Earlier this year Exeter alumnus Richard Wiltshire (Geography, 1999) was awarded an MBE for services to heritage in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours. Richard is a trustee of the Business Archives Council, member of the Crisis Management Team for Business Archives, and archivist at the London Gay Symphony Orchestra. We caught up with him to find out a bit more about what he gets up to in his career.
Richard is an archivist and has lead responsibility for managing the collections and Reading Room service at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives. This group is part of the wider Idea Store service which collect, preserve and promote the diverse heritage of London’s East End. The archives, image and library collections date from the 14th century to present day, and anyone is welcome to drop in to undertake research using their assets. The resources include documents, photos and maps which cover the history of world-famous locations, migration and communities, industry and urban regeneration, and they also host exhibitions and events.
On Friday 13 June it was announced that Richard had been awarded an MBE for services to heritage as part of the King’s Birthday Honours List. So, how does it feel to be recognised in this way? Richard shares, “It came completely out of the blue to be honest! I feel it’s a recognition of the voluntary work people do and an opportunity to shout out for the value of archives to our shared heritage. The award marks how the histories of thousands of people, past and present, will be preserved and accessible long into the future thanks to my intervention together with other archivists, historians and other individuals.”
Richard’s career as an archivist has spanned many tomes and locations within London and for more than 20 years he has worked for the City of London, then Tower Hamlets, capturing and preserving London’s history and sharing it with the public. As a former senior archivist at The London Archives he oversaw the deposit of historic archives from Standard Chartered Bank, the exhibition centres at Earl’s Court and Kensington Olympia and Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Richard also worked closely with rukus! Black LGBTQ+ archive and Eric and Jessica Huntley of the Ealing-based radical black publishers Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications. Then at Tower Hamlets, he oversaw departmental transfers of archives as part of the Town Hall move from Mulberry Place to Whitechapel in 2022.
But his work doesn’t stop at the end of his day job as in his own time Richard is a trustee of the Business Archives Council (BAC) and archivist of the London Gay Symphony Orchestra. Since 2010 he’s been the BAC representative on the Crisis Management Team for Business Archives, and he’s stepped in to secure the archives of historic businesses which have gone into administration, such as Debenhams and Thomas Cook. Thanks to him these important company archives are now preserved for the future in public collections.
Reflecting on his own archive of his life and his time at Exeter, Richard says, “I studied geography and was in the walking club – we had good trips exploring Exmoor and south coast.” He even remembers sending his first email at Exeter in the computer room at the library and not seeing the point as at first they could only send to other students who he could just speak to rather than having to type! Richard adds, “I loved living at Lopes Hall, dressing up, playing tennis in the tennis courts, and made very best of friends there who I love very much. I also spent free time enjoying the wildlife around the campus including stickleback fish in the stream and painting the flowering brambles in the cow field. Exmouth was a must for post exam relaxation on the beach with an ice cream, a quick train journey away.”
Reflecting on his own archive of life and his time at Exeter, Richard says, “I studied geography and was in the walking club – we had good trips exploring Exmoor and south coast.” He even remembers sending his first email at Exeter in the computer room at the library and not seeing the point as at first they could only send to other students who he could just speak to rather than having to type!
Richard adds, “I loved living at Lopes Hall, dressing up, playing tennis in the tennis courts, and made very best of friends there who I love very much. I also spent free time enjoying the wildlife around the campus including stickleback fish in the stream and painting the flowering brambles in the cow field. Exmouth was a must for post exam relaxation on the beach with an ice cream, a quick train journey away.”
We wondered what attracted Richard to this line of work and he explained, “I love collecting and putting things in order and I love history. The job is varied so you are never stuck to your desk. It’s great meeting people on surveys at organisations or their homes and looking at potential new collections to add to our collective history.” This work to preserve historical records is important to Richard because he feels like each action we take to preserve archives makes a real difference for generations to come. In his words, “Everyone is important and everyone has an archive!”
Richard will be presented with his MBE on Tuesday 28 October at Windsor Castle. We look forward to following the impact of his career and we’re very proud of his achievements garnering this recognition.
If you’ve received an award, prize, or title recently do tag us on our social media channels, or let us know via alumni@exeter.ac.uk, as we always like to celebrate your successes and achievements.