Kathleen Major (1906–2000) was a British historian, and principal of

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it ...

, from 1955 to 1965. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' called her "the foremost historian of the medieval cathedral and diocese of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

". Major was born on 10 April 1906 in Holloway,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where her father George Major was a potato merchant. The success of her father's business led the family to move to

Holbeach Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies from Spalding; from Boston; from King's Lynn; from Peterborough; and by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

before the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. She went up to Oxford in 1925 to read history. Major received a bachelor's degree from St Hilda's College, Oxford, and after graduating she was the College Librarian until 1935. She was a fellow of the college from 1945. She began to assist F. M. Powicke in his work on

Stephen Langton Stephen Langton (c. 1150 – 9 July 1228) was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and his death in 1228. The dispute between King John of England and Pope Innocent III over his ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury, working in many cathedral and diocesan archives in England and Wales. The archival research on Langton also took her to Lincoln Cathedral, where she met Canon C. W. Foster, the principal founder of both the

Lincoln Record Society Lincoln Record Society is a British text publication society founded in 1910 which edits and publishes historic records relating to Lincolnshire and the Diocese of Lincoln. The ancient diocese covered not only Lincolnshire, but also Leicester ...

and the Lincoln Diocesan Record Office. In 1935, with the help of a strong reference from

Frank Stenton Sir Frank Merry Stenton, FBA (17 May 1880 – 15 September 1967) was an English historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society (1937–1945). The son of Henry Stenton of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, he was edu ...

, she was appointed chief officer of the Lincoln Diocesan Record Office, and from 1935 to 1975 she served as general editor of the Lincoln Record Society, combining the post with the secretaryship from 1935 to 1956. From the 1960s onwards, she produced a number of pamphlets for the Friends of Lincoln Cathedral. She was also an active member of the

British Records Association The British Records Association (widely known as the BRA, pronounced as three letters) is a British learned society founded in 1932 to promote the preservation, understanding, accessibility and study of historic records and archives. It is a reg ...

. She died on 19 December 2000.

References

1906 births 2000 deaths 20th-century British historians Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford British historians of religion British women historians Fellows of the British Academy Historians of Christianity Historians of the University of Oxford Principals of St Hilda's College, Oxford {{UK-historian-stub