Celebrating the Life of Patrick McGurk
A memorial service was held on Saturday 4 November 2017 at the church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Woodford Green, for Patrick McGurk, a member of this department from 1953 until his retirement in 1988.
A memorial service was held on Saturday 4 November 2017 at the church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Woodford Green, for Patrick McGurk, a member of this department from 1953 until his retirement in 1988. A distinguished early medieval scholar, his specialism was early Latin and Anglo-Saxon gospel books, on which he published a number of books and articles. He contributed a chapter on Anglo-Saxon Gospel books to the Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, vol. 1, c. 400-1100 (2011). After retirement he worked on an edition and translation of the fascinating and complex chronicle of John of Worcester (fl. 1095-1140), for whom he also wrote the entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Two volumes of text and notes were published in 1995 and 1998; sadly Patrick was unable to complete his work on the third, introductory, volume, which is being brought to completion by others. Colleagues in his field noted his painstaking and perceptive textual scholarship; he saw things others had not noticed that yielded a richer interpretation.
Patrick was sociable as well as scholarly, with a nice sense of humour, one of that group of Birkbeck historians who made it their job not just to teach inspiringly but to encourage students and younger colleagues and induct them into the community – especially the community that met regularly in the Birkbeck bar. Lifelong friendships were made and sustained there.
Graham Gibbs, Patrick’s exact contemporary in the then Department of History, spoke movingly at the memorial service of their long friendship and experiences together, including some anecdotes of their fearsome head of department, Professor R.R.Darlington. Professor Dame Jinty Nelson (KCL) spoke of Patrick’s scholarship and teaching, and Dr David Woodman (Cambridge) talked about completing the publications on John of Worcester.
Graham’s obituary for Patrick was published in the Guardian.