Linetta Palamidessi de Castelvecchio Richardson (13 October 1880 – 4 June 1975) was an Italian-British scholar.

Career

Having taught informally at the two women's colleges of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, she was a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

and head of Italian Department at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

from 1916 to 1921. By 1920, four new chairs in Italian were set up in England: the Serena Professorships of Italian. In June 1921, she was elected to the Serena Chair at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. This made her the first woman to hold a chair at Birmingham and one of the first in Great Britain. However, there were allegations that favouritism won her the position, and the university refused to allow her to hire assistants to teach Italian from scratch while also insisting that the post was only part-time and paid her accordingly. She continued to teach at the university until she retired in 1946.

Personal life

Her parents were Francesco Palamidessi (1849-1891) and Joséphine Castelvecchio (1857-1932), grand-daughter of

Louis Bonaparte Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French c ...

, king of Holland. While in London, she converted from

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

and became involved in the Churchmen's Union for the Advancement of Liberal Religious Thought. In 1929, she married the Reverend Robert Douglas Richardson (1893–1989), an Anglican priest and academic, later a canon of Birmingham Cathedral and principal of Ripon Hall, Oxford. Her name is inscribed on a memorial to him in St Mary's Church, Boyton, Wiltshire, where he was rector from 1952 to 1967; the couple instigated restoration of the church in the 1960s. She died at her home in Corton, near Boyton church, on 4 June 1975.

Selected works

References

{{authority control 1880 births 1975 deaths Academics of King's College London Academics of the University of Birmingham Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism