Charles Frank Albert Marmoy 1909–2005
2
236 © Health Libraries Group 2005 Health Information and Libraries Journal, 22, pp.236–237 Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Obituary Charles Frank Albert Marmoy 1909–2005 Charles Marmoy, Medical Librarian in the Thane Library of Medical Sciences University College London (1933–74), died on 28 February 2005. His father died when Charles was 6 years old and, because of his ineligibilty to join an insurance scheme, left his widow, Charles and younger sister without financial support. Charles therefore had to help his mother as family breadwinner as soon as he could leave school. His childhood memories of poverty and dependence on charity provided the pressure to improve his financial position whenever he could, as well as prompting many acts of generosity on his part. Like a number of medical librarians of the inter- war years (such Leslie Morton and John Thornton), he was recruited directly to University College Library (UCL) from Haverstock Central School for Boys, and started work on 23 March 1925 as a junior library assistant in the Medical Sciences Library. At that time he was part of a total college library staff of about eight or nine and occupied a portion of each vacation helping to dust the books. Charles spent virtually the whole of his profes- sional career in medical librarianship at UCL except for short spells at the Wellcome Library and the British Medical Association (BMA). In Sep- tember 1930, as there seemed no prospect of advance- ment at UCL, he applied for a library assistant’s post at the Wellcome Research Library which was then housed in a disused factory in Hythe Road, Willesden Junction. One of his tasks was to go to sales at the London auction houses and bid, anon- ymously, for lots selected by Sir Henry Wellcome, whose voracious collecting for his Museum and Library was still in full swing. Charles enjoyed his time at the Wellcome but missed contact with readers as plans for a new library in Wigmore St. were shelved because of the Depression. When the opportunity arose, he returned to UCL and was promoted to the junior academic post of Assistant Librarian-in-charge of the Thane Library. In addi- tion, he also ran the binding preparation depart- ment for all sections of the library and took it sufficiently seriously to learn how to bind books for himself. Charles attended some of the lectures at the UCL School of Librarianship, notably those by Arundell Esdaile and W. Berwick Sayers, but he also had to study in his spare time, taking the Library Association (LA) exams one by one. He became Associate and then Fellow of the Library Association (FLA) in 1935. The move to the BMA came at the beginning of the war when the UCL collections were removed from London for safety and the librarian at the BMA was desperately short of staff to fill the many requests for books and journals being received
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Transcript of Charles Frank Albert Marmoy 1909–2005
236
© Health Libraries Group 2005
Health Information and Libraries Journal
,
22
, pp.236–237
Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
Obituary
Charles Frank Albert Marmoy 1909–2005
Charles Marmoy, Medical Librarian in the ThaneLibrary of Medical Sciences University CollegeLondon (1933–74), died on 28 February 2005. Hisfather died when Charles was 6 years old and,because of his ineligibilty to join an insurancescheme, left his widow, Charles and younger sisterwithout financial support. Charles therefore hadto help his mother as family breadwinner as soonas he could leave school. His childhood memoriesof poverty and dependence on charity providedthe pressure to improve his financial positionwhenever he could, as well as prompting many actsof generosity on his part.
Like a number of medical librarians of the inter-war years (such Leslie Morton and John Thornton),he was recruited directly to University CollegeLibrary (UCL) from Haverstock Central Schoolfor Boys, and started work on 23 March 1925 asa junior library assistant in the Medical SciencesLibrary. At that time he was part of a total collegelibrary staff of about eight or nine and occupieda portion of each vacation helping to dust thebooks.
Charles spent virtually the whole of his profes-sional career in medical librarianship at UCLexcept for short spells at the Wellcome Library andthe British Medical Association (BMA). In Sep-tember 1930, as there seemed no prospect of advance-ment at UCL, he applied for a library assistant’spost at the Wellcome Research Library which wasthen housed in a disused factory in Hythe Road,Willesden Junction. One of his tasks was to go tosales at the London auction houses and bid, anon-ymously, for lots selected by Sir Henry Wellcome,whose voracious collecting for his Museum andLibrary was still in full swing. Charles enjoyed histime at the Wellcome but missed contact withreaders as plans for a new library in Wigmore St.were shelved because of the Depression. When theopportunity arose, he returned to UCL and was
promoted to the junior academic post of AssistantLibrarian-in-charge of the Thane Library. In addi-tion, he also ran the binding preparation depart-ment for all sections of the library and took itsufficiently seriously to learn how to bind booksfor himself.
