Foreword

Abstract

Sir John Sainty, sometime clerk of the parliaments, is also a historian of the house of lords, concentrating on procedural development and the identification of the staff of the upper House.1 These publications are exceedingly useful for the more general researcher, providing information which is difficult and time consuming to extract both from the parliamentary and the state records at the Public Record Office (now The National Archives). Thus John was providing a body of work which in many cases formed the foundations upon which other historians built their work, saving them much detailed research. A good deal of this work was published in the obscure memoranda of what was then the House of Lords Record Office (now The Parliamentary Archives). These memoranda were available to consult in the Record Office and in some academic libraries, and occasional researchers in the archives of parliament acquired their own treasured copies from the staff. Many historians, particularly those not specialising in parliamentary history, may not know about these publications which could provide them with useful information, for example providing the identification and details of the life and career of a person named in a source who may have proved elusive in more well-known reference works. Even a visit to the Parliamentary Archives will not necessarily provide the answer, or to one's university library as in the latter case these publications may be difficult to locate, sometimes having proved too tempting to acquisitive fingers. Publication of these memoranda stopped in the 1990s and the stock of copies at the Parliamentary Archives has long since been dispersed to grateful historians. Thus, to mark the 80th birthday of John Sainty, on the last day of 2014, and John's status as godfather to Parliamentary History,2 the grateful trustees and staff of the journal have decided to republish the texts of all John's memoranda (together with three other House of Lords Record Office publications) as one of the journal's Texts & Studies series.