Thank you very much for inviting me to speak about Stan who I had the great honour to work with for the past 13 years when I was the Honorary Editor of the Essex Journal, a review of local history and archaeology, and Stan was a member of the Editorial Board. Stan had joined this in 2006 when the future of the publication was in doubt and a concerted attempt was made to keep it going and my first issue was the year after in 2007. Of course, Stan remembered its predecessor, the Essex Review, which had folded in 1957, and he was determined that this was not going to happen to the Essex Journal - it must carry on!

Stan did not come to the Essex Journal cold in 2006. As a historian in his own right he’d already written articles for it decades before my time, on topics such as the co-operative movement and public health, as well as book reviews and having his own book on North Weald reviewed. During my own tenure, he continued to support it with contributions including an article on that favourite subject of his, the origins of Harlow New Town.

During my time as editor Stan was always incredibly supportive of me. There was always an encouraging word when things were so busy for me with work and a young family (he’d been there). At most public local history meetings, Stan would generally stand up and say what a good job I was doing which, while slightly embarrassing if I were present, was always lovely to hear and then, waving around one of our membership leaflets he’d encourage those who weren’t members to part with £10 and to join up. He was always astounded that fellow historians and archaeologists (mainly archaeologists!) working in Essex were not members and he’d quiz me as to who was and wasn’t a member – while persuasive he was not always successful in getting people to join but he tried – something I suspect Stan had been doing all his life.

The Essex Journal Editorial Board under the gentle chairmanship of Adrian Corder-Birch, met twice a year to begin with at County Hall, then the Essex Record Office, but for the last few years in my kitchen. Meetings always ran very smoothly and possibly the most difficult part was arranging the following meeting. Generally the rest of the Board, when looking six months ahead through diaries and calendars, had several free Saturday mornings they could meet but Stan, well Stan’s little diary would already be full: ‘I can’t make that one as I have a Gibberd Gardens Trust meeting. Then I’m running a Labour History event.’ – I’m sure you all know what Stan was like. I felt positively pedestrian by comparison but it did demonstrate what a wonderful supporter and active participant Stan was of so many county organisations.

To mark Stan’s 90th birthday I arranged a special bumper issue of the Essex Journal to be published with many of Stan’s friends contributing a series of articles on different aspects of Essex’s past that would be of interest to him: the missing Lady Chapel at Waltham Abbey, the history of Black Notley watermill (mills were a subject close to Stan’s heart) and another about the 1892 general election in the north of the county, to name a few. In the midst of a leadership race Jeremey Corbyn very kindly supplied some words to the issue as well. Stan was thrilled, and said so when I dropped off some extra copies with him at the beginning of lockdown - the last time I saw Stan in person. He was particularly pleased because so many ‘lefties’ - HIS WORD NOT MINE I hasten to add! - were contributors to the issue.

As mentioned, Stan was a historian and from a young age, and many of us found this out when following a request from the Essex Record Office back in 2007 to discover who had been using it the longest, I’m sure you’ve guessed it, it was Stan. He checked his diaries and let it be known that he first visited in August 1948 when, as he wrote in his autobiography, In Quest of a Fairer Society, ERO Archivist and author Hilda Grieve had assisted him and that ‘I worked on Woodford Parish records and the Poor Law. This proved to be an introduction to an activity which has occupied me periodically for the whole of my life.’ Well Stan carried on supporting the Essex Record Office and 71 years after his first visit, in November 2019 he supported the launch of former County Archivist Vic Gray’s book on a subject close to his heart, the Purleigh Brotherhood Colony. Vic recalls that ‘Stan turned up at my book launch, unheralded and to my surprise. And just as typically, though it was over a quarter of a century since I'd left my post in Essex, he asked me to drop in on him in Old Harlow for a chat - about the book, about politics, and, no doubt, much else.’ Unfortunately Vic never had the chance to follow that invitation up.

I remember Stan at that event just knowing everyone there and talking to all his friends and acquaintances – indeed I think it took him about 20 minutes to leave as he went round his friends again having one last word of cheerio.

Along with local and county history, Stan was also a committed family historian and genealogist. He was an early member of Essex Society for Family History and a regular at West Essex Branch meetings until they were suspended by the pandemic in 2020.

So on behalf of Chris and myself and all the county and local history and archaeological societies that Stan was involved with I would like to conclude by saying how much we shall miss Stan, his advice and his knowledge, his guidance and stories – his reassuring presence at meetings and events. Most of all we shall miss Stan’s friendship. Thank you Stan, it was an absolute pleasure to have known and worked with you.