Malcolm Neesam

Malcolm George Neesam (28 June 1946 – 28 June 2022) was an English historian and writer specialising in the history of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. He was also a librarian and archivist. His major works were the first two parts of a projected trilogy on that subject: Harrogate Great Chronicle, 1332–1841 and Wells and Swells: The Golden Age of Harrogate Spa, 1842–1923 (2022). The third part was to remain unfinished when he died, although his research papers are preserved in the Walker-Neesam Archive at the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate.

For his services as a historian, Neesam was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Harrogate by Harrogate Borough Council in 1996, when he was also given honorary membership of The Harrogate Club. He was involved in the inception of the Harrogate Brown Plaque Scheme, and was influential in the listing of many Harrogate buildings. He was a founder member of Harrogate Civic Society and assisted other major local organisations where their work required historical input. For thirty years he wrote the weekly "Bygone Harrogate" column in the Harrogate Advertiser, and his published works spanned a period of fifty years.

Background Malcolm George Neesam was born on 28 June 1946 in a nursing home on Ripon Road, Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire. His father worked in a shoe-sole factory. His mother's maiden name was Craggs. He was a pupil at St Peter's Church of England Primary School, and Christ Church Secondary School for Boys (later amalgamated with St Aidan's Church of England High School, Harrogate). Neesam never married. He died of cancer in a Harrogate care home on his 76th birthday in 2022.

Personality The Stray Ferret said: Unfailingly polite, [Neesam] was nevertheless often reserved and diffident in public. He rarely talked about his private life but close friends say he had a keen sense of humour, which could border on the macabre at times, and was an excellent cook. As a member of the Harrogate Society, he received requests to write local company histories, and to assist with the creation of commemorative plaques in the town. The second part was a two-volume set, of 684 and 598 pages respectively. In 2022, when he published it as Wells and Swells: The Golden Age of Harrogate Spa, 1842–1923, The Harrogate Club named its dining room after him. When he died, he was still engaged upon the uncompleted third part, which was intended to encompass Harrogate's history from 1923 onwards. Neesam said of his concentration on Harrogate history: "Some writers can turn to anything. I can only write about things that interest me".

Harrogate Civic Society In 1970 or 1971 Neesam was a founder member of Harrogate Civic Society, He was also associated with the Friends of the Mercer Art Gallery, and gave a talk to that association in 2017, about "Harrogate's connection with the Russian Imperial Family". He was vice president of Harrogate International Festivals, which asked him in 2016 to write the history of its music festival on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, He was involved with Harrogate Theatre and Harrogate Dramatic Society,

Walker-Neesam Archive As of 2022, Neesam's "vast collection of papers and photo library" which "took up an entire room at his home" was to be deposited in the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, as part of the Walker-Neesam Archive. That archive also includes the papers and historical research of Harold Walker, a former editor of the Harrogate Herald.

Selected articles

Reviews "[Neesam wrote] a series of mammoth books charting [Harrogate's] story from the 1500s to the present day. Painstakingly researched down to the smallest detail, the result of all Malcolm's incredible work is not only important to anyone who cares about Harrogate's past but it also throws new light on Britain's as a whole, in particular, the evolution of British society, economy and culture during the most crucial years of the Victorian era. Admirably, Mr Neesam had kept on working on the final volume of his monumental story of the town even during the toughest of times. It now lies unfinished. As recently as April , he had unveiled the second volume in the mammoth series – Wells & Swells: The Golden Age of Harrogate Spa 1842–1923. An epic 1,600 pages long and typically full of painstaking detail, the massive book arrived 17 years after the publication of the opening volume, Harrogate Great Chronicle, 1332–1841".Graham Chalmers, Harrogate Advertiser 28 June 2022.