Robin Bush (historian)
Encyclopedia
Robin James Edwin Bush was the resident historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 for the first nine series of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 series Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...

, appearing in 39 episodes between 1994 to 2003. He also presented eight episodes of Time Team Extra
Time Team Extra
Time Team Extra is a British television series that aired on Channel 4 in 1998. Presented by Robin Bush, it is a companion programme to the archaeology series Time Team, that first aired on Channel 4 in 1994....

in 1998.

Early life

Bush was born in Hayes, Middlesex. His father was originally a schoolmaster and then a training college lecturer in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

. Bush attended Exeter School
Exeter School
Exeter School is a selective independent co-educational day school for pupils between the ages of 7 and 18 located in Exeter, Devon, England. In 2010 there were around 180 pupils in the Junior School and 670 in the Senior School...

 in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 between 1950 to 1962, and it was here aged 13 that he first became interested in historical research while studying the school's history. His first two research papers were published by the Devonshire Association
The Devonshire Association
The Devonshire Association is a learned society founded in 1862 by William Pengelly and modelled on the British Association, but concentrating on research subjects linked to Devon in the fields of science, literature and the arts.-History:...

 before he left school. He won a Trevelyan Scholarship, followed by a Stapledon Exhibition and later still a State Scholarship
State Scholarship (UK)
A State Scholarship was a financial scholarship award for university entrants based on Scholarship Level exam results. Although the award was based on exam performance, the amount received was means-tested.-History:...

, to read History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 at Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...

 (1962–65), taking his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in Modern History in 1965 and an MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in 1984. Among his contemporaries at Oxford were the broadcaster Craig Raine
Craig Raine
Craig Raine is an English poet and critic born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. Along with Christopher Reid, he is the best-known exponent of Martian poetry.-Life:...

, the journalist Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...

, the Marquess of Hartington
Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire
Peregrine Andrew Morny Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, KCVO, CBE , is a British peer. He is the only surviving son of the 11th Duke of Devonshire and his wife, the former Deborah Mitford. He succeeded to the dukedom following the death of his father on 3 May 2004...

 and the psephologist Professor Ivor Crewe
Ivor Crewe
Sir Ivor Martin Crewe is the Master of University College, Oxford. He was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex and Professor in the Department of Government....

. A keen amateur actor, he also appeared on stage at the Oxford Playhouse with Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 actor Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....

.

Historian

In 1965 he was appointed assistant archivist at Surrey Record Office at Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...

 before moving to Somerset Record Office in 1967 where he spent the rest of his working life. From 1970 to 1978 Bush was assistant editor of the Somerset Victoria County History
Somerset Victoria County History
The Somerset Victoria County History is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Somerset in England, forming part of the overall Victoria County History of England founded in 1899 in honour of Queen Victoria...

, writing much of the content of three of its volumes. Later he returned to the Record Office as Deputy County Archivist until taking early retirement in 1993.

Bush wrote his first book in 1977, and produced volumes on the history of Taunton
Taunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

, Exmouth
Exmouth
Exmouth is a town in Devon. It may also refer to:Places*Exmouth Peninsula in Southern Chile*Exmouth, Western AustraliaPeople*Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth , a British naval officerShips...

 and Wellington
Wellington, Somerset
Wellington is a small industrial town in rural Somerset, England, situated south west of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district, near the border with Devon, which runs along the Blackdown Hills to the south of the town...

, followed by a series of books on the county of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

. He researched emigration from the South West of England to New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 between 1620 to 1645, which led to the publication of three further books in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. Bush has made six speaking tours to the United States, during one of which he met President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

 at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

. In 1987 he explained Somerset's archives to HM the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 and the Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...

. From 1984 to 1996 he had a weekly spot on BBC Radio Bristol
BBC Radio Bristol
BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC Local Radio service for the English city of Bristol and the surrounding former Avon area. Launched in September 1970, it broadcasts from Broadcasting House in Bristol on FM frequencies 94.9 MHz , 104.6 MHz , 103.6 MHz , on AM 1548 kHz and on DAB.The...

 and then BBC Somerset, on which he told stories of local history and folklore.

Television appearances

Bush became involved with the Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...

programmes through his long friendship with Mick Aston
Mick Aston
Professor Michael Antony 'Mick' Aston is a prominent English archaeologist. As an academic, he has taught at a number of universities across the United Kingdom, and has helped popularise the discipline amongst the British public by appearing as the resident academic on the Channel 4 television...

 when Aston was Somerset's first county field archaeologist. Aston had previously discussed the idea of devising an archaeological television programme with Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...

