My brother, John Townsend, who has died aged 82, was a distinguished librarian who made a lasting contribution to Viking studies.
The first child of Marjorie (nee Benson) and Cecil Townsend, John was born in Shanghai, where our father, a captain in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, was stationed. We grew up at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, where in 1936 our father was made Captain of Invalids, responsible for the welfare of Pensioners.
A gifted footballer, John was also a strong cross-country runner, running for Shrewsbury school, which we both attended. After national service – he was the top cadet of his intake – John read English at Oriel College, Oxford. He then went to University College London, to train as a librarian. After training he took a series of library jobs at the University of Leeds and University of Sheffield.
John joined the staff of the British Museum in April 1966 as an assistant keeper in the Department of Printed Books, serving part of the time in the subjects index. Towards the end of the 1960s, John was appointed Scandinavian librarian at University College London. This was his last full-time role, but he continued to work in the library after retirement.
He made an outstanding contribution to the Viking Society for Northern Research, a group dedicated to the promotion of and research into ancient Scandinavian culture, which meets at UCL, becoming assistant secretary of the society in the early 1960s, a position he held for at least 10 years. He was later treasurer of the society (1979-87) and as president (1988-90) was host to the president of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.
An editor of the society’s Saga-Book (Notes and Reviews) for some years, John compiled a very useful index to Saga-Book volumes 1-23. He also wrote a history of the society, The Viking Society: A Centenary History (1992). He funded the Townsend Viking Society prize, which is awarded annually to a student at UCL, and was one of the society’s vice-presidents in council up to the time of his death.
John is survived by me, his nephew and niece, Robin, and niece Anne-Fay, and by his great-niece, Isabel, and great-nephews, Alexander and Eliot.
