ISOBEL JENKINS 1940-2021
 
Isobel was born on 1st April in Stanley in County Durham, a date that gave her friends and family no excuse for forgetting her birthday! She was soon joined by her brother Robert and sister Jane. She grew up during the Second World War in a happy and loving home that had deep roots in the local community and with parents and grandparents who made lifelong contributions to local government and took an active and informed interest in national and world affairs. This shaped Isobel’s later commitment to education and social justice and laid the foundations for her career in school and university teaching.
Isobel won a place a what was then Stanley Grammar School from where, following the advice of her beloved history teacher Miss Thompson, she went to the University of Leeds. Although Isobel’s grandmother regarded this as a trip to the far south (and thus suspect territory!), Isobel flourished under the guidance of scholars such as Asa Briggs, Maurice Hutt and Austin Woolrych. It was at Leeds that she met Edgar, her future husband, when she arrived at his room with her then boyfriend seeking help to cook a steak when the charcoal barbecue was not up to the job. Edgar later proposed to her under a grand piano, the only space available at a crowded house party and they married in December 1961 when Isobel had graduated and was training as a teacher.
Isobel began her teaching career in secondary schools in Leeds. Many former pupils will recall her field trips to archaeological sites, not least because together they always managed to uncover a skeleton or two or the post holes of a former building, much to the irritation of those who had been excavating the site for several days.  Isobel was an inspiring teacher with a passion for history which it was difficult not to share. Pupils became monks at Fountains or Kirkstall Abbey, suitably dressed and conducting debates in a ruined Chapter House and finding many aspects of monastic and mediaeval life simultaneously fascinating and bewildering.
Isobel left school teaching when her first child, Rhiannon, was born in September 1966. Her sister, Caitlin, came along four years later and Isobel devoted herself to looking after the family while tutoring for the Open University and acting as an A-level examiner in history. She later returned to the University of Leeds with an Economic and Social Research Council scholarship to read for a Master’s Degree that allowed her to specialise in local history. Her studies and especially her thesis reinforced her passion for local studies that would remain with her for the rest of life. It is a passion that would also inform all her subsequent outings with the children and grandchildren, all of whom are now skilled at locating or identifying, among other things, mediaeval or Roman toilets!
After the completion of her studies, Isobel returned to full-time school teaching. Characteristically, she was at the forefront in developing the use of computers in history education and the Local Education Authority soon seconded her to help others make use of the new technology. Isobel was always clear that computers could never be a substitute for a teacher and she showed how they could be used in ways that allowed a teacher to do things that had not previously been possible. After her secondment ended, she returned to school teaching, eventually accepting the post of Head of Humanities in a comprehensive school. When the Leeds Local Education Authority reorganised the staffing of its schools, she became a lecturer at the University of Leeds where she undertook research into a number of government initiatives and played a seminal role in the training of secondary school teachers of history.
Retirement gave Isobel the opportunity to devote more time to her historical research. In Leeds her earlier research into the origins and work of the Yorkshire Ladies Council for Education led her to became chair of its Awards Committee and to serve on its Executive Committee, a position she held until her death. In Carlton in Coverdale, where she and Edgar had a house, she was a founder of the Middleham and Dales Local History Group, where her contribution has been described as unparalleled, not only as a founding member but as a committee member, speaker and organiser of its annual programme. Her surveys and published reports of Coverham and Carlton churches remain major additions to the recorded history of the Dale. In Carlton, she promoted an understanding of some of the vernacular buildings in the village, again leading to a published report. Her work on the redundant medieval Coverham Church enabled her to lead several conducted tours, raising donations for the Friends of the Church and she did the same with tours around Carlton where the funds generated were given to the local Methodist chapel. With Edgar she played a full part in the life of the Dale. She was never happier than when using old tithe maps to help resolve or clarify  a boundary dispute or chatting with local farmers in the pub, a process she once described as gathering data!
Retirement also allowed Isobel to spend time with Edgar and their friends on holidays in Europe or in the UK. Always memorable, history could never be avoided, although Isobel’s claim that she didn’t know anything about 15th century Venice, the Albigensian crusade or the War of Spanish Succession usually proved to be unfounded.
Isobel was of course much more than all this. She was a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother and a grandmother. Since her death, many tributes have referred to her warmth, lovely smile, generosity and friendliness and as someone whose sharp and inquisitive mind made life more interesting for all those around her. One friend recalled how Isobel had been motivated to undertook historical research by her quiet, cajoling manner, her enthusiasm and encouragement. Others have spoken in similar terms. Her legacy remains in her published work and in the hearts and minds of all those privileged to know her.