It is with great sorrow that we have learnt of the death of Irene Collins. Irene was much loved and greatly admired by many people in the HA. She was President of the HA from 1982 to 1985 and in 1996 was awarded the Medlicott Medal for Services to History. Irene joined the HA in 1947 when she was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Modern History at Liverpool University where she stayed until retirement in 1984. She had the distinction of becoming the first woman to become Dean of Arts. Irene was a great supporter of historical scholarship in China and in 1994 was invited to become Advisor to the Centre for British and American Studies at the University of Nanjing. Irene and her husband Rex were active participants and supporters of their Branch and Irene continued to write articles and support history events at her local church until very recently.

We will be writing a full obituary for publication in The Historian this autumn.

In honour of her work, her scholarship and her long support for the Historical Association we are proud to make available her classic pamphlet, Napoleon: First Consul and Emperor of the French...