S.M. Jarvis

Stan Jarvis, librarian and museum curator, was born in Winchester in 1926. After war service in the Royal Navy, he moved about south-east England in the public library service until he settled permanently at Chelmsford in Essex in 1959. After his marriage in 1950 he studied for and obtained the Fellowship of the Library Association in 1957. Free then of further professional study, he was able to indulge in his favourite pastime of writing. A flow of articles in newspapers and magazines culminated in the broadcast of his own scripts, and a growing interest in local history and genealogy was reflected in his writings. In Search of Essex (1986) was followed by seventeen more books - on Essex, including the Shire County Guide to that county, on the City of London and on smuggling.