In Memory of

HENSON for condolence book resized - Copy (2)

Don Henson

Don joined the Department of Archaeology at the University of York as a PhD student in January 2014, and following the successful completion of his PhD in December 2017, remained with the department to become an Associate Lecturer and then Lecturer in Cultural Heritage Management. As a teacher Don was regarded as hugely inspirational by our students with a contagious passion for his field (and chocolate!). As a colleague Don was considerate and thoughtful, always checking in on his colleagues and offering to help where he could. But more importantly Don was our friend. He taught us to try and see the positive in everything and everyone, and live life to the full. Don will be sorely missed by us all, and everyone that had the pleasure of knowing him.

Book Owner: Laura Parrett
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Emma Bryning

I only knew Don for a few months, as I only started my research in October 2020, but he helped to provide a really welcoming and friendly atmosphere whenever he was present. I got to Don a little bit better when I audited his module on Community Archaeology which was a fantastic module and …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Tim Copelamd

I was Chair of the CBA’s Education Committee when we appointed Don as our Education Officer. His enthusiasm, experience and sense of humour came over from the moment he sat down to be interviewed. Having made many appointments in education as a headteacher, I look back on our decision to give Don the role …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Roger White

So sorry to hear of Don’s passing – such a life force it is difficult to believe he has gone. I remember especially a walk along Swansea beach at a CIfA conference when he told me of how he loved growing up there, and especially loved the walk along the beach. While he spent …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Harry Robson

Don, it was an absolute pleasure to have known you. Your enthusiasm towards archaeology, food and drink, especially beer, was second to none. You taught me a tremendous amount regarding engagement with the public, particularly the younger generation, and were always on call to ask those pertinent questions relating to my own research. From …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Lindsey Büster

I cannot say that I knew Don well, he certainly didn’t know me very well, but he was such a tour-de-force in the world of archaeology that when I arrived at York in January 2020, I felt like I had known him forever. He was just there, omnipresent: at every conference, every meeting, every …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Megan Wilson

A lovely enduring memory of Don is being sat in a planetarium tent with him and other students at a secondary school outreach day in Scarborough in 2018. He unintentionally annoyed the man leading the presentation by knowing more than him; it was amusing to witness and shows the vast scope of his knowledge. …
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Emma Laura Parrett

John Collis

Like many reaching the end of their careers I look back and wonder what I have achieved, and one of the positives is thinking of the students we taught, however well or badly, who then went out and made their mark in the world.  I knew Don ever since he came to Sheffield as …
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John Collis

Steph Piper

Don, in the few months I knew you after arriving at York in 2019, it felt like you had already been a lifelong friend. It was an absolute pleasure to teach alongside you, and to share an office. We could set our watches by your lunch at noon, and the barometer of a good …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Sarah Bottomley

Don was so many things to me. He was my dissertation supervisor, my mentor and my friend. He inspired me to take up a career in education after teaching me at York, during the wonderful year I was at King’s Manor. His boundless positivity and enthusiasm for life were infectious, and it was impossible …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Vicky Moore

For a few years I lived a couple of streets away from Don, so we would often walk the same route home from King’s Manor. I would regularly see him ahead of me, foraging for blackberries from the brambles that grew along the railway line. Don was a lovely person to work with – …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Jon Bateman

I met Don when I started working at the CBA in 1999. We worked closely together on a number of projects around his work promoting archaeology in education and he was unfailingly enthusiastic and smiling, often in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But it was how quickly he become more than a colleague …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Heather Barrass

It was a privilege to know and be taught by Don throughout my time at university. His energy and enthusiasm for archaeology was infectious, as was his humour and grin! Don made King’s Manor (and every party) a better place and he will be sorely missed. Thank you for everything you’ve taught me, Don. …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Louise Cooke

I was so lucky to work with Don at the University – he was a lovely, caring colleague and he also cared so much about our students. But Don also had a brilliant routine for his lunch – and no matter what he would have his lunch on time – I remember marking assessed …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Peter Stone

Never have I know one person with the ability to use so many “o’s” in simple, four letter English words like ‘cook’ and (my favourite) ‘book’ which Don might take 30 seconds to finish. So many memories; what a loss. His appitite (for beer, chocolate, food in general, and I always worried if none …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Kevin Walsh

There are so few people who possess the positivity and energy that typified Don. When in a room with Don, whether it was the staff room at lunchtime or the pub on a Friday, it was as if someone had made a warm, glowing fire that drew people towards it. Don was not only an …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Richard Lee

I first met Don in 2003, we were both on an excavation in Upper Wharfedale, run by Roger Martlew, and we were in the pub, you’ll be surprised to hear, the Bluebell Inn at Kettlewell, I’d bought a pint of Old Peculiar and Don hoped that I’d asked for a knife and fork to …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Blaise Catley

Don Henson was one of the best humans I’ve ever had the good fortune of knowing. When I was new at York and struggling to find my feet, he was there to empathise. Everytime I felt my confidence wane he would know when to encourage me. As a lecturer he was so inspiring and …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Julian Richards

Don was one of the “good guys”. Always cheerful, always generous, and with the best interests of archaeology and archaeologists at heart. It was always a pleasure to run into him, usually on trains and planes on the way to EAA, and an even greater pleasure to have him as a colleague in York, …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Jim Leary

I imagine Don now in the great hall of Valhalla. He will have his wooden plate in one hand, loaded with food, and a mug of beer in the other. He will have a circle of people around him as he laughs with old friends and makes new ones. And later he will go …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Gill C

Don, what a dear man you are in my memory: principled, kind, immensely sociable and insatiably curious. I have the sense that you gifted everyone a share of your vitality and appetite for life when you talked – in the classroom, in the staff room, on site, in the pub, and walking, always walking. …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Pippa Smith

I was so sorry to hear of Don’s illness and death. He was so full of life and joy! He encouarged me to move into archaeology outreach and education and I could always call him for ideas and inspiration. You never felt that you were asking too much of Don. I also have great …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Jim Mower

I had the pleasure of meeting Don on several occassions as a result of my work with Channel 4’s Time Team and at Bristol University as part of their media and archaeology courses. He was unfailingly enthusiastic, helpful and friendly. He clearly loved his work, with an infectious enthusiasm that clearly inspired his students. …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Colleen Morgan

The last time I saw Don, he was in Homestead park in the springtime, admiring the cherry blossoms. He was the first person from the department I’d seen since the beginning of the lockdown in 2020 and it was lovely to chat. He said hello to my daughter and we wished each other well.  …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Kirsty R

I first met Don during my masters, I knew him from the Eagle and Child long before he marked one of my essays. 4 years later Don was one of the last people I spoke to at Kings Manor while clearing out my desk in the PhD office before the first lockdown. He told …
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Emma Laura Parrett

Malin Holst

I first knew Don when a cheerful ‘mature’ student entered the department to start his PhD. He always made time to say hello, or ask how I was. It was clear from the first day that Don could relate to everyone, was oblivious to arrogance, hierarchy or social unease and could often be heard laughing …
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Emma Laura Parrett

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