Sidney Sussex College is saddened to record the death of its former student and Honorary Fellow Lord Briggs of Lewes.

Asa Briggs studied History at Sidney Sussex before joining the World War Two codebreaking operation at Bletchley Park.

After the War Briggs forged a distinguished academic career as a much celebrated historian, publishing famous books such as Victorian People, Victorian Cities and Victorian Things. He was instrumental in the development of the new University of Sussex, where he served as second Vice Chancellor between 1967 and 1976. He was Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, from 1976 to 1991 and from 1978 to 1994 he was Chancellor of the Open University.

Asa Briggs was a much loved friend of and visitor to Sidney Sussex. In 2010 he addressed the centenary celebrations of the College's History society (Confraternitas Historica), of which he had been a much valued member in his undergraduate days in the 1940s, and he recently donated a significant portion of his research library to Sidney Sussex, with material addressing Britain's relationship with empire and decolonisation.


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