Kathleen Louise Wood-Legh (1901–1981) was a Canadian historian, specialising in medieval social and economic history.

Life

Born in Mount Forest, Ontario, Kathleen Wood-Legh was blind from childhood. After completing a BA in 1923 and an MA in 1924, both at McGill University, she travelled to England with her family for further study. In 1926 she began a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

at Newnham College under the supervision of G.G. Coulton on church life in medieval England, completed in 1932. Despite glowing references from

G.M. Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the ...

, she was unable to secure a permanent academic position and became a tutor and supervisor for undergraduate students at the University of Cambridge. In 1938 she played a leading role in a number of refugee committees, including the Cambridge Refugee Committee, which helped scholars at threat from the expansion of Nazi Germany, and the Cambridge Children’s Refugee Committee, which found homes for displaced Jewish children. With

Anna McClean Bidder Anna McClean Bidder (4 May 1903 – 1 October 2001) was an English zoologist and academic. She was co-founder and first President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. Early life and education Anna Bidder was born in Cambridge. Her father, Geor ...

, in 1950 she was a founding member of the ''Society of Women Members of the Regent House who are not Fellows of Colleges'', better known as the Dining Group. This informal group of female scholars at Cambridge became the nucleus for Lucy Cavendish College, established in 1965. Wood-Legh wrote the constitution of the new college, becoming a fellow. She was awarded a

Litt.D 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 Doctor ...

in 1967. She died in Cambridge in 1981.

Work

Wood-Legh's work on later medieval religious life remains influential to this day. Her key publications include: * ''Studies in Church Life in England under Edward III'' (1934). Based on her PhD thesis. * ''Perpetual Chantries in Britain'' (1965). Based on the series of Birkbeck lectures she delivered in 1955. * (ed.) ''Kentish Visitations of Archbishop William Warham and his deputies, 1511-1512'' (1984).

Legacy

She is commemorated by the Wood-Legh Room in Lucy Cavendish College, and by the Wood-Legh Prize, awarded by the University of Cambridge Faculty of History for the best dissertation in the

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

in Medieval History. Her papers are held by Cambridge University Library.

References

Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood-Legh, Kathleen 20th-century Canadian women writers 1981 deaths People from Wellington County, Ontario 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian women historians Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge 1901 births Fellows of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge McGill University alumni