Charles attended some of the lectures at theUCL School of Librarianship, notably those byArundell Esdaile and W. Berwick Sayers, but healso had to study in his spare time, taking theLibrary Association (LA) exams one by one. Hebecame Associate and then Fellow of the LibraryAssociation (FLA) in 1935.
The move to the BMA came at the beginning ofthe war when the UCL collections were removedfrom London for safety and the librarian at theBMA was desperately short of staff to fill the manyrequests for books and journals being received
Obituary
© Health Libraries Group 2005
Health Information and Libraries Journal
,
22
, pp.236–237
237
from all over the country. At the same time asworking in the library during the day, Charles wasalso acting as air-raid warden at night, nearWillesden Junction. He was called up by the Armyin 1942 and became a radar mechanic with theRoyal Army Ordnance Corps, seeing service inBelgium and Germany. In 1946 he returned to theThane Library.
All the Marmoys in England, together with twoor three families in America, are descendants ofJob Jacob Marmoy, his wife Elizabeth and their11 children; they were the only family of that nameto emigrate to England as Huguenot exiles in the17th century. It was quite natural, therefore, forCharles to became a Fellow of the HuguenotSociety in 1948 and, when William LeFanu (RoyalCollege of Surgeons) arrranged the deposit of theSociety’s Library at UCL in 1957, its HonoraryLibrarian.
He continued in this role after his retirementfrom the Thane Library until 1986.
Although a founding member of the LA MedicalSection (1947), he did not join the committeebecause of his work on the establishment of theHuguenot Society Library but he was a regularattender at Medical Section meetings and Conferences.
He was a member of the group from the Medi-cal Section which mounted the first InternationalCongress of Medical Librarianship at the Univer-sity of London in 1953; his particular responsibil-ity was the Trade Exhibition, through which theCongress was able to generate funding.
He was senior examiner for the FLA MedicalLibrarianship papers from 1954 to 1960. Charlesis remembered by colleagues and friends as veryhelpful and knowledgeable about a variety ofsubjects. Daphne Sutherland writes
‘He was a great help to me (as a newly appointedAssistant Librarian for Natural Sciences) especi-ally with regard to inter-library loans and all mattersmedical—he was a great “networker” … alwaysthe soul of courtesy … (but) quite (gently) ruthlesswith us regarding missing indexes and suchlike …’
The help with inter-library loans doubtlessrefers to the pre-British Library Lending Division
(BLLD) union list of periodicals in the health fieldheld by the larger medical collections in Londonto which Charles contributed. Others rememberhim as a good Faculty Librarian at UCL, engag-ing with academics in the staff common roomrather than staying in the library.
His meticulous approach to everything is shownin his publications which include the chapter onanatomy and physiology in
Uses of Medical Liter-ature
(ed. L. T. Morton 1974) and the review ofmedical librarianship in
Five Years Work in Librar-ianship
1951–55 (ed. P. Sewell, 1958) and otherpapers on aspects of medical librarianship. How-ever his main interests lay with the Huguenots andhe published a number of important texts on therecords of the early life of this community inLondon. His principal publications were
The FrenchProtestant Hospital
:
Extracts from the Archive of‘La Providence’ relating to inmates and applicantsfor admission 1718–1957 and to the recipients ofand applicants for the Coqueau charity 1745–1901(2 vol. Huguenot Society 1977)
and
The Casebookof La Maison de Charité de Spittlefields 1739–1741(Huguenot Society 1981).
A mutual friend from wartime, Sidney Hockey,introduced him to Primrose Newport, a librarianworking in Berkshire County Library, and theywere married in 1948. He always said that havinghis children late in life kept him young and thiswas apparent into his nineties. Sadly, he sufferedin his later years from arthritis and Primrosecared for him until her own illness forced them tomove into sheltered housing. She died in 2003and they are survived by four children and sevengrandchildren.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Jessica Linskill and members ofthe Marmoy family, Susan Gove, Daphne andFreddie Sutherland and John Symons for theirhelp in compiling the above.
Valerie
Ferguson
Formerly Medical Librarian/Postgraduate Medical& NHS Libraries Adviser North West
John Rylands University Library of Manchester
