JAMES

See also:

• JAMES GAIRDNER (1828– )

GAIRDNER (1828– )  , English historian, son of John Gairdner, M.D., was born in Edinburgh on the 22nd of March 1828 . Educated in his native city, he entered the Public Record Office in London in 1846, becoming assistant keeper of the public records (1859–1893) . Gairdner's valuable and pains-taking contributions to English history relate chiefly to the reigns of Richard III., Henry VII. and Henry VIII . For the " Rolls Series " he edited Letters and Papers illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII . (London, 1861–1863), and Memorials of Henry VII . (London, 1858); and he succeeded J . S . Brewer in editing the Letters and Papers, foreign and domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII . (London, 1862–1905) . He brought out the best edition of the Paston Letters (London, 1872–1875, and again 1896), for which he wrote a valuable introduction; and for the Camden Society he edited the Historical collections of a Citizen of London (London, 1876), and Three '5th-century Chronicles (London, 1880) . His other works include excellent monographs on Richard III . (London, 1878, new and enlarged edition, Cambridge, 1898), and on Henry VII .

(London, 1889, and subsequently); The Houses of

Lancaster and York (London, 1874, and other editions); The English Church in the r6th century (London, 1902); Lollardy and the Reformation in England (1908); and contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Dictionary of National Biography, the Cambridge Modern History, and the English Historical Review . Gairdner received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the university of Edinburgh in 1897, and was made a C.B. in 1900 .