Janette Harley Prize is awarded annually by the British Records Association in memory of Janette Harley (1951-2015). It is intended to generate interest in archives and to raise awareness of research and achievements in the world of archives. The prize (£500) is awarded to individuals or organisations for the best/most original piece of work published in a monograph, journal or magazine, or otherwise made publicly available (such as a website or blog series), which has promoted “the preservation, understanding, accessibility or study of archives”, the aims of the British Records Association.
The 2025 prize was won by Frank Meeres, following the submission by the Norfolk Record Society of his 2024 volume Socialism in King’s Lynn and Suffragism in Great Yarmouth: Minutes of the King’s Lynn Socialist and Labour Societies, 1897–1916 and Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Great Yarmouth Women’s Suffrage Society, 1909–1915. This masterly volume fully met the British Records Association’s criteria for a work which focused on specific archive sources and aimed to reveal new information about what those sources have to offer. Frank’s book uniquely publishes the minutes of an early socialist society between 1897 and 1916, drawing attention to socialism outside its normal populous urban-industrial ambience, while the Great Yarmouth minutes (1909-1915) provide fascinating detail on the mechanics of organising the women’s suffrage (as opposed to the militant suffragette) movement in a coastal setting.
Frank Meeres very kindly donated the prize to the Norfolk Record Society and the Chairman Joel Halcomb and the volume’s General Editor Anthony Howe attended the prizegiving ceremony at the London Guildhall Library on 7 May 2026. The Society and the author both received certificates. The evening was also the occasion for the British Records Association’s annual Maurice Bond Memorial Lecture.
The thanks of the Society are due not only to Frank but also to the late Alun Howkins who originally hoped to edit the King’s Lynn minutes, to the Norfolk County Archivist Gary Tuson for permitting publication of the documents, and to the Audrey Muriel Stratford Charitable Trust and The Geoffrey Watling Charity for generous grants towards publication.
Find Out More
Further information about Socialism in King’s Lynn; Socialism and Suffragism in Great Yarmouth: Minutes of the King’s Lynn Socialist and Labour Societies, 1897–1916 and Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Great Yarmouth Women’s Suffrage Society, 1909–1915 (Volume 88) may be found via the links below.