Florence Elizabeth Harmer FBA (14 May 1890 – 5 August 1967) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

historian, specializing in the Anglo-Saxon period. Translating from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, she edited a number of

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...

s for early English history, and her ''Anglo-Saxon Writs'' (1952) remains a standard text.

Life

Born at

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

, then in Surrey, Harmer was the daughter of Horace Alfred Harmer, an exporter of goods to Southern Africa, by his marriage to Harriett Frances Butler. She was educated at the City of London School for Girls, from where she gained a scholarship to

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

and prepared for the Medieval and Modern Languages Tripos.

Dorothy Whitelock Dorothy Whitelock, (11 November 1901 – 14 August 1982) was an English historian. From 1957 to 1969, she was the Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. Her best-known work is '' English Historica ...

, 'Florence Elizabeth Harmer', in ''Interpreters of Early Medieval Britain''
pp. 369-380
/ref> From 1920 until 1957 Harmer was an academic of the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 1949 and a Reader in 1955. She was described by

Simon Keynes Simon Douglas Keynes, ( ; born 23 September 1952) is a British author who is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon emeritus in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity Colleg ...

and Alfred Smyth as "the formidable Anglo-Saxonist, Florence Harmer". After she retired in 1957, she lived at

Pinner Pinner is a London suburb in the London borough of Harrow, Greater London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 31,130 in 2011. Originally a med ...

, near a sister, continuing to attend meetings of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

, of which she was a Fellow, and events at Cambridge. She was a friend of

, who wrote her obituary after she died in 1967.

Selected publications

*''Select English Historical Documents of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries'' (Cambridge University Press, 1914) *''An Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from British Museum Cotton MS, Tiberius B. IV.'' (1926) *'The English contribution to the epistolary usages of the early Scandinavian kings', in ''Saga-Book'' (1949-1950) *'Chipping and Market, a lexicographical investigation' in

Cyril Fox Sir Cyril Fred Fox (16 December 1882 – 15 January 1967) was an English archaeologist and museum director. Fox became keeper of archaeology at the National Museum of Wales, and subsequently served as director from 1926 to 1948. His most ...

, ed., ''The Early Cultures of North West Europe'' (1950) *''Anglo-Saxon Writs'' (Manchester University Press, 1952) *'A Bromfield and a Coventry Writ of King Edward the Confessor', in Peter Clemoes, ed., ''The Anglo-Saxons: studies in some aspects of their history and culture'' (1959)

Honours

*President, Viking Society for Northern Research, 1949 *

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, 1953 *

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

, 1955 *

Sir Israel Gollancz Prize Sir Israel Gollancz Prize is awarded biannually by the British Academy in honour of Israel Gollancz, a founder member and its first secretary, since 1924. Originally named "Biennial Prize for English Literature" and renamed after Gollancz's death ...

, 1957

Proceedings of the British Academy The ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' is a series of academic volumes on subjects in the humanities and social sciences. The first volume was published in 1905. Up to 1991, the volumes (appearing annually from 1927) mostly consisted of the te ...

, vol. 43 (1958), p. 4: "Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Prize, to Dr. Florence Harmer." *Honorary Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, 1957 *Hon. D. Litt,

, 1964

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harmer, Florence Elizabeth 1890 births 1967 deaths Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy People educated at the City of London School for Girls 20th-century English historians British women historians 20th-century women writers Anglo-Saxon studies scholars