Alastair Heron

Alastair Heron (1915 – 17 March 2009) was a British psychologist and writer. A member of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, he wrote a number of books and pamphlets on Quakers in Britain.

Quaker works

Heron was a member of Balby Monthly Meeting, and attended Sheffield Central Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. In 1986 he spent nine weeks traveling in the ministry in Australia, and three years later did the same coast-to-coast in Canada.

His first Quaker book, Caring, conviction, commitment, was published in 1992. It resulted from the survey he carried out in Yorkshire to learn at first hand of the experiences of attenders from the time of their first entry into a Quaker meeting. In 1994, he published a small dictionary, Quaker Speak, as one of his responses to the needs discovered in the Yorkshire survey. In 1996 his major work, Quakers in Britain; a century of change, was the only book to mark the centenary of the Manchester Conference that had opened the way for what later became known as the 'liberal stage' in British Quaker history. Abstracted from it came The British Quakers: 1647 to 1997, a (first modern) introduction to inform newcomers. His autobiography, Only One Life: A Quaker's Voyage was published in 1998.

List of Books and Pamphlets by Year

Towards a Quaker View of Sex: An Essay by a Group of Friends, ed.; Friends Home Service Committee, 1963

Gifts and Ministries: A Discussion Paper on Eldership; Unknown, 1987 (pamphlet)

Charity, Liberty, Unity: A Quaker Search for Essentials; The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Australia Inc.; 1988 (pamphlet)

Speaking to Our Condition: A Ministry to Friends; 1989 (pamphlet)

Caring, Conviction, Commitment: Dilemmas of Quaker Membership Today; Quaker Home Service, 1992

To Join or Not: A Guide to Quaker Membership, ed.; 1993

Quaker Speak: First Aid for Newcomers; Quaker Outreach Yorkshire, 1994

Now We are Quakers: The Experience and Views of New Members; 1994

Quakers in Britain: A Century of Change 1895-1995; Curlew Graphics, 1995

The British Quakers, 1647-1997: Highlights of Their History; Curlew Productions, 1997

Only One Life: A Quaker’s Voyage; Curlew Productions, Scotland, 1998 (autobiography)

Our Quaker Identity: Religious society – or friendly society?; Curlew Productions, Scotland, 1999

On Being a Quaker: Membership – Past – Present – Future; Curlew Productions, 2000

Searching the Depths: Essays on Being a Quaker Today; ed. Harvey Gillman and Alastair Heron; Quaker Books, 1998

The Future of British Quakers – Shrinkage Addressed: Process and Commitment; 2004. ISBN 1900259990 / 9781900259996

Biography

For thirty years Alastair Heron was research psychologist working mainly in the field of human development through the life span, and in cross-cultural studies.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s he was professor and head of department of psychology in the University of Melbourne, Australia.

He and his wife Margaret reached their sixtieth wedding anniversary in November 2000, less than a year before her death at 88. His son and daughter live in England and the USA respectively, and Alastair was a great-grandfather.

External links

• Biography
• Obituary
• The Alastair Heron prize in psychology