Kathleen Mary Carver Baxter (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

fforde, 16 September 1904 – 3 January 1994), was a British dramatist, journalist and teacher.

Early life

She was born in Bulandshahr,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, on 16 September 1904, the eldest daughter of Arthur Brownlow fforde, a judge in the Indian Civil Service, and his wife, Mary Alice fforde,

Branson. Her elder brother was Arthur Frederic Brownlow fforde. She was educated at seven different schools plus St Albans High School, followed by

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

, where she earned a degree in modern and medieval languages in 1927, followed by two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

From 1944 to 1966, Baxter was the Secretary of the Cambridge University Women's Appointments Board. In 1963 Baxter was elected a fellow of

, and from 1963 to 1966, she was Tutor and Director of Studies in Theology there. Baxter wrote three successful religious dramas: ''Pull Devil, Pull Baker'' in 1947, a verse mime with music, ''Gerald of Wales'', and ''Play your Trumpets Angels'', for the Southwark Cathedral Festival of Britain pageant, both in 1951. She published books including ''Speak what we Feel: a Christian Looks at the Contemporary Theatre'' in 1964, ''And I look for the resurrection'' in 1968, and ''The Silver Dove'', with C. Le Fleming, in 1970. In 1971, she became the first woman to conduct the

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

service in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

Personal life

On 5 November 1931, she married fellow actor and stage director, Major (Frank) Godfrey Baxter RE MC. He died in 1943, when his plane crashed on the runway during take-off.

Later life

She died at Soham,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

on 3 January 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, Kathleen Mary Carver 1904 births 1994 deaths Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge British women dramatists and playwrights Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge People from Bulandshahr 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British women writers British people in colonial India