History
In 1922 Professor Allen Mawer read a paper to the British Academy about setting up an English place-name survey. He obtained the formal and financial support of the Academy. Within a year he had brought into being a society composed of interested persons, provided it with a constitution and laid down the lines of its future conduct. The headquarters of the Society were first at the University of Liverpool where Mawer was Professor of English Language. The publications of the Society began in 1924 with two volumes, a collection of essays and a dictionary of place-name elements. Mawer and Aileen Armstrong acted as General Editors for the annual volumes of county place-name surveys. From 1929 J. E. B. Gover collected material and was sub-editor of the volumes.
In 1929 Professor Mawer was appointed Provost of University College, London and the Society moved there at the end of the year. When World War II came the Society moved briefly to University College, Aberystwyth, back to London and then to Stansted Bury on the Hertfordshire/Essex border. In July 1942 Sir Allen Mawer died and Sir Frank Stenton became General Editor. The Society moved to the University of Reading until 1946. When Professor Bruce Dickins succeeded as Honorary Director the Society moved to the University of Cambridge and Miss Margaret Midgley (later Dr Margaret Gelling) was appointed Research Assistant.
When Professor Hugh Smith assumed the position of Honorary Director in 1951, University College, London became once more the Society's headquarters, with Margaret Midgley continuing research until 1953. Hugh Smith produced two new "Elements" volumes and 14 others on county place-names. On his death in 1967 Professor Kenneth Cameron became Honorary Director and the Society's offices were split between London and Nottingham, where the university provided room for the Library and Archives, as well as the services of a secretary. In 1972 the Society moved completely to Nottingham where it remains at the Centre for Name Studies. Victor Watts became Honorary Director in 1992 until his death in 2002 when he was succeeded by Professor Richard Coates.
Read more about this topic: English Place-Name Society
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