University of Birmingham Student (Alumni) Papers: Papers of Paul Welbery Kent

The collection contains lecture notes and photographs from Kent's time as a student and member of staff in the Department of Chemistry at University of Birmingham; correspondence (including letters from chemists Maurice Stacey and Fred Smith); papers relating to the Chemical Society Centenary in 1947; and items connected with Kent's social activities such as concert programmes and menus. The collection provides information about the teaching of chemistry in the 1940s, Kent's research interests, and his personal and professional relationships with fellow chemists

Paul Welberry Kent was born in Doncaster in 1923. He was educated at Doncaster Grammar School and then at the University of Birmingham where he was awarded a BSc in Chemistry in 1944 and a PhD in 1946. He held the post of assistant lecturer and subsequently ICI Fellow at the University of Birmingham from 1946 to 1950. After a year at Princeton, he went to Oxford University as a University Demonstrator in Biochemistry, a post associated with Jesus College. He moved to Christ Church in 1955, becoming Dr Lee's Reader in Chemistry in 1956. He left Oxford in 1972 to become the second Master of Van Mildert College at Durham University. His arrival coincided with the first fully mixed intake into what had been a college for male students. The College also hosted students from the then new Collingwood College. His diplomatic connections resulted in visits from a number of Ambassadors and, with his wife, Rosemary, he encouraged the establishment of a caring collegiate community and the establishment of the extensive outreach activity for which the college is now well known. Paul Kent's research interests were in carbohydrate chemistry and when he arrived in Durham he established the Glycoprotein Research Unit. He received a number of international prizes for his work including the Rolleston Prize, the Medal of the Société de Chimie Biologique and the Verdienstkreuz.

On his retirement from Durham in 1983, he moved back to Oxford where he continued to be academically active for several years. He died on 7 March 2017. Source: Who's Who 2009, A & C Black, 2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2008 (accessed March 2009); obituary Durham University Van Mildert College website https://www.dur.ac.uk/van-mildert.college/?itemno=30993 Accessed May 2017

Open, access to all registered researchers.

Please see https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XUSS8&pos=1 for more information

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director, Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. The Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Transferred from the University Archives in March 2009; additional deposit April 2023

Cadbury Research Library holds the archives of the University of Birmingham and papers of other former staff, officials and students