| Admin History | Neil Ripley Ker (1908-1982), palaeographer, was born in Brompton, London, son of Robert Macneil Ker and his wife Lucy. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he switched from philosophy, politics and economics to English language and literature on the advice of C.S. Lewis. He was appointed lecturer of palaeography in 1941, was elected as a Fellow at Magdalen in 1945, and subsequently to Reader in Palaeography in 1946. He was also librarian for Magdalen between 1955-1968. He is probably best known for his work on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and his compilation of manuscript catalogues and handlists, including 'Medieval Libraries of Great Britain' (1941), 'Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon' (1957, amended reprint 1990), 'Medieval Manuscripts of Great Britain' (1969 onwards), and 'English Manuscripts in the Century after the Norman Conquest' (1960). He died in Foss near Pitlochry, Scotland, in 1982. |