Sir Charles Oman was a great Oxford institution. To military
historians, to generations of schoolboys and to those who had felt anything of the power and fascination of Victorian Oxford, he was a writer of great books. To Qxford men—all Oxford men, and not only the Fellows of. All Souls among whom he spent sixty of his eighty-six years—he was a concrete reality. Most people had caught a glimpse of his enormous figure in the vicinity of Radcliffe Square. Many hundreds of readers remember the well-stocked shelves, the smooth service and the silence of the Codrington Library, which owed so much to him and where he was sometimes to be seen surveying his handiwork. He was a Burgess of the University for sixteen years, Chichele Professor of Modern His- tory for forty years and a Fellow of All Souls for sixty years. He was always active and exact. Qnly three weeks ago the notice of the Whitsun closing of the Codrington could be seen on the library door in his clear, square handwriting. He has, died at the time
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