ffoulkes , Charles John , 1868-1947

Born 26 June 1868, son of Rev. Edmund Salusbury ffoulkes, BD. He was educated at Radley School, Shrewsbury School, and St John's College, Oxford.

He left Oxford without a degree and went on to study art. His interest turned to the metalwork and the study of metallic artefacts and thence to arms and armour. He was invited to give lectures for the Oxford History Board on Armour and military subjects, gaining a Bachelor of Letters, 1911. In 1913, he was appointed Curator of the Tower Armouries, 1913-1935, and Master of the Armouries, 1935-1938. In 1917, ffoulkes obtained government approval of a plan to collect historical material relating to the current war, and was appointed First Curator and Secretary Imperial War Museum (IWM), 1917-1933, and following his retirement from the IWM he became one of its Trustees, 1934-1946. He remained in his part time post at the Tower until the age of 70, in 1938 and continued to publish his writings.

ffoulkes was also Lieutenant RNVR, 1914-1918; Major Royal Marines, unattached, 1918-1920; Member, War Office Committee on Military Museum; Hon. Freeman, Armourers' Company; Volunteer Warden, ARP, 1939; Sergeant of Pioneers, Home Guard, 20th Bn Middlesex Regt, 1940-1945; Officer of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1929; and was awarded Hon. DLitt. Oxon, 1936; CB 1934; OBE 1925.

In 1942, he married, Dorothy Agnes Garratt, MBE. He died 22 April 1947.

Publications:
Armour and Weapons, 1909; new edition, Gaya's Traité des Armes, 1911; Arms and Armour in the University of Oxford; The Armourer and his Craft, 1912; Ironwork, 1913; Survey and Inventory of the Tower of London, 1917; Catalogue of the Armourers' and Brasiers' Company; Notes on the Pierpont Morgan XIIIth Century Old Testament, 1927; The Gun-founders of England, 1936; Sword, Lance, and Bayonet, 1938; Arms and the Tower, 1939; Arms and Armament, 1945; many papers in Archæologia, Journal of Army Historical Research, etc.