=31–44 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=The Victoria County History in Yorkshire: the past, the present and the future |journal=[[Northern History]] |volume=51 |issue=2 |year=2014 |pages=330–343 |doi=10.1179/0078172X14Z.00000000068 |s2cid=161292986 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last=Beckett |author-link=John Beckett (historian) |title=The Victoria County History in the Midlands |journal=Midland History |volume=39 |issue=1 |year=2014 |pages=133–143 |doi=10.1179/0047729X14Z.00000000037 |s2cid=161279919 }}
*{{cite book |first1=J. V. |last1=Beckett |author1-link=John Beckett (historian) |first2=Matthew |last2=Bristow |first3=Elizabeth |last3=Williamson |title=The Victoria County History, 1899–2012: a diamond jubilee celebration |location=London |publisher=Victoria County History |year=2013 |isbn=9781905165735 }}
*{{cite journal |first=J. V. |last1=Beckett |author1-link=John Beckett (historian) |first2=Charles |last2=Watkins |title=Natural history and local history in late Victorian and Edwardian England: the contribution of the Victoria County History |journal=Rural History |volume=22 |year=2011 |pages=59–87 |doi=10.1017/s0956793310000142|s2cid=162280058 }}
*{{cite book |first=Janet |last=Cooper |chapter=The Victoria County History |editor-last=Neale |editor-first=Kenneth |title=Essex Heritage: essays presented to Sir William Addison as a tribute to his life and work for Essex history and literature |place=Oxford |publisher=Leopard's Head |year=1992 |pages=15–30 }}
*{{cite journal |first=C. R. J. |last=Currie |title=Victoria County History |journal=[[History Today]] |volume=49 |issue=12 |year=1999 |pages=28–30 }}
*{{cite journal |first=R. W. |last=Dunning |title=The Victoria County History of Cornwall: an uncertain start |journal=Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall |year=2006 |pages=14–21 }}
*{{cite journal |first=Christopher |last=Elrington |author-link=Christopher Elrington |title=The Victoria County History |journal=The Local Historian |volume=22 |year=1992 |pages=128–37 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Hackett |first1=Mel |last2=Whitston |first2=Kerry |title=The Little Big Red Book: a celebration of 75 years of the Victoria County History at the Institute of Historical Research |place=Woodbridge |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-904356-14-1 }}
*{{cite journal |first=Keith D. |last=Lilley |title=Review Article: The Victoria County History and the landscape of towns: a review and critique |journal=Landscapes |volume=13 |issue=1 |year=2012 |pages=70–74 }}
*{{cite journal |first=R. B. |last=Pugh |author-link=Ralph Pugh |title=The Victoria County History |journal=British Studies Monitor |volume=2 |year=1971 |pages=15–23 }}
*{{cite journal |first=Elizabeth |last=Williamson |title=Heritage and history: the historic built environment and the Victoria County History |journal=The Historian |volume=72 |year=2001 |pages=44–47 }}

==External links==
{{wikisource}}
* {{Official website}}
* [https://boydellandbrewer.com/imprints-affiliates/victoria-county-history.html The Victoria County History] at Boydell & Brewer
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/6017616/Professor-Christopher-Elrington.html Professor Christopher Elrington] – ''Daily Telegraph'' obituary

[[Category:Victoria County History| ]]
[[Category:Archaeology of England]]
[[Category:Historiography of England]]
[[Category:Victorian era]]
[[Category:History books about England]]
[[Category:History of England by county]]
[[Category:English local history]]
[[Category:1899 in literature]]
[[Category:1899 introductions]]
[[Category:Book series introduced in the 1890s]]