Arthur Dickens was born in 1910, and educated at Hymers College, Hull and Magdalene College, Oxford, where he gained a degree in history. Following graduation, he became a Fellow and Tutor at Keble College (1933-1949) and an Oxford University Lecturer in sixteenth century English History (1939-1949), with a break for service in the Royal Artillery during World War Two. In 1949, Dickens was appointed Professor of History at the University of Hull, later becoming Deputy Principal and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, 1950-1953, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, 1959-1962. He took up the post of Professor of History at King's College London in 1962, where he remained until becoming Director of the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and a Professor of History in the University of London, 1967-1977. Dickens was also active in other bodies, including President of the Ecclesiastical History Society, 1966-1968; a member of the Advisory Council on Public Records, 1968-1976; an advisor to the Council on the Export of Works of Art, 1968-1976; Secretary, Chairman and General Secretary of the British National Committee of Historical Sciences, 1967-1979; Foreign Secretary of the British Academy, 1969-1979; and Vice-President of the British Record Society, 1978-1980; Dickens enjoyed "a deep love affair with Germany" [Partick Collinson, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 77, p21], was a moving force in the establishment of the German Historical Institute in London and was decorated by the German government. His major publications include Lollards and Protestants in the Diocese of York, 1509-58 (1959); The English Reformation (1964); and The German Nation and Martin Luther (1974). Professor Dickens died in 2001.
From the guide to the Dickens, Professor Arthur Geoffrey, c1929-1992, (Senate House Library, University of London)
