Joseph Tanner was born 28 July 1860 in Frome, Somerset, and educated at Mill Hill and St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he took a First in History in 1882. He was President of the Cambridge Union Society in Easter Term 1883. He was a Lecturer in History at St. John’s from 1883 to 1921, and lecturer on Indian History to the Indian Civil Service from 1885 to 1893. In 1883 he became a Fellow of St. John’s and was an Assistant Tutor from 1895 to 1900, a Tutor from 1900 to 1912, and Tutorial Bursar, 1900 - 1921. He was Deputy to the Regius Professor of Modern History, 1926-27. He gave the Lees Knowles Lectures on Pepys and the Royal Navy in 1919. He died 15 January 1931 in Aldeborough, Suffolk.