Derek Keene, an appreciation

Abstract

Professor Derek Keene, who died on 17 April 2021 at the age of 78, made a substantial contribution to the history of London through his own research and writing, his leadership of the Centre for Metropolitan History at the Institute of Historical Research, and his support of learned bodies and enterprises, including the London Journal. Derek was an enthusiastic historian and archaeologist from an early age. He read history at Oxford and undertook a DPhil there on the urban development of Winchester. He was on the staff of the Winchester Research Unit from 1968 to 1978 (Assistant Director 1974–8). His magnum opus arising from this period was the magisterial Survey of Medieval Winchester (Winchester Studies, 2: 1985), complemented by several other publications over the years. In 1979, he moved to London with the first of a series of innovative research projects on London, The Social and Economic Study of Medieval London. The project was based at the Institute of Historical Research but housed at the recently established Museum of London, also then home to the Department of Urban Archaeology, which promoted valuable exchanges between the project team and curatorial and archaeological experts. The Study applied the methodology of Derek’s research on Winchester to the much larger city of London, using the reconstruction of property histories as a tool to understand the material, social, and economic development of the city from the twelfth century to the Great Fire of 1666. The first project, focusing on the area of Cheapside, was followed by studies of Aldgate and Walbrook. Together these projects resulted in a substantial research archive as well as published outputs, and laid the groundwork on which later research projects could build. In 1988, the Centre for Metropolitan History was established at the Institute of Historical Research, with Derek as its first Director: its success and reputation owed much to his distinction, and his ability to win substantial research funding. He was particularly good at thinking about how large and seemingly intractable questions could be addressed using an unconventional approach, and at putting this into practice in the projects he led. Important initiatives at the Centre included ‘Feeding the City: London’s impact on the agrarian economy of southern England, c.1250–1350’, ‘Metropolitan London in the 1690s’, ‘The growth of the skilled workforce in London 1500–1750’, and several projects on markets and market networks. Of particular significance was his contribution as general editor to bringing to completion the massive history of St Paul’s Cathedral: St Paul’s: the Cathedral Church of London, 604–2004 (2004). The Centre also attracted associate researchers and projects of high calibre, making it a centre of historical excellence and enterprise. In 2002, Derek was appointed Leverhulme Professor of Comparative Metropolitan History at the Institute of Historical Research, and was succeeded as Director of the Centre for Metropolitan History by Matthew Davies; he retired in 2008. Throughout his career, he served history, especially London and urban history, in a number of roles. These included Royal Commissioner on the Historical Monuments of England; member of the International Commission for the History of Towns; member of St Paul’s Cathedral Fabric Advisory Committee; and member of the British Historic Towns Atlas the london journal, Vol. 46 No. 2, July 2021, 119–120