Hamer, Douglas

Douglas Hamer (1897-1981) was appointed Lecturer in the Department of English Literature in 1929, and retired in 1962 as Reader. He is particularly remembered as a Spenserian scholar, and for his work on the theatre and on nursery rhymes.

During World War I he fought in France, being wounded in 1916 and commissioned in 1917. He was awarded the MC and bar.

The archive is in several distinct sections, and consists of research material in manuscript, with some printed material, often with ms. annotations. The sections include: Hamer Research Collections on English language and literature(MS 62); Manuscript notes on nursery rhymes (MS 63); British Battles on the Western Front from 18 August - 11 November 1918 (MS 72A); Scott-Hamer Mss. on Anglo-Saxon monuments in the Sheffield area (MS 77); Robert Henryson Poems and fables, 1933, with ms. annotations (MS 107); Temple Edition of Shakespeare, ed. W. Aldis Wright, c. 1900, with ms. annotations (MS 135); Miscellaneous literary notes (MS 136); Theatre collection of lantern slides; The Towneley Hall Mss: The Spending of the Money of Robert Nowell of Reade Hall, Lancashire ...Edited By A.B. Gossart, 1877, 'with annotations and corrections from the MS (Chetham Library, Manchester), by Douglas Hamer, 1950-2'

The nursery rhyme material, researched to academic standards, was intended for publication, but was pre-empted by the publication of the Opies' Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes in 1951.

F.S. Scott, jointly responsible with Hamer for the Scott-Hamer Manuscripts on Anglo-Saxon cross fragments of the Sheffield area, was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Language before becoming Professor at Auckland University.

From the guide to the Douglas Hamer Manuscripts, [ca. 1930]-1962, (University of Sheffield Library)