Rowse, A. L.
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Alfred Leslie Rowse (4 December 1903 – 3 October 1997) was a British historian and writer, best known for his work on Elizabethan
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and books relating to
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. Born in Cornwall and raised in modest circumstances, he was encouraged to study for
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by fellow-Cornishman
Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a British writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication '' The Oxford Book of English Verse ...
. He was elected a
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of
All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
and later appointed lecturer at Merton College. Best known of his many works was ''The Elizabethan Age'' trilogy. His work on
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
included a claim to have identified the ' Dark Lady of the Sonnets' as
Emilia Lanier Emilia Lanier (also Aemilia or Amelia Lanyer, 1569–1645), ''née'' Aemilia Bassano, was an English poet and the first woman in England to assert herself as a professional poet, through her volume ''Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum'' (''Hail, God, King ...
, which attracted much interest from scholars, but also many counterclaims. Rowse was in steady demand as a lecturer in North America. In the 1930s, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as a
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
candidate, though later in life he became a conservative.


Life and politics

Rowse was born at Tregonissey, near St Austell, Cornwall, the son of Annie (née Vanson) and Richard Rowse, a
china clay Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...
worker. Despite his modest origins and his parents' limited education, he won a place at St Austell
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Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
and then a scholarship to Christ Church,
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, in 1921. He was encouraged in his pursuit of an academic career by a fellow Cornish man of letters,
Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a British writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication '' The Oxford Book of English Verse ...
, of
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, who recognised his ability from an early age. Rowse endured doubting comments about his paternity, thus he paid particular attention to his mother's association with a local farmer and butcher from
Polgooth Polgooth ( kw, Pollgoodh) is a former mining village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies mainly in the parish of St Mewan and partly in the parish of St Ewe. The nearest town is St Austell two miles (3.5 km) to the north-eas ...
, near St Austell, Frederick William May (1872–1953). Any such frustrations were channelled into academia, which reaped him dividends later in life. Rowse had planned to study English literature, having developed an early love of poetry, but was persuaded to read history. He was a popular undergraduate and made many friendships that lasted for life. He graduated with first class honours in 1925 and was elected a
fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
of
All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
the same year. In 1929, he proceeded to a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
degree. In 1927 he was appointed lecturer at Merton College, where he stayed until 1930. He then became a lecturer at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
. In 1931, Rowse contested the parliamentary seat of Penryn and Falmouth for the Labour Party, but was unsuccessful, finishing third behind a
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
. In the general election of 1935 he again stood unsuccessfully, but managed to finish in second place, ahead of the Liberal. In both the 1931 and 1935 elections,
Maurice Petherick Maurice Petherick (5 October 1894 – 4 August 1985) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penryn & Falmouth from 1931 to 1945, and as Financial Secretary to the War Office, briefly, in 194 ...
was returned as a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
MP to Parliament, albeit with a minority of the vote. Rowse supported calls made by
Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
Stafford Cripps and others for a Popular Front (UK), "Popular Front". Cripps was expelled from the Labour Party for his views. Rowse worked to get agreement by Labour and Liberal parties in Devon and Cornwall, making a common cause with the Liberal MP Baronet, Sir Richard Acland. A general election was expected to take place in 1939, and Rowse, who was again Labour's candidate for Penryn & Falmouth, was not expected to have a Liberal opponent. That would increase his chances of winning. But, due to outbreak of war, the election did not take place and his political career was effectively ended. Undeterred, Rowse chose to continue his career by seeking administrative positions at
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
becoming Warden (college), Sub-Warden of All Souls College. In 1952, he failed in his candidacy for election as Warden against John Hanbury Angus Sparrow, John Sparrow. Shortly afterwards he began what became regular trips to The Huntington Library in Southern California, where for many years he was a senior research fellow. He received a doctorate (DLitt) from Oxford University in 1953. After delivering the British Academy's 1957 Raleigh Lecture on history about
Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
Richard Grenville's place in English history, Rowse was selected as a fellow of the academy (Fellow of the British Academy, FBA) in 1958. Rowse published about 100 books. By the mid-20th century, he was a celebrated author and much-travelled lecturer, especially in the United States. He also published many popular articles in newspapers and magazines in Great Britain and the United States. His brilliance was widely recognised. His knack for the sensational, as well as his academic boldness (which some considered to be irresponsible carelessness), sustained his reputation. His opinions on rival popular historians, such as Hugh Trevor-Roper and A. J. P. Taylor, were expressed sometimes in very ripe terms. In his later years, Rowse moved increasingly towards the Right-wing politics, political right, and many considered him to be part of the Tory tradition by the time he died. One of Rowse's lifelong themes in his books and articles was his condemnation of the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
-dominated National Government (United Kingdom), National Government's policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and the economic and political consequences for Great Britain of fighting a World War II, Second World War with Germany. He also criticized his former Labour Party colleagues–including George Lansbury, Kingsley Martin, and Richard Crossman—for endorsing appeasement, writing "not one of the British Left, Left intellectuals could republish what they wrote in the Thirties without revealing what idiotic judgments they made about events." Another was his horror at the degradation of standards in modern society. He is reported as saying: "...this filthy twentieth century. I hate its guts". Despite international academic success, Rowse remained proud of his Cornish people, Cornish roots. He retired from Oxford in 1973 to Trenarren, Trenarren House, his Cornish home, from where he remained active as writer, reviewer and conversationalist until immobilised by a stroke the year before his death. His ashes are buried in the Campdowns Cemetery, Charlestown, Cornwall, Charlestown near St Austell.


