David Reeder Obituary: Historian Of Cities And Education
David Reeder was a gifted teacher and one of the most influential historians of his generation. He was a key figure in the study of Urban History, during a period of intense inner-city redevelopment, and of Education History, at a time when ideas about schooling were undergoing re-examination. In both of these fields Leicester University led the way, and Reeder's contribution to the university's reputation was sustained over a long and varied career.
Reeder was born in Hull in 1931. His father, Alec, worked for the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) and his mother, Elizabeth, at Reckitt's starch works. In 1940 the family moved to York, where Alec Reeder was to drive The Flying Scotsman.
David Reeder was educated at Nunthorpe Grammar, followed by a degree in Social Studies at Durham University and a postgraduate certificate in education at University College, Leicester. At Leicester, he met Barbara Hunt, a student of mathematics, standing at a bus stop on University Road. They were going different ways at the time, but married in 1955.
While in the RAF, and after teaching in Leicester, Reeder took a London external degree in Economic History. This was followed by an MA and a PhD at Leicester on 19th-century suburbanisation, supervised by Jim Dyos. In the early 1960s the Reeders moved to London " David in teacher training " before being tempted back to Leicester in 1966 by a Research Fellowship in Economic History.
He resumed his intellectual friendship with Dyos, and together they set about winning recognition for the flourishing sub-discipline of Urban History. The body of their argument was set out in March 1967 at a conference in Bloomington, Indiana. There they made the simple but startling point that, beyond a certain critical mass, cities ceased to be aggregates of other 'social forces' and became forces in their own right; and, moreover, that all cities " all suburbs indeed " were different. Reeder and the Leicester School would spend their lives exploring the implications of this insight but, in essence, this was it. Fernand Braudel had likened cities to electrical transformers; Karl Marx had said they were the first divisions of labour; Reeder said they were independent variables of infinite variety.
After another spell in London, David Reeder returned to Leicester in 1973 where he took up residence in the School of Education and the side bar of the Craddock Arms. Once a Leicester man, he never stinted, whether in the Department of Education, or Adult Education, or Urban History, or Economic and Social History, or Victorian Studies.
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David Alec Reeder, historian and teacher: born Hull, Yorkshire 5 May 1931; Education Officer, RAF 1953-56; staff, Fosse Boys' School, Leicester 1956-59; Lecturer in History, Westminster College, London 1959-62; Senior Lecturer, Garnett College of Education, Roehampton 1962-66, Head of Faculty of Education 1967-73; Research Fellow, Department of Economic History, Leicester University 1966-67, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Education and Urban Studies 1973-88, Senior Lecturer, Victorian Studies Centre and Senior Tutor for Associated Colleges 1973-88, Acting Director 1987-88, Deputy Director, Centre for Urban History 1988-96, Acting Director 1989-90, Tutor in History, Department of Adult Education 1988- 98, Research Associate, Centre for Urban History 1993-98, Acting Director 1996; married 1955 Barbara Hunt (one son, one daughter); died Epsom, Surrey 1 August 2005.
Reeder was born in Hull in 1931. His father, Alec, worked for the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) and his mother, Elizabeth, at Reckitt's starch works. In 1940 the family moved to York, where Alec Reeder was to drive The Flying Scotsman.
David Reeder was educated at Nunthorpe Grammar, followed by a degree in Social Studies at Durham University and a postgraduate certificate in education at University College, Leicester. At Leicester, he met Barbara Hunt, a student of mathematics, standing at a bus stop on University Road. They were going different ways at the time, but married in 1955.
While in the RAF, and after teaching in Leicester, Reeder took a London external degree in Economic History. This was followed by an MA and a PhD at Leicester on 19th-century suburbanisation, supervised by Jim Dyos. In the early 1960s the Reeders moved to London " David in teacher training " before being tempted back to Leicester in 1966 by a Research Fellowship in Economic History.
He resumed his intellectual friendship with Dyos, and together they set about winning recognition for the flourishing sub-discipline of Urban History. The body of their argument was set out in March 1967 at a conference in Bloomington, Indiana. There they made the simple but startling point that, beyond a certain critical mass, cities ceased to be aggregates of other 'social forces' and became forces in their own right; and, moreover, that all cities " all suburbs indeed " were different. Reeder and the Leicester School would spend their lives exploring the implications of this insight but, in essence, this was it. Fernand Braudel had likened cities to electrical transformers; Karl Marx had said they were the first divisions of labour; Reeder said they were independent variables of infinite variety.
After another spell in London, David Reeder returned to Leicester in 1973 where he took up residence in the School of Education and the side bar of the Craddock Arms. Once a Leicester man, he never stinted, whether in the Department of Education, or Adult Education, or Urban History, or Economic and Social History, or Victorian Studies.
...
David Alec Reeder, historian and teacher: born Hull, Yorkshire 5 May 1931; Education Officer, RAF 1953-56; staff, Fosse Boys' School, Leicester 1956-59; Lecturer in History, Westminster College, London 1959-62; Senior Lecturer, Garnett College of Education, Roehampton 1962-66, Head of Faculty of Education 1967-73; Research Fellow, Department of Economic History, Leicester University 1966-67, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Education and Urban Studies 1973-88, Senior Lecturer, Victorian Studies Centre and Senior Tutor for Associated Colleges 1973-88, Acting Director 1987-88, Deputy Director, Centre for Urban History 1988-96, Acting Director 1989-90, Tutor in History, Department of Adult Education 1988- 98, Research Associate, Centre for Urban History 1993-98, Acting Director 1996; married 1955 Barbara Hunt (one son, one daughter); died Epsom, Surrey 1 August 2005.