, and a pilot episode was set up. Through helping to devise the programme's format with producer Tim Taylor
Tim Taylor (producer)
Professor Timothy 'Tim' Taylor is a British television producer best known for his work as the originator and producer of Channel 4's popular archaeology series Time Team...

, Bush was invited to take part in the pilot which was shot at Dorchester-on-Thames
Dorchester, Oxfordshire
Dorchester-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, about northwest of Wallingford and southeast of Oxford. Despite its name, Dorchester is not on the River Thames, but just above the Thame's confluence with it...

 in October 1992. Although the pilot programme was never screened, the idea was good enough to persuade Channel 4 to commission a four programme series of Time Team, which was filmed in 1993 and broadcast the following year. Bush also appeared in Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's series Joe Public, for which he researched the loss of a hat jewel by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

. Bush appeared regularly as resident historian on Revealing Secrets (55 episodes) for Multi Media, transmitted on Channel 4 on weekdays from 26 March to 4 July 2001.

As a solo presenter Bush filmed a series of six half-hour programmes entitled The West at War, broadcast in 2005, which examined the impact of war on the South West of England from Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 times to the present day for ITV Westcountry
Westcountry Television
Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993...

.

Personal life

Bush lived in Taunton with his wife, Hilary Margaret Marshall, whom he married in 1993. By an earlier marriage to the late Iris Maude Reed he had two grown-up children, Catherine and Alexander, and two granddaughters (by Catherine) – Lauren Knight and Esme Knight. He was Chairman of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society
Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society
The Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society was founded in 1849. The Society bought Taunton Castle in 1874, and leases it to Somerset County Council to house the Museum of Somerset. A substantial proportion of the items held by the Museum were originally collected by the Society...

 (1983–84), then President of Taunton Amateur Operatic Society (TAOS), 1985–2009. He performed regularly in amateur dramas, musicals and grand opera productions throughout West Somerset, and in 1991, 1994 and 1997 he helped to judge the grand finals of the World Public Speaking and Debating Championships.

Political life

From May 1997 until June 2009 Bush served as a Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 member of Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.-Area covered:...

, serving as Chairman of the Council from 2001 until 2005. He was also Vice Chairman of the County's Information and Leisure Board (1998–2000) and Vice Chairman of the Community, Leisure and Information Review Committee (2000–2001), Chairman of the Regulation (Planning) Committee (2005–07) and Chairman of both the Somerset Cultural Forum and Somerset Cultural Executive (2003–09). Bush was Vice Chairman of the South West Museums Council (1998–2000) and served as a Board Member of Culture South West, Arts Council England South West and the South West Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

He was a Member of the Council and Court of the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...

 and of the Courts of the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....

 and the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....

. He was one of four Patrons of Wessex Actors Company, with the Marquess of Bath
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath
Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath , styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, is an English politician, artist and author...

, Lord Tom King
Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater
Thomas Jeremy King, Baron King of Bridgwater, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1983–92, and was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bridgwater in Somerset from 1970-2001...

 and the late Ned Sherrin
Ned Sherrin
Edward George "Ned" Sherrin CBE was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC...

, 2002 to 2010. Bush was also Patron of Apple AM : Taunton Hospital Radio, which serves the patients of Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton. He was President of the Somerset Art Gallery Trust and the Somerset Youth Partnership, and Vice President and Trustee of the Somerset Community Foundation.

Robin Bush died on June 22, 2010 after a long period of illness.