Elizabethan and Shakespearean scholarship

Rowse's early works focus on 16th-century England and his first full-length historical monograph, ''Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge'' (1937), was a biography of a 16th-century sailor. His next was ''Tudor Cornwall'' (1941), a lively detailed account of Cornish society in the 16th century. He consolidated his reputation with a one-volume general history of England, ''The Spirit of English History'' (1943), but his most important work was the historical trilogy ''The Elizabethan Age'': ''The England of Elizabeth'' (1950), ''The Expansion of Elizabethan England'' (1955), and ''The Elizabethan Renaissance'' (1971–72), respectively examine the society, overseas exploration, and culture of late 16th-century England. In 1963 Rowse began to concentrate on William Shakespeare, starting with a biography in which he claimed to have dated all the Shakespeare's sonnets, sonnets, identified Christopher Marlowe as the suitor's rival and solved all but one of the other problems posed by the sonnets. His failure to acknowledge his reliance upon the work of other scholars alienated some of his peers, but he won popular acclaim. In 1973 he published ''Shakespeare the Man'', in which he claimed to have solved the final problem – the identity of the 'The Dark Lady, Dark Lady': from a close reading of the sonnets and the diaries of Simon Forman, he asserted that she must have been
Emilia Lanier Emilia Lanier (also Aemilia or Amelia Lanyer, 1569–1645), ''née'' Aemilia Bassano, was an English poet and the first woman in England to assert herself as a professional poet, through her volume ''Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum'' (''Hail, God, King ...
, whose poems he would later collect. He suggested that Shakespeare had been influenced by the feud between the Danvers and Sir Robert Long (c.1517-c.1581), Long families in Wiltshire, when he wrote ''Romeo and Juliet''. The Danverses were friends of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Rowse's "discoveries" about Shakespeare's sonnets amount to the following: # The Fair Youth was the 19-year-old Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, extremely handsome and bisexual. # The sonnets were written 1592–1594/5. # The "rival poet" was Christopher Marlowe. # The "Dark Lady" was
Emilia Lanier Emilia Lanier (also Aemilia or Amelia Lanyer, 1569–1645), ''née'' Aemilia Bassano, was an English poet and the first woman in England to assert herself as a professional poet, through her volume ''Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum'' (''Hail, God, King ...
. His use of the diaries of Simon Forman, which contained material about her, influenced other scholars. # Christopher Marlowe's death is recorded in the sonnets. # Shakespeare was a Heterosexuality, heterosexual man, who was faced with an unusual situation when the handsome, young, Bisexuality, bisexual Earl of Southampton fell in love with him. Rowse was dismissive of those who rejected his views. He supported his conclusions. In the case of Shakespeare's sexuality, he emphasised the playwright's heterosexual inclinations by noting that he had impregnated an older woman by the time he was 18, and was consequently obliged to marry her. Moreover, he fathered three children by the time he was 21. In the sonnets, Shakespeare's explicit erotic interest lies with the Dark Lady; he obsesses about her. Shakespeare was still married and Rowse believes he was having an extramarital affair.


