Ann Spokes Symonds

Ann Hazel Spokes Symonds (10 November 1925 – 27 December 2019) was a British author and former Lord Mayor of Oxford.^[1]

Spokes was born in November 1925, the daughter of Peter Spencer Spokes and Lilla Clayton. Her father founded the Museum of Oxford in 1974.^[2] She was a writer on the history of Oxford.

She entered St Anne's College, Oxford in 1944, where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics,^[3] obtaining her B.A. and Master of Arts.^[4] She was a trustee of the Oxford Preservation Trust, having first become a trustee in 1959.^[5] She served as Lord Mayor of Oxford in 1976/77 and also as the Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council between 1981 and 1983.^[4][6] Spokes-Symonds chaired Age Concern England from 1983 to 1986.^[7] She made a donation towards a statue of Alfred Russel Wallace which has been erected at the Natural History Museum.^[8]

In 1980 she married the United Nations official and historian Richard Symonds (1918–2006)^[9][10] and was henceforth known as Ann Spokes Symonds.

She died in December 2019 at the age of 94.^[11][1]

Books

Spokes Symonds' books include:^[12]

• The Origins of Oxford Street Names (with Nigel Morgan).
• The Changing Faces of Iffley.
• The Changing Faces of Wolvercote with Wytham and Godstow.
• Also-Rans: The Injustice of History.
• The Changing Faces of North Oxford; Books I & II.
• Storks, Black Bags & Gooseberry Bushes.
• The Changing Faces of Rose Hill.
• The Changing Faces of Summertown and Cutteslowe; Books I & II (with Christopher Nichols).
• Celebrating Age: An Anthology.
• Follow Me: A Dog's View of the Gospel Story (with Richard Symonds).