Beatrice Mary Irene White (6 July 1902 – 30 March 1986) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

literary scholar. She had a long association with

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

and the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

Life

White was born in

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

in 1902. In 1919 she started her studies at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and four years later she graduated with a first class honours degree in English. Three years after that she obtained her master's degree at King's with a thesis about the life and works of the English poet

Alexander Barclay Dr Alexander Barclay (c. 1476 – 10 June 1552) was a poet and clergyman of the Church of England, probably born in Scotland. Biography Barclay was born in about 1476. His place of birth is matter of dispute, but William Bulleyn, who w ...

. White went on for an extra two years to create an edition of Barclay's "Eclogues" in 1928. She dedicated this book to Professor A. W. Reed who had supervised her master's degree. She had spent nine years at King's, but she left when she was awarded a fellowship that enabled her to study in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. She visited both

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and the Henry E. Huntington Library returning to England in 1931. In 1936 she joined

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

where she was employed as a lecturer until 1939 teaching English. She spent the war lecturing at Queen Mary College and at the end in 1944-46 was leading the English Department as the acting head. In 1952 she began a long association with "The Year's Work in English Studies", a bibliography published by the English Association. For four years she co-edited the annual work with

Frederick S. Boas Frederick Samuel Boas, (1862–1957) was an English scholar of early modern drama. Education He was born on 24 July 1862, the eldest son of Hermann Boas of Belfast. His family was Jewish. He attended Clifton College as a scholar and went up to ...

and then for the next ten years she was the sole editor until 1963. In 1956 she went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

where she became the first woman to lecture the Medieval Academic of America. Two years before she retired from Westfield in 1969 she was promoted to be a professor. Seven years later she was made an Honorary Fellow in 1976. She had become a trustee if the English Association in 1970.

Death and legacy

White died at her home in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

in 1986. The English Association awards an annual Beatrice White award, because she was loved and respected. The prize is give for the best work relating to the study of English Literature before 1590.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Beatrice 1902 births 1986 deaths People from Ely, Cambridgeshire British scholars Alumni of King's College London