Identity area
Reference code
SJCR/SJAC/1/2/Tanner/4/1/1
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 1903 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
2 files. Paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Joseph Robson Tanner was born on the 28th July 1860, the son of Joseph Tanner, who headed a printing firm in Somerset. He was educated at Mill Hill School, before coming up to St John’s in 1879. There, he placed in the First Class of the Historical Tripos, and was both Treasurer and President of the Union Society. Tanner became a Fellow of the College in 1886; from there, he also held posts as College Lecturer in History (1883-1912), Director of Historical Studies (1905-1920), Assistant Tutor (1895-1900), Tutor (1900-1912) and Tutorial Bursar (1900-1921). He was also a member of the Council of the Senate, the Press Syndicate, and edited the Historical Register of the University of Cambridge.
Tanner continued to write frequently after his post-war retirement from College services, producing and editing works such as the Cambridge Medieval History, Samuel Pepys and the Royal Navy, and English Constitutional Conflicts of the Seventeenth Century.
Tanner was married in 1888, to Charlotte Maria Larkman. He died on the 16th January 1931, and his funeral was held in the College Chapel the following week.
Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 46, Easter 1931, p. 184
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Includes: reading lists; Navy Records Society; student progress; Lectures Committee; Pepys' calendar of Naval Records at Magdalene College; reference requests; bills & invoices; examinations; trade gratuities; property valuations; personal correspondence; University Appointments board.