Dorothea Ruth Etchells (17 April 19318 August 2012) was an English poet and college principal who spent most of her working life in the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

Early life

She was born on 17 April 1931. She attended Merchant Taylors’ School and the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. After graduation, she became an English teacher at Aigburth Vale High School in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and then a lecturer at the Chester College of Higher Education.

Career

From 1968, she taught in the English Department and soon became Vice Principal of

Trevelyan College , motto_English = Truth more readily than falsehood , scarf = , named_for = George Macaulay Trevelyan , namesake = George Macaulay Trevelyan , established = 1966 , principal = Adekunle Adeyeye , vice_principal = I ...

. In 1979 she was appointed Principal of

St John's College, Durham St John's College is a University of Durham#Colleges, college of the University of Durham, United Kingdom. It is one of only two "recognised colleges" of the university, the other being St Chad's College, St Chad's. This means that it is financial ...

, a notable appointment because this made her both the first lay person and the first woman to be principal of a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

college, Cranmer Hall (part of St. John's), that trains clergy, who were in those days only male. She was a member of the Church of England's

Crown Appointments Commission The appointment of Church of England diocesan bishops follows a somewhat convoluted process, reflecting the church's traditional tendency towards compromise and ''ad hoc'' solutions, traditional ambiguity between hierarchy and democracy, and trad ...

that recommends appointments of the bishops and archbishops, including the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. In 1992 she was awarded a

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

degree.

Bibliography

Her many books include: * * * * *

References

1931 births 2012 deaths Academics of Durham University English women poets Holders of a Lambeth degree 20th-century English poets 20th-century English women writers Principals of St John's College, Durham {{England-poet-stub