Personal attitudes

The diary excerpts published in 2003 reveal that "he was an overt even rather proud Homosexuality, homosexual in a pre-Wolfenden report, Wolfenden age, fascinated by young policemen and sailors, obsessively speculating on the sexual proclivities of everyone he meets". Much later, following retirement, he said, "of course, I used to be a homo; but now, when it doesn't matter, if anything I'm a hetero". He was aware of his own intelligence from earliest childhood, and obsessed that others either did not accept this fact, or not quickly enough. The diaries describe what he said were "a series of often inane jealousies". He described a "Slacker State": "I don't want to have my money scalped off me to maintain other people's children. I don't like other people; I particularly don't like their children; I deeply disapprove of their proliferation making the globe uninhabitable. The fucking idiots – I don't want to pay for their fucking."


Literary career

Rowse's first book was ''On History, a Study of Present Tendencies'' published in 1927 as the seventh volume of Kegan Paul's ''Psyche Miniature General Series''. In 1931 he contributed to T. S. Eliot's quarterly review ''The Criterion''. In 1935 he co-edited Charles G. Henderson, Charles Henderson's ''Essays in Cornish History'' for the Clarendon Press. His best-seller was his first volume of autobiography, ''A Cornish Childhood'', first published by Jonathan Cape in 1942, which has gone on to sell nearly half a million copies worldwide. It describes his hard struggle to get to the University of Oxford and his love/hate relationship with Cornwall. His most controversial book (at the time of publication) was on the subject of human sexuality: ''Homosexuals in History'' (1977). Rowse wrote poetry all his life. He contributed poems to ''Public School Verse'' whilst at St Austell Grammar School. He also had verse published in ''Oxford 1923'', ''Oxford 1924'', and ''Oxford 1925''. His collected poems ''A Life'' were published in 1981. The poetry is mainly autobiographical, descriptive of place (especially Cornwall) and people he knew and cared for, e.g. ''The Progress of Love'', which describes his platonic love for Adam von Trott zu Solz, Adam von Trott, a handsome and aristocratic German youth who studied at Oxford in the 1930s and who was later executed for his part in the July 20 plot, July Plot of 1944 to kill Hitler. Unusually for a British poet, Rowse wrote a great number of poems inspired by American scenery.


Biographer

He wrote other biographies of English historical and literary figures, and many other historical works. His biographies include studies of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and the Earl of Southampton, the major players in the sonnets, as well as later luminaries of English literature such as John Milton, Jonathan Swift and Matthew Arnold. A devoted cat-lover, he also wrote the biographies of several cats who came to live with him at Trenarren, claiming that it was as much a challenge to write the biography of a favourite cat as it was a Queen of England. He also published a number of short stories, mainly about Cornwall, of interest more for their thinly veiled autobiographical resonances than their literary merit. His last book, ''My View of Shakespeare'', published in 1996, summed up his life-time's appreciation of ''The Bard of Stratford''. The book was dedicated ''"To Charles, Prince of Wales, HRH The Prince of Wales in common devotion to William Shakespeare".''


Bibliophile

One of Rowse's great enthusiasms was collecting books, and he owned many first editions, many of them bearing his acerbic annotations. For example, his copy of the January 1924 edition of ''Adelphi (magazine), The Adelphi'' magazine edited by John Middleton Murry bears a pencilled note after Murry's poem ''In Memory of Katherine Mansfield'': 'Sentimental gush on the part of JMM. And a bad poem. A.L.R.' Upon his death in 1997 he bequeathed his book collection to the University of Exeter, and his personal archive of manuscripts, diaries, and correspondence. In 1998 the University Librarian selected about sixty books from Rowse's own working library and a complete set of his published books. Royal Institution of Cornwall, The Royal Institution of Cornwall selected some of the remaining books and the rest were sold to dealers. The London booksellers Heywood Hill produced two catalogues of books from his library.


Honours

Rowse was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (Fellow of the British Academy, FBA), of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) and of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). In addition to his Doctor of Letters, DLitt (Oxon) degree (1953), Rowse received the honorary degrees of DLitt from the University of Exeter in 1960 and Doctor of Civil Law, DCL from the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada, the same year. In 1968 he was made a Bard of Gorseth Kernow, taking the bardic name ''Lef A Gernow'' ('Voice of Cornwall'), reflecting his high standing in the Cornish community. He was elected to the Athenaeum Club, London, Athenaeum Club under Rule II in 1972, and received the Benson Medal of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982. Rowse was appointed a Companion of Honour (Companion of Honour, CH) in the 1997 New Year Honours.


