William Henry Page (4 September 1861 – 3 February 1934) was a British prolific and pioneering historian and editor. For the last three decades of his life he was general editor of the Victoria County History.
Life
William Page was born at his family's house at Norfolk Square, Paddington, London on 4 September 1861, the fifth of six children of merchant Henry Page and Georgina (née Forrester). He was privately schooled locally at Dr Westmacott's School and then entered Westminster School, where his education was cut short by the death of his father in 1875. The family moved to "a genteel part" of Lewisham, and Page was articled to a civil engineer. Page had two older brothers, one of whom moved to Australia; having completed his articles, in about 1881 Page followed him to take up an engineering post with the Government of Queensland. Page returned to London in 1884.
Page's eldest sister married the record agent and antiquarian William John Hardy, who employed Page from 1885. The business later became the partnership of Page and Hardy, with an office in Lincoln's Inn.
In 1886 Page married Kate Marion Rowe. They settled in Forest Hill and had a daughter (Dorothy) and a son (Ivan).
As a record agent Page frequented the Public Record Office at its then premises in Chancery Lane, where W. J. Hardy's uncle Thomas Duffus Hardy had been deputy keeper since 1861, succeeded by Hardy's father William Hardy. Page developed an interest in historical records, was elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1887 and published his first article the next year.
Early historical works: Northumberland and Hertfordshire
Page initially concentrated his historical interest on Northumberland. His first article, published in 1888, was about the Northumbrian palatinates and regalities. He followed this with editions of three early assize rolls of Northumberland (1891), the cartulary of Brinkburn Priory (1893), a table of the pontifical years of the bishops of Durham (1896), and an edition of the Edwardine inventories of church goods for County Durham, Northumberland and Yorkshire (1897).
Page started to work on aspects of the history of Hertfordshire, where his brother-in-law and sister lived. In 1896 he moved to St Albans, where in 1897 he became assistant secretary of the St Albans Architectural and Archaeological Society. In the same year he helped the archaeological excavation of the churchyard of St Michael's parish church and in 1898–1902 helped the Rev. C.V. Bicknell to excavate the forum of Verulamium. Also in 1898 Page helped to found the Hertfordshire County Museum. Page remained a member of the St Albans Architectural and Archaeological Society after he later moved away from Hertfordshire.
Victoria County History
In 1899 Laurence Gomme and H. Arthur Doubleday launched the Victoria County History through Archibald Constable & Co, in which Doubleday was a partner. Doubleday formed the County History Syndicate, Ltd. to run the project. A friend of Page, J. Horace Round, recommended Page to Doubleday as a suitable local editor for the VCH's Hertfordshire volumes. Round recommended that a model parish history be drafted and circulated to the VCH's other editors. Page prepared the history of Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, which was completed and circulated to VCH editors before the end of 1900. A History of the County of Hertford, Volume 1 was published in 1902 with Page named as co-editor.
In 1902 Page gave up his partnership with W. J. Hardy and became joint general editor of the VCH. Page helped Doubleday to set the VCH's founding principles: a co-operative project in which nationally reputable historians would contribute according to their various specialisms, using the new disciplines of archaeology and economic history as well as palaeography and the systematic study of surviving ancient buildings, and covering all counties of England in a systematic and uniform style. Page and Doubleday wrote and circulated a full and detailed Guide for VCH writers, apparently in 1903.
In 1904 Doubleday left Constable & Co. and Page took over as general editor of the VCH. The VCH moved into offices adjoining Constable's in James Street (later Orange Street) off Haymarket and Page moved from St Albans to a mansion block overlooking Battersea Park. In 1906 Page moved again to Frognal in Hampstead.