Margaret Lambert

Margaret Lambert (7 November 1906 – 22 January 1995) was a British historian specialising in German history. She also collected and preserved English popular art with her partner, Enid Marx.

Early life and education The Honourable Margaret Barbara Lambert was born and grew up in Devon. Her father was George Lambert, 1st Viscount Lambert, and Winston and Clementine Churchill were visitors to her family home.

Lambert was privately educated and then attended Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she studied PPE. She studied for her PhD at the London School of Economics under Charles Manning. In 1933, she spent time researching in Berlin, Saar and Paris for her thesis, which was entitled 'The Saar Territory as a Factor in Franco German Relations'. Lambert graduated in 1936. Marx designed a cover for the 1934 book based on Lambert's thesis.

Career During World War II, Lambert worked for the Institute of International Affairs and as an Intelligence Officer for the BBC Austrian Service. She worked with Llewellyn Woodward and Rohan Butler on multiple volumes.

In 1946, Lambert and Marx had English Popular and Traditional Art published as part of the "Britain in Pictures" series. At the end of 1946, Lambert and Marx were part of a Council of Industrial Design team sent to Germany. They also undertook surveys in Scandinavia. In 1947, they travelled to Italy to conduct further research. Lambert was the British historian (alongside Maurice Baumont and Paul Sweet from France and the US) responsible for examining the files and deciding what should be published, and when. Lambert felt obliged to resign when Churchill said not to publish the files, and had been advised by Bernadotte Schmitt to publish, but faced pressure from many other British historians, including John Wheeler-Bennett, to agree to delay. Lambert was also a member of the international Historical Advisory Committee that discussed the return of documents to West Germany from 1956.

Lambert took up a Lectureship at the University of St Andrews in October 1956.

Lambert's memorial was commissioned by Marx and made by Judith Verity. It was placed at St Michael's, Spreyton.