The diary of John Rous (1584–1644) was edited for the Camden Society in 1856 by Mary Anne Everett Green (1818–95). Rous kept this diary between 1625 and 1643, when he was vicar of Santon Downham in Suffolk, recording both local events and reports of momentous happenings in Britain and abroad from Charles I's accession to the outbreak of the Civil War. M. A. E. Green was educated by her father, a Methodist minister, and began research on historical topics in the British Museum Reading Room and other London archives. She was recommended to Sir John Romilly as an external editor for the Calendar of State Papers project, and was the first to be appointed: her work became the standard which later editors followed. Rous's diary is preceded by an introduction placing its author in his family and historical context, and Green's notes explicate references to the people and events described.
