The Story of the Berkshire Record Office

It was in 1939 that Berkshire County Council established a County Records Committee.  Its job was to consider how to look after the many official and private records that were stored in the basement of the old Shire Hall in the Forbury, Reading.

The Clerk of the Council, Harold Neobard, was keen to employ an archivist. Over twenty shire counties had already established a County Record Office, and Mr Neobard wanted Berkshire to be the next.

It was agreed to appoint an archivist by April 1940, but the Second World War intervened and it was only in August 1948 that Felix Hull started work as first County Archivist. His temporary Record Office was in the caretaker’s flat of the old Shire Hall.

The story of the three Berkshire Record Offices since then is told in the Related Content pages below.  For a fuller version of the story, please download the two attached files.