Ewart Oakeshott

Ewart Oakeshott (25 May 1916 — 30 September 2002) was a British illustrator, collector, and amateur historian who wrote prodigiously on medieval arms and armour. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Founder Member of the Arms and Armour Society, and the Founder of the Oakeshott Institute. His classification of the medieval sword, the Oakeshott typology, lives on today as the premiere work on the systematic organization of medieval weaponry.

Ronald Ewart Oakeshott was born in 1916. His uncle Jeffrey Farnol wrote romance novels and swashbucklers and also had a collection of antique swords and through these the young Oakeshott became interested in swords. After leaving Dulwich College Oakeshott studied at the Central School of Art in London. He worked at the Carlton Studios and at A.E. Johnson Ltd as a commercial artist. while still being interested in collecting arms and armour, building up a significant collection. At this time in the 1930s and 1940s antique swords could still be picked up cheaply and Oakeshott began collecting them. Because of the scarcity of information about these he began to research them himself. As a trained artist he illustrated most of his own books and also became a speaker on arms and armour.

Oakeshott served in the Royal Navy from 1940 to 1945 on destroyer escort during World War II and was invalided out after being wounded. He returned to A.E. Johnson, Ltd. and served as its director for fifteen years before leaving in 1960 to become a full time researcher and writer, but still finding time to paint marine pictures and other subjects. In 1963 he met the educationist and writer Sybil Marshall at a dance. He left his wife for her and they became partners for life and married in 1995, after the death of Oakeshott's first wife, Margaret Roberts. In 1964 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He co-founded the Arms and Armour Society in 1948. Oakeshott served as President of the Society in 1951. Also in 1951 Oakeshott published the article 'A Royal Sword in Westminster Abbey' in The Connoisseur on the results of his work on the sword of Henry V in Westminster Abbey. As a result Oakeshott began to be consulted by museums such as the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge and private collectors.

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