Born in
Ottawa,
Ontario, Checkland worked at the
Bank of Nova Scotia, then the Ottawa Sanitary Laundry Company, while he gained associate membership of the Canadian Bankers' Association. In 1938, he moved to England to study at the
University of Birmingham, and in his final year served as President of the
Guild of Students at the university. In 1941, he was elected as President of the
National Union of Students, serving for only one year before becoming President of the
International Union of Students. In late 1942, Checkland enrolled at the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst, then was commissioned as a lieutenant into the
Manchester Regiment, before becoming a tank commander in the
Governor General's Foot Guards of the
Canadian Army. An injury during the
Normandy landings at
Falaise left him with permanent nerve damage. Sydney Checkland was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 1977, and as Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1981. He was a member of the Economic History Committee of the
Social Science Research Council and then a Council member between 1970 and 1972. He was President of the Economic History Society between 1977 and 1980. Of his many scholarly publications,
The Gladstones: a Family Biography, 1764-1851 (1971) won a Scottish Arts Council book award and
Scottish Banking: a History, 1695-1973 won the History category in
Saltire Society Literary Awards in 1975. Checkland also served as a board member with the
East Kilbride Development Corporation, 1964 to 1968. During his career as a historian Checkland contributed to the development of archival records. In Liverpool he collected the archives of merchant firms and he later initiated the University of Glasgow's collection of business records. He chaired of the Scottish Records Advisory Council, the National Register of Archives (Scotland) and was vice-president of the Business Archives Council of Scotland. Checkland's own papers are held by Glasgow University Archive Services. ==Family==