Monica Ory, who died on 24 June 2023, was the Deputy County Archivist at the Warwickshire County Record Office from 1968 to 1996. She was a gentle but reassuring presence, for staff and researchers alike.
Monica was born on 9 September 1941. Her father was in the RAF and stationed in Scotland. The family joined him there and stayed until the end of the war, when they returned to Isleworth, West London. Monica attended a small private school nearby. After passing her Eleven-plus, she got a scholarship to St Catherine’s convent school, Twickenham. She originally wanted to be a journalist, but decided to read History at Manchester University, 1959-62. She completed the Diploma in Archive Administration at UCL in 1964. At that time the diploma was in two parts, the second part being the creation of a catalogue. Monica shared the Cowley prize for her catalogue of the Colfox family, ropemakers of Bridport. This was part of her work at Dorset Record Office, her first archival post, 1963-1965. In 1966 she moved to the Huntington Library in California, which has a notable collection of English archives. While waiting for her visa she was employed by the Huntington to index the correspondence and papers of the 16th century diplomat Anthony Bacon, held by Lambeth Palace Library. In California she catalogued some 6,000 deeds in the Stowe Collection and worked on subject indexes to the Bridgwater and Ellesmere archives. In 1968 she returned to England to work as deputy County Archivist in Warwickshire. Dorset to California to Warwick in the 1960s must have been a series of interesting transitions!
When Monica arrived at Warwick it was still possible to make real progress in cataloguing major collections. It’s difficult to overestimate Monica’s contribution to this. She was a superb cataloguer: an activity which requires a mastery of the technical aspects of a document, accuracy and attention to detail, an ability to describe a document as fully as possible in the smallest number of words, and a capacity to arrange an archive which may contain thousands of individual items. Her catalogue of the family papers of the Feildings of Newnham Paddox runs to nearly 650 pages. The collection includes the papers of Thomas Pennant, the 18th century naturalist. It is an archive of international importance and Monica’s catalogue opened it up to research. Catalogues need indexes, so she produced one for the Feilding and Pennant papers, over 12,000 cards, and set about creating a subject index to the whole of the Record Office’s collections. That is still a work in progress, not yet eclipsed by computers. Her other major catalogues included those for the collections of Greswold of Malvern Hill, Warriner of Weston Park, Landor of Bishop’s Tachbrook, and Bree of Allesley- all important names in Warwickshire history. Later she made a speciality of medical archives, starting with the records of the Warwickshire County Lunatic Asylum, and going on to the records of St Cross, Rugby, and the Warneford at Leamington. Catalogues and indexes are pillars on which a record office stands. Monica’s quietly efficient labours will be remembered with gratitude by all past and future users of the archives.
As well as cataloguing and indexing, Monica worked on the office’s exhibitions at Coughton Court and Arbury. She used that work to write talks for local history groups. As Deputy County Archivist she was responsible for the training and overseeing of other staff and volunteers, another part of her legacy to the archival world. A typical memory comes from Dr Charles Fonge, whom some may remember beginning as a schoolboy production assistant: ‘Monica was such an inspiration, with some amazing projects and so many catalogues to her name. She was such a kind, knowledgeable and fantastically supportive colleague and it was a privilege to learn from and to work alongside her.’
She made her skill and knowledge available to countless enquirers. As one of them said to me ‘She was always the ideal back-up for the floundering researcher.’
After she left Warwick, Monica had many fascinating cataloguing jobs: the 6,400 rare books in the library at Arbury for Viscount Daventry; the archives at Packington for the Earl of Aylesford; and the archives of Southam Cement Works. She worked at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, on the Young Women’s Christian Association archives and the National Cycle Archive. She was archivist to the Provincialate of the Catholic Sisters, Faithful Companions of Jesus. Their archive includes not only the administrative and personal records of the order and the nuns, but also the records of the schools and training colleges they ran all over England.
It is also important to remember Monica’s life outside archives. She was membership and then programme secretary for the Warwick Society 1982-96; she was on the Executive Committee of the Warwickshire Local History Society for many years; and was on the committee of the Friends of Warwickshire County Record Office. She was keenly interested in conservation and the environment. Her tales from the Warwickshire Badger Group enlivened many office coffee breaks. Nor can we forget her fabulous cooking. Her recipe for gingerbread was demanded for any office celebration, and her parties were culinary events not to be missed.
Monica gave guidance and encouragement in fair weather and foul to her colleagues. She was an unfailingly kind and generous friend. We all miss her very much.