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Eugénie Jane Andrina Henderson, FBA (2 October 1914 – 27 July 1989) was a British
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and academic, specialising in
phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
. From 1964 to 1982, she was
Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of Phonetics at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. She served as Chair of the
Linguistics Association of Great Britain The Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB) is an association which claims to be the leading professional association for academic linguists there. The association's predecessor was the Germanist Jeffrey Ellis' Linguistic Circle at Hull ...
from 1977 to 1980, and President of the
Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered Charitable organization, charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to ...
from 1984 to 1988.


Early life and education

Henderson was born on 2 October 1914 at Rose Villa, Archbold Terrace,
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
, England.
R. H. Robins Robert Henry Robins, FBA (1 July 1921 – 21 April 2000), affectionately known to his close ones as Bobby Robins, was a British linguist. Before his retirement, he spent his entire career at the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at the ...
, "Henderson , Eugénie Jane Andrina (1914–1989)", ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 26 Nov 2017
/ref> She was the daughter of William Alexander Cruickshank Henderson, a
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
, and his wife Pansy Viola (''née'' Schürer)."Henderson, Prof. Eugénie Jane Andrina", ''
Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...
'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 201
accessed 26 Nov 2017
/ref> She was educated in London. She studied English at
University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget =  ...
, graduating with first class
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
(BA) degree. Daniel Jones, one of her lecturers, "encouraged her to study the phonetics of south-east Asian languages".


Academic career

In 1936, Henderson became an adviser on the pronunciation of names in foreign languages at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. In 1937, she was appointed a
lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
in the Department of Phonetics of
University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget =  ...
. With the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, she joined the civil service: she worked in the
Ministry of Economic Warfare The Minister of Economic Warfare was a British government position which existed during the Second World War. The minister was in charge of the Special Operations Executive and the Ministry of Economic Warfare. See also * Blockade of Germany (193 ...
as a temporary assistant principal between 1939 and 1941. When Japan entered the war in late 1941, the British government realised that there was an urgent need for language training. She therefore returned to academia and was appointed a lecturer in
phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
at the
School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
,
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
in 1942. The Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, to which she was assigned, spent the rest of the war teaching Japanese and other Far Eastern languages to military personnel. In 1946, the Department of South-East Asia and the Islands was re-established and expanded. Lecturers appointed to this department were also members of the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics where they were supervised by Henderson. She was promoted to
senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this concep ...
in Phonetics in 1946. She was appointed
Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
in Phonetics in 1953. In 1954, she was a
visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...
at
Rangoon University '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...
, and undertook
fieldwork Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fie ...
in the Bwe Karen and
Chin The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm. Evolution The presence of a we ...
languages. From 1960 to 1966, she was the acting head of the Department of South-East Asia and the Islands. She was made
Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of Phonetics in 1964; this was made into an established chair two years later. She was head of the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics between 1966 and 1970. She retired in 1982 and was appointed
Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
by the University of London. Outside of her university positions, Henderson held a number of positions. She was treasurer of the
Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered Charitable organization, charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to ...
from 1965 or 1966 to 1974. She later served as its President, heading the organisation between 1984 and 1988. She also served as Chair of the
Linguistics Association of Great Britain The Linguistics Association of Great Britain (LAGB) is an association which claims to be the leading professional association for academic linguists there. The association's predecessor was the Germanist Jeffrey Ellis' Linguistic Circle at Hull ...
from 1977 to 1980.


Personal life

On 8 January 1941, Henderson married George Meier; she continued to use her
maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...
professionally. Together they had five children: one daughter and four sons. On 27 July 1989, Henderson died at her home in Camden, London and was buried on the eastern side of
Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
.


Honours

Henderson was made an
honorary fellow Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...
of the
School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
in 1985. In 1986, she was elected a
Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...
(FBA), the United Kingdom's
national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...
for the humanities and social sciences. In 1989, a
Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
was published in her honour. It was tiled ''South-East Asian Linguistics: Essays in Honour of Eugenie J.A. Henderson'' and was edited by Jeremy H. C. S. Davidson.


Selected works

* * * * *The papers and correspondence of Eugenie Henderson are held b
SOAS Archives
Digitised materials from the collection can be viewed onlin
here


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Eugenie Jane Andrina 1914 births 1989 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Linguists from England Phoneticians Women linguists Fellows of the British Academy People from Newcastle upon Tyne Alumni of University College London Academics of University College London Academics of SOAS University of London Ministry of Economic Warfare