E. Beresford Chancellor

Edwin Beresford Chancellor FRHS FSA (1868 – 4 February 1937) was an English author known for his works on the history of London and it environs. He wrote his first book, Historical Richmond (1885), when only 17 years old. In 1924-25, he completed a six-volume history of The Lives of the Rakes.

Early life and family

Edwin Beresford Chancellor was born in Richmond, Surrey, in 1868 to Albert Chancellor, an estate agent, and his wife Emma. He read history at the University of Oxford. He married Ellen Porter in Bromley, Kent, in 1894. They had two sons, Richard and Francis. Chancellor's second marriage was to Constance Lilian May Crouch in Hastings, Sussex, in 1930.

Career

Chancellor's early career was as a land and estate agent. By the time of the 1911 census he was describing himself as an author.

His first book was Historical Richmond (1885) on the history of his place of birth. The foreword contained a note explaining that, being only 17 years of age, he had been prevented from examining the printed books in the British Museum (now in the British Library) but through the kindness of professor Sir Richard Owen he had been able to examine the manuscripts. The book was nonetheless deposited in the Museum's library. At the time of writing the foreword, he was resident at The Retreat, Richmond. He returned to this subject in detail in 1894 with his History and Antiquities of Richmond etc. which was described in The Spectator as "monstrous in size" and probably containing "everything that anybody could want; but then it also has not a little that nobody wants."