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Janet Moira Backhouse (8 February 1938 – 3 November 2004) was an English manuscripts curator at the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, and a leading authority in the field of
illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
s.


Early life and education

Janet Backhouse was born in
Corsham Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-eastern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 national route, southwest of Swindon, southeast of Bristol, northeast of Bath and southwest o ...
,
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, the daughter of Joseph Holme Backhouse and Jessie Chivers Backhouse. Her father was a cattle-feed salesman. Her brother David John Backhouse became a sculptor and author. Backhouse was educated at
Stonar School Stonar School, founded in 1895, is a non-denominational UK independent day and boarding school, at Cottles Park, near Atworth, Wiltshire, south-west England. The school occupies 80 acres of parkland and gardens in a location about 8 miles from ...
and
Bedford College, London file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...
. At Bedford she worked with
Lillian Penson Dame Lillian Margery Penson, DBE (18 July 1896 – 17 April 1963) was a professor of modern history at the University of London, and the first woman to serve as Vice-Chancellor of the university. Early life She was born in Islington, London, the ...
and with paleographer
Francis Wormald Francis Wormald (1904 - 11 January 1972), was a British educator who served as director of the Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training ...
.


Career

In 1962 Backhouse joined the British Museum's Manuscripts department as an Assistant Keeper of Western Manuscripts.Pamela Porter and Shelley Jones, "Janet Backhouse: Colleague and Friend", in Michelle P. Brown and Scot McKendrick (eds), ''Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters: Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse'' (London: The British Library, 1998), p. 11. In that role, she catalogued the papers of horsewoman
Lady Anne Blunt Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth (née King-Noel; 22 September 1837 – 15 December 1917), known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in E ...
, accompanied a manuscript of Tsar Ivan Alexander to Bulgaria in 1977, and escorted the
Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV) is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, which is now in the B ...
to be exhibited at
Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...
in 1987, to mark the 1300th anniversary of the death of
Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nort ...
. She also co-organised with Leslie Webster a 1991 exhibition of Anglo-Saxon artifacts and manuscripts, at the British Museum. Backhouse was a member of the
Henry Bradshaw Society The Henry Bradshaw Society is a British-based text publication society founded in 1890 for the scholarly editing and publication of rare liturgical texts. Foundation An initial meeting to plan the Henry Bradshaw Society took place in London on 3 ...
, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and served as an advisor to the
National Art Collections Fund Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as ...
. She was elected a member of the Comité Internationale de Paléographie Latine in 1993. She edited the proceedings of the Harlaxton Medieval Symposium in 1998. She retired from the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
(as it had since become) as Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts in 1998. By the end of her career "she had established an international reputation as one of the foremost scholars in her field". Backhouse died in 2004 from cancer, aged 66 years, in
Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
. She contributed to ''A Masterpiece Reconstructed: The Hours of Louis XII'' (2005), which was published after her death. 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 ...
, ''Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters: Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse'', was published on the occasion of her retirement, edited by Michelle P. Brown and Scot McKendrick (1998).


Select bibliography

* ''The Illuminated Manuscript'' (1979) * ''The Lindisfarne Gospels'' (1981) – on the Lindisfarne Gospels * ''Books of Hours'' (1985) *''The Becket Leaves'' (1988) * ''The Luttrell Psalter'' (1989) – on the
Luttrell Psalter The Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add MS 42130) is an illuminated manuscript, illuminated psalter commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (1276–1345), lord of the manor of Irnham in Lincolnshire, written and illustrated on parchment ''circa'' ...
* ''The Bedford Hours'' (1990) – on the Bedford Hours * ''The Isabella Breviary'' (1993) – on the
Isabella Breviary The ''Isabella Breviary'' (''Ms. 18851'') is a late 15th-century illuminated manuscript housed in the British Library, London. Queen Isabella I was given the manuscript shortly before 1497 by her ambassador Francisco de Rojas to commemorate the dou ...
*''The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library'' (1997) *''The Hastings Hours'' (1997) * ''The Sherborne Missal'' (1999) – on the
Sherborne Missal The Sherborne Missal (London, British Library, Add MS 74236) is an early 15th-century English illuminated manuscript missal, one of the finest English examples of International Gothic painting. With 347 vellum leaves measuring , it weighs 20&nbs ...
* ''Medieval Rural Life in the Luttrell Psalter'' (2000) * ''Medieval Birds in the Sherborne Missal'' (2001) *''Illumination from Books of Hours'' (2004)


References


External links


Writings by Janet Backhouse
for ''
History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...
'' magazine. {{DEFAULTSORT:Backhouse, Janet 1938 births 2004 deaths People from Corsham Alumni of Bedford College, London British medievalists Women medievalists Employees of the British Library People educated at Stonar School British women historians British women curators