Posthumous reputation

As well as his own appearances on radio and television, Rowse has been depicted in various Docudrama, TV drama documentaries about British politics in the 1930s and appeasement. Christopher William Hill's radio drama, radio play ''Accolades'', rebroadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2007 as a tribute to its star, Ian Richardson, who had died the previous month, covers the period leading up to the publication of ''Shakespeare the Man'' in 1973 and publicity surrounding Rowse's unshakable confidence that he had discovered the identity of the Dark Lady of the Sonnets. It was broadcast again on 9 July 2008. ''A Cornish Childhood'' has also been adapted for voices (in the style of ''Under Milk Wood'') by Judith Cook.


Selected works

* ''On History: a Study of Present Tendencies'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1927 * ''Science and History: a New View of History'', London: W. W. Norton, 1928 * ''Politics and the Younger Generation'', London: Faber & Faber, 1931 * ''The Question of the House of Lords'', London: Hogarth Press, 1934 * ''Elizabeth I of England, Queen Elizabeth and Her Subjects'' (with G. B. Harrison), London: Allen & Unwin, 1935 * ''Mr. Keynes and the Labour Movement'', London: Macmillan, 1936 * ''Sir Richard Grenville of the "Revenge"'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1937 * ''What is Wrong with the Germans?'', 1940 * ''Tudor Cornwall'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1941 * ''A Cornish Childhood'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1942 * ''The Spirit of English History'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1943 * ''The English Spirit: Essays in History and Literature'', London: Macmillan, 1944 * ''West-Country Stories'', London: Macmillan, 1945 * ''The Use of History'' (key volume in the ''"Teach Yourself History"'' series), London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1946 * ''The End of an Epoch: Reflections on Contemporary History'', London: Macmillan, 1947 * ''The England of Elizabeth: the Structure of Society''. London: Macmillan, 1950 * ''The English Past: Evocation of Persons and Places'', London: Macmillan, 1951 * ''An Elizabethan Garland'', London: Macmillan, 1953 * ''The Expansion of Elizabethan England'', London: Macmillan, 1955 * ''The Early Churchills'', London: Macmillan, 1956 * ''The Later Churchills'', London: Macmillan, 1958 *
The Elizabethans and America: The Trevelyan Lectures at Cambridge, 1958
', London, Macmillan, 1959 * '' St Austell: Church, Town, Parish'', St Austell: H. E. Warne, 1960 * ''All Souls College, Oxford, All Souls and Appeasement: a Contribution to Contemporary History'', London: Macmillan, 1961 * ''Walter Raleigh, Ralegh and the Throckmortons'', London: Macmillan, 1962 * ''William Shakespeare: a Biography'', London: Macmillan, 1963 * ''Christopher Marlowe: a biography'', London: Macmillan, 1964 * ''Shakespeare's Sonnets'', London: Macmillan, 1964 * ''A Cornishman at Oxford'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1965 * ''Shakespeare's Southampton: Patron of Virginia'', London: Macmillan, 1965 * ''Bosworth Field and the Wars of the Roses'', London: Macmillan, 1966 * ''Cornish Stories'', London: Macmillan, 1967 * ''A Cornish Anthology'', London: Macmillan, 1968 * ''The Cornish in America'', London: Macmillan, 1969 * ''The Elizabethan Renaissance: the Life of Society'', London: Macmillan, 1971 * ''The Elizabethan Renaissance: the Cultural Achievement'', London: Macmillan, 1972 * ''The Tower of London in the History of the Nation'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972 * ''Shakespeare The Man'', London: Macmillan, 1973 * ''Windsor Castle In the History of the Nation'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974 * ''Victorian and Edwardian Cornwall from old photographs'', London: Batsford, 1974 (Introduction and commentaries by Rowse; ten extracts from Betjeman) * ''Simon Forman: Sex and Society in Shakespeare's Age'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974 * ''Discoveries and Reviews: from Renaissance to Restoration'', London: Macmillan, 1975 * ''Oxford: In the History of the Nation'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1975 * ''Jonathan Swift: Major Prophet'', London, Thames & Hudson, 1975 * ''A Cornishman Abroad'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1976 * ''Matthew Arnold: Poet and Prophet'', London: Thames & Hudson, 1976 * ''Homosexuals in History'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977 * ''Shakespeare the Elizabethan'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977 * ''John Milton, Milton the Puritan: Portrait of a Mind'', London: Macmillan, 1977 * ''The Byrons and the Trevanions'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1978 * ''A Man of the Thirties'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979 * ''Memories of Men and Women'', London: Eyre Methuen, 1980 * ''A Man of Singular Virtue: being a Life of Sir Thomas More by his Son-in-Law William Roper, and a Selection of More's Letters'', London: Folio Society, 1980 (Editor) * ''Shakespeare's Globe: his Intellectual and Moral Outlook'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981 * ''A Life: Collected Poems'', Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1981 * ''Eminent Elizabethans'', London: Macmillan, 1983 * ''Night at the Carn and Other Stories'', London: William Kimber, 1984 * ''Shakespeare's Characters: a Complete Guide'', London: Methuen, 1984 * ''Glimpses of the Great'', London: Methuen, 1985 * ''The Little Land of Cornwall'', Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1986 * ''A Quartet of Cornish Cats'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986 * ''Stories From Trenarren'', London: William Kimber, 1986 * ''Reflections on the Puritan Revolution'', London: Methuen, 1986 * ''The Poet W. H. Auden, Auden: a Personal Memoir'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987 * ''Court and Country: Studies in Tudor Social History'', Brighton: Harvester Press, 1987 * ''James Anthony Froude, Froude the Historian: Victorian Man of Letters'', Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1987 * ''Quiller-Couch: a Portrait of "Q"'', London: Methuen, 1988 * ''A. L. Rowse's Cornwall: a Journey through Cornwall's Past and Present'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988 * ''Friends and Contemporaries'', London: Methuen, 1989 * ''The Controversial John Colenso, Colensos'', Redruth: Dyllansow Truran, 1989 * ''Discovering Shakespeare: a Chapter in Literary History'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989 * ''Four Caroline Portraits'', London: Duckworth, 1993 * ''All Souls College, Oxford, All Souls in My Time'', London: Duckworth, 1993 * ''The Regicides and the Puritan Revolution'', London: Duckworth, 1994 * ''Historians I Have Known'', London: Duckworth, 1995 * ''My View of Shakespeare'', London: Duckworth, 1996 * ''Cornish Place Rhymes'', Tiverton: Cornwall Books, 1997 (posthumous commemorative volume begun by the author; preface by the editor, S. Butler) * ''The Elizabethan Age'' (a four-volume set composed of ''The England of Elizabeth''; ''The Expansion of Elizabethan England''; ''The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society''; ''The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Cultural Achievement''), London: Folio Society, 2012


