In the 1930s, across England and Wales, local authorities were becoming concerned about the rapid loss of written heritage.

Bedfordshire had shown the way by creating a county record office. Hugh Walton spent three months there, learning the basics of the new archive science, before becoming the first County Archivist of Oxfordshire in 1934.

Soon he and a handful of peers were laying the basis for the methods that record offices still employ. He went on to negotiate the acquisition of numerous collections of national importance, including the Jersey and Dashwood papers.

Military service during the Second World War led him to think closely about what he wanted to do in the future. His love of history was matched only by his love for the law, and he had considered carefully the possibility of changing careers.

He was asked to take on the post of Clerk to Quarter Sessions alongside his role as county archivist and he qualified as a solicitor.

He was Deputy Clerk of the Peace for Oxfordshire until the office was abolished at the end of 1971. Mr Walton retired with the formation of the new counties in 1974, but continued to take an active and valuable interest in historical matters, on the executive committee of the Record Society, and as a member of the Oxford Civic Society and the Oxford Preservation Trust.

He liked to tell the story of the first weekend after his appointment: he went out on his bicycle, surveying the county for whose past he had taken responsibility only to discover when he got home that he had spent the whole day in Berkshire.

Mr Walton, who never married, was born on June 11, 1912. He died last month, aged 93. His funeral was held at Oxford Crematorium, followed by a reception at County Hall.