Darby, H. C.

Abstract

Henry Clifford Darby (1909–92) was a highly gifted and influential scholar in the field of historical geography. Educated in South Wales and in Cambridge, and appointed to a lectureship in Cambridge, followed by professorial posts at Liverpool, University College, London, and Cambridge, he is best known for his research and publications on the Fenland of East Anglia, the historical geography of England, Domesday Geographies, and a range of studies in methodology of historical and human geography. His work effectively challenged existing ideas on historical geography and geographical history in the 1920s and 1930s and beyond, and his two edited books on the historical geography of England were milestones in the subject’s development. He was a polished writer and lecturer, and influential promoter of historical geography both through his supervision of postgraduate students and his role in making appointments in the university departments in which he worked.