Biography and bibliography

* Tony Capstick, Capstick, Tony (1997), ''A. L. Rowse: an Illustrated Bibliography'', Wokingham: Hare's Ear Publication * Cauveren, Sydney (2000),
A. L. Rowse: A Bibliophile's Extensive Bibliography
', Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press * Cauveren, Sydney (2001), "A. L. Rowse: Historian and Friend", ''Contemporary Review'', December 2001, pp. 340–346 * Jacob, Valerie (2001), ''Tregonissey to Trenarren: A. L. Rowse – The Cornish Years'', St. Austell: Valerie Jacob * Richard Ollard, Ollard, Richard (1999), ''A Man of Contradictions: a Life of A. L. Rowse'', London: Allen Lane * Richard Ollard, Ollard, Richard (2003), ''The Diaries of A. L. Rowse'', London: Allen Lane * James Whetter, Whetter, James (2003), ''Dr. A. L. Rowse: Poet, Historian, Lover of Cornwall'', Gorran, St. Austell: Lyfrow Trelyspen * Philip Payton, Payton, Philip (2005), ''A. L. Rowse and Cornwall'', Exeter: University of Exeter Press * Donald Adamson is due to publish a biography of A. L. Rowse (from a friend's perspective), se
article in the ''International Literary Quarterly''
* Slattery-Christy, David (2017)
Other People's Fu**ing! An Oxford Affair
New play exploring the relationship between A.L. Rowse and Adam von Trott during the 1930s in Oxford. Published by Christyplays. www.christyplays.com


References


External links

*
Papers of A L Rowse: research, literary and personal manuscripts at the University of Exeter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowse, A. L. 1903 births 1997 deaths People from St Austell Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Academics of the London School of Economics British biographers Shakespearean scholars English gay writers English LGBT poets Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature British book and manuscript collectors Bards of Gorsedh Kernow Historians of Cornwall Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Burials in Cornwall Poets from Cornwall 20th-century British poets 20th-century British historians 20th-century biographers People educated at St Austell Grammar School LGBT politicians from England