Gerry Woodcock read History at Cambridge. After some years teaching he came to Tavistock in 1966 as Head of History at Tavistock School. For many years he wrote and lectured on aspects of the history of Tavistock, and was President of the Tavistock Local History Society. He was given the title of Honoured Burgess 'for rendering eminent and distinguished service to the town of Tavistock'. Among his publications were Tavistock's Yesterdays: Numbers 1- 16 (1985-2007), The Book of Tavistock (2003) and Tavistock Revisited (2005).