Daphne Heloise Gifford (1922-1990) was born in British Honduras, the daughter of a Methodist missionary. After taking a doctorate at Royal Holloway College, London University, in 1949, she was appointed to the Public Record Office, where she remained until her retirement in 1982. At the outset of her career in the P.R.O. Miss Gifford worked in the Search Department. In 1952 she was given responsibility for the museum, which was rearranged and re-equipped under her guidance. In 1966 she was promoted to Principal Assistant Keeper, Repository and Technical Services. After a period in charge of the Early Modern Records Department, she headed the Search Department, Chancery Lane, from 1979 until her retirement. Daphne Gifford undertook several overseas missions in the course of her career. In 1965 and 1966-1967 she visited Southern Africa, where she appraised the records of Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland. In 1977 she began a period of attachment to the Falkland Islands government, and spent two years collating, cataloguing and researching the Islands' archives. She made her first visit to St Helena in 1962, to advise its government on the storage and classification of records. She maintained close connections with the island for the rest of her life, and assembled a collection of 'St Heleniana', which included the material in this collection.