Charles ffoulkes

Charles John ffoulkes (1868–1947) was a British historian, and curator of the Royal Armouries at London. He was a younger son of the Reverend Edmund ffoulkes. He wrote extensively on medieval arms and armour.

He was selected as the Curator of the Armouries by his predecessor, Harold Arthur Lee-Dillon, and assumed the office on 1 January 1913.

He served in the First World War in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He was in command of a pom-pom gun on the roof of Gresham College in London when it was called into action against German Zeppelin bomber L13/LZ 45 on 8 September 1915.

He played an important role in the British Arts and Crafts movement, and was an acquaintance of William Morris.

He was subsequently first curator and secretary of the newly formed Imperial War Museum in London. In the 1925 Birthday Honours ffoulkes was awarded an OBE.

His wife Maude Mary Chester ffoulkes (1871–1949) was a ghostwriter.

Published works (1909) Armour and Weapons, Oxford: Clarendon Press; republished by Westholme Publishing, 2005 (1912) The Armourer and His Craft, London: Methuen; republished by Dover, 1988 (1930) The 'Dardanelles' Gun at the Tower