Derek Charman, former County Archivist of Ipswich and East Suffolk, Corporation Archivist and, later, Coordinator Records Services of the British Steel Corporation and founder and director of Derek Charman and Associates, died peacefully at his home in Holcot, Northamptonshire, on Wednesday, 13 January 2016.  He was 93 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for a number of years.  The funeral will take place at the parish church of St Mary and All Angels, Holcot on Monday 1 February, 2016 at 1130, followed by refreshments in the Village Hall.

For more than 50 years, Derek was a major figure among records professionals, nationally and internationally.  He had an outstanding professional career that included advising both the Nigerian and Kenyan governments on establishing their respective national archives.   At British Steel he created. what was, in its time, the largest and most comprehensive integrated business archives and records management operation in the UK. 

In a wider professional context, he was one of the driving forces in introducing, by example and evangelism, the then new discipline of records management into the UK in the 1960s and 70s.  He was instrumental, with Michael Cook, Len Macdonald and other members of the Society, in setting up the Records Management Group of the Society of Archivists in 1977 and was its first chair.  Recognising the need to provide a broader church for records people than the SoA could provide, Derek then led the move to establish the Records Management Society of Great Britain in 1983, serving on its first board of directors and subsequently being created a life member.  With Bill Benedon, he set up what became the International Records Management Council (now defunct), of which both the SoA and RMS were subscribing members, as a vehicle for encouraging the international spread of good recordkeeping practice.  He and his wife, Jill, later became joint Executive Directors of the IRMC.

Derek was a long standing and active member of the Business Archives Council and contributed to its conferences and its journal for more than 30 years.

Peter Emmerson

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