Thomas Duffus Hardy

Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (22 May 1804 – 15 June 1878) was an English archivist and antiquary, who served as Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office from 1861 to 1878.

Hardy was the third son of Major Thomas Bartholomew Price Hardy, from a naval family, and the older brother of William Hardy who had a parallel career as archivist. He was born on 22 May 1804 at Port Royal in Jamaica, and came to England in 1811. He entered the government service on 1 January 1819, obtaining on that date, through the influence of his uncle's brother, Samuel Lysons, a junior clerkship in the branch Record Office at the Tower of London; it was, however, from Henry Petrie (who soon after this succeeded Lysons at the Tower) that he received his education as an archivist. On Petrie's retirement, the compilation of the Monumenta Historica, published in 1848, was entrusted to him, and to this work he wrote the General Introduction.

While at the Tower he also edited several publications of the Record Commission: the Close Rolls from 1204 to 1227 (1833-1844); the Patent Rolls for the reign of King John, 1201 to 1216, with an historical preface and itinerary of the king (1835) ; the Norman Rolls, 1200-1205 and 1417-1418 (1835); the Fine Rolls of the reign of John (1835); the Charter Rolls of the reign of John, with a descriptive introduction (1837); the Liberate Rolls for the same king's reign (1844); and the Modus Tenendi Parliamentum (1846).

His proficiency in palaeographic knowledge persuaded Lord Langdale, who was Master of the Rolls in 1838 (the date of the Public Record Office Act), to offer him the post of Deputy Keeper (i.e. chief executive officer) at the new Record Office; force of ministerial pressure, however, compelled Lord Langdale ultimately to appoint Sir Francis Palgrave to the post. Hardy succeeded Palgrave as Deputy Keeper on 15 July 1861, and held the appointment to his death. At the head of his department he did much to render the records already in the custody of the master of the rolls accessible to the public, and muniments of three palatinates Durham, Lancaster, and Cheshire were brought up to London and thrown open to inspection during his tenure. The appointment of the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1869 was also largely due to his influence, and he was one of the first commissioners.

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