Malcolm George Neesam was an English historian and writer specialising in the history of Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
23 Facts About Malcolm Neesam
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Malcolm Neesam was involved in the inception of the Harrogate Brown Plaque Scheme, and was influential in the listing of many Harrogate buildings.
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Malcolm Neesam was a founder member of Harrogate Civic Society and assisted other major local organisations where their work required historical input.
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Malcolm George Neesam was born on 28 June 1946 in a nursing home on Ripon Road, Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire.
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Malcolm Neesam was a pupil at St Peter's Church of England Primary School, and Christ Church Secondary School for Boys.
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Malcolm Neesam died of cancer in a Harrogate care home on his 76th birthday in 2022.
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Unfailingly polite, [Malcolm Neesam] was nevertheless often reserved and diffident in public.
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Malcolm Neesam 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.
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Malcolm Neesam was immensely gifted and had an extremely good memory, which proved to be of value as a historian.
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Malcolm Neesam was self-sufficient and determined but always appreciative of his friendships and any help he received from anyone.
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Malcolm Neesam served three years as a Harrogate Central Library assistant.
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Malcolm Neesam then trained and qualified as an archivist and librarian at the University of Leeds.
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Malcolm Neesam spent over four years in Hereford setting up a library service for children, then was employed as one of the Duchy of Lancaster's archivists in Northwood, Hillingdon, London.
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Malcolm Neesam became a full-time historical author in 2006, and in due course he was termed "chronicler of our town" by Harrogate MP Andrew Jones.
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Malcolm Neesam wrote a "weekly column in the Harrogate Advertiser running for 30 years on every aspect of the town's heritage".
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Malcolm Neesam was in at the inception of the Harrogate Brown Plaque scheme, when he took part in designing Harrogate's first brown plaque, dedicated to Tewit Well, in 1971.
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Malcolm Neesam was still unveiling them in 2022, when the 89th one was installed in honour of The Harrogate Club.
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Malcolm Neesam was made an honorary member of The Harrogate Club in May 1996, when he was given Freedom of the Borough "for his services as a historian", and "in recognition of his eminence as a local historian and for the help and advice he had given to the Council on a range of matters for many years", by Harrogate Borough Council.
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In 1970 or 1971 Malcolm Neesam was a founder member of Harrogate Civic Society, then known as the Harrogate Society.
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Malcolm Neesam was associated with the organisation Friends of Valley Gardens, and helped lead the reopening ceremony of the restored Old Magnesia Well Pump Room on 6 October 2015 when it was about to become an information and education centre.
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Malcolm Neesam was 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".
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Malcolm Neesam 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, and the finale of the 2022 music festival was dedicated to Neesam.
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Malcolm Neesam was involved with Harrogate Theatre and Harrogate Dramatic Society, and assisted in the creation of a new play about Samson Fox: The Man who Captured Sunlight, which was premiered after his death, on 23 September 2022.