Life

John Mason was born in Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....

, west Wales, on 9 June 1920. He studied at Bridgnorth Grammar School in Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, and then at Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

, where he was a scholar

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

. His university studies were interrupted by the Second World War: he won his scholarship in 1937, but did not obtain his first-class degree in history until 1948. During the war, he served with the Manchester Regiment and then in the Indian Army

Indian Army

The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...

, reaching the rank of Major and working in the Mechanical Transport Training Centre as well as interpreting Urdu. In 1950, he began his association with Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, at which he would spend the remainder of his academic career. His first appointment was as a research lecturer, to deal with the papers of Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury; Salisbury, who was Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 from 1886 to 1892 and 1895 to 1902, studied at Christ Church between 1847 and 1849, and his papers were at that time held by the college. He became a "Student" (the term used by Christ Church for Fellows of the college) in 1957, retiring in 1987, and was also college librarian (succeeding Nowell Myres) from 1962 until his retirement.

His particular field of interest was the Norman Conquest, and one of his articles on Roger of Montgomery (the first Earl of Shrewsbury

Earl of Shrewsbury

Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation, 1074:The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors...

) and his sons, written in 1963, was described in his obituary in The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

as "indispensable for understanding how the Norman Conquest worked on the ground", particularly in Mason's home county of Shropshire. He also wrote a history of Bridgnorth

Bridgnorth

Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...

and co-authored "Christ Church and Reform 1850–1867", looking at the changes in Oxford during the 19th century. Overall, though, he published comparatively little, but was highly regarded as a tutor at the college. He died on 31 October 2009, survived by a daughter from his first marriage (his first wife having died in 1989) and by his second wife.