Books and monographs

  • Victoria County History of Somerset:
    • (with R.W. Dunning) vol iii (Oxford University Press, 1974) ISBN 0-19722-739-2
    • (with R.W. Dunning) vol iv (OUP, 1976) ISBN 0-19722-747-3
    • (with R.W. Dunning and Mary Siraut) vol v (OUP, 1983) ISBN 0-19722-764-3
  • The Book of Taunton (Barracuda Books, 1977) ISBN 0-86023-034-1
  • The Book of Exmouth (Barracuda Books, 1978) ISBN 0-86923-057-0
  • The Book of Wellington (with Gillian Allen, Barracuda Books, 1983) ISBN 0-86023-099-6
  • Jeboult's Taunton (Barracuda Books, 1983) ISBN 0-86023-186-0
  • The Archaeology of Taunton ed. Peter Leach, four principal chapters by Robin Bush (Western Archaeological Trust, Excavation Monograph no.8, 1984), pp. 11–16, 59–63, 75–79, 104–106.
  • The Story of the County Hotel, Taunton (1987)
  • Shields and Wall Plate Carving in the Church of St Mary, Ashill (1987)
  • A Taunton Diary, 1787–1987 (Barracuda Books, 1988) ISBN 0-86023-422-3
  • The Story of Taunton Castle (Somerset Archaeological Society, 1988)
  • Somerset, a Portrait in Colour (Dovecote Press, 1989) ISBN 0-946159-70-X
  • Somerset Stories (Dovecote Press, 1990) ISBN 0-946159-84-X
  • Your Somerset Family (Somerset County Council. 1992)
  • Somerset, the Complete Guide (Dovecote Press, 1994) ISBN 1-874336-27-X
  • Somerset Villages (Dovecote Press, 1995) ISBN 1-874336-35-0
  • Search for the Passengers of the Mary and John, 1630, ed. Burton Spear:
  • vol 25 New Ancestral Discoveries &ndash ;part 1 (Ohio, 1996)
  • vol 26 New Ancestral Discoveries – part 2 (Ohio, 1997)
  • vol 27 New Ancestral Discoveries – part 3 (Ohio, 1999)
  • Somerset Bedside Book (Dovecote Press, 1997) ISBN 1-874336-43-1
  • Chapter on 'The Age of Elegance' in Somerset: the Millennium Book, ed. Tom Mayberry and Hilary Binding (Somerset Books, 1999) ISBN 0-86183-485-2
  • Aesop's Fables, A Choral Cycle, verse libretto by Robin Bush, composer Douglas Coombes (Lindsay Music, 2001).

Papers in journals

  • 'The Rev John Lempriere, DD, in Devon' in Transactions of the Devonshire Association, xciii (1961), pp. 228–249.
  • 'Exeter Free Grammar School, 1633–1809' in Trans. of Devonsh. Assoc. xciv (1962), pp. 363–410.
  • 'Exeter during the Civil War and Interregnum' in Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, xxix (1962–3) pp. 80–87, 102–09, 132–39, 171–76.
  • 'George Passemer, a Devonshire Antiquary' in Devon & Cornwall N. & Q. xxix (1964), pp. 241ff.
  • 'Nettlecombe Court. 1. The Trevelyans and other residents' in Field Studies Journal, iii/2 (1970), pp. 275–87.
  • 'The Tudor Tavern, Fore Street, Taunton' in Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, cxix (1976), pp. 15–20.
  • 'West Newton Manor Farm' [in North Petherton] in Proc. Som. Arch. Nat. Hist. Soc. cxxiii (1980), pp. 55–64.
  • 'Somerset, England, Records and American Descendants' in Connecticut Nutmegger, vol 19 (1986), pp. 386–396.
  • 'The Blake Ancestry of Elizabeth Saunders, wife of Henry Wolcott,' in Connecticut Nutmegger, vol 22 (1989), pp. 11–12.

Recordings

  • Four audiocassettes of lectures to the 'All American Conference' of the (USA) Federation of Genealogical Societies delivered at Fort Wayne, Indiana, published in the USA by audiotapes.com (1991).
  • An Archivist Abroad (FW-52).
  • An Archivist's Casebook - The Pleasures and Pitfalls of English Genealogy (FW-93).
  • Brought to Book - English Quarter Sessions and their Records (FW-232).
  • Courts and Copyhold - the English Manor and its Records (FW-34)


Double audiocassettes of Robin Bush retelling Tales of Old Somerset (1995), Halsgrove Productions, Tiverton, Devon.

Compact Disc of Aesop's Fables, a Choral Cycle, verse libretto by Robin Bush, composer Douglas Coombes' (Lindsay Music, 2001).

External links

  • http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/biog_robin.htmlBush on the Time Team
    Time Team
    Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...

    website]
  • Bush on Time Team Live in 2001
  • Detailed biography on the 'Unofficial Time Team' website
  • Obituary in The Daily Telegraph
    The Daily Telegraph
    The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

    24 June 2010
  • Obituary in The Guardian
    The Guardian
    The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

    7 July 2010
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