Maurice Warwick Beresford 1920–2005

Maurice Warwick Beresford (1920–2005), a Fellow of the British Academy, was an economic and social historian born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire to Harry Bertram Beresford and Nora Elizabeth Jefferies. He was ill at ease in the social fabric of Jesus College in the late 1930s. Still, Beresford flourished academically under the guidance of an understanding Tutor, Bernard Manning, and a supportive Director of Studies, Charles Wilson. Social work of various kinds was to remain a major interest throughout his life. In the autumn of 1942, Beresford moved to Rugby to take up a residential post as Sub-Warden (and later Warden, 1943–1948) of the Percival Guildhouse, an adult education centre. By early 1946, he had applied for posts in history at Glasgow and economic history at Nottingham. While settling in at the University of Leeds in 1948, several papers resulting from his archival and fieldwork in the midlands were published. But before moving to Leeds, Beresford trespassed into archaeology for the first time. Beresford retired from Leeds in 1985.