Sylvia Hope Leith-Ross (30 September 1884 – 12 February 1980) was an English anthropologist and writer who worked primarily in Nigeria.

Early life

Sylvia Hope Ruxton was born in London, the daughter of William Fitzherbert Ruxton and Sylvia Howland Grinnell Ruxton. Her father was an admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

; her mother was American-born, the daughter of

Henry Grinnell Henry Grinnell (February 18, 1799 – June 30, 1874) was an American merchant and philanthropist. Early life Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts on February 18, 1799. He was the son of Cornelius Grinnell (1758–1850) and Sylvia ( ...

and the sister of

Henry Walton Grinnell Henry Walton Grinnell (November 19, 1843 – September 2, 1920), known as Walton Grinnell, was a naval veteran of the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War. He became a rear admiral and Inspector-General in the Imperial Japanese Navy and ...

. Sylvia and her mother moved to Paris in 1896, where she attended school. Sylvia's memoir, ''Cocks in the Dawn'' (1944), recalls this time as the beginning of her lifelong attachment to France.Helen Callaway
"Ross, Sylvia Hope Leith"
in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 23 September 2004.

Career

In 1907, as a new bride, she moved to

Zungeru Zungeru is a town in Niger State, Nigeria. It was the capital of the British protectorate of Northern Nigeria from 1902 until 1916. It is the site of the Niger State Polytechnic and is located on the Kaduna River. History Colonial history Acco ...

in Nigeria, where her husband was the chief transport officer for the British protectorate. She returned to Nigeria in 1910 as a widow, to stay with her brother and his wife Geneviève. The two women published a cookbook, ''West African Cookery'' (1908), which was popular with young European men new to Nigeria and unfamiliar with either cookery or West African produce. In 1921, she published ''Fulani Grammar'', a basic guide to the Fulani language with some translated folktales. In the 1920s her brother was based in Lagos; Sylvia Leith-Ross was appointed as "Lady Superintendent of Education" in 1925. She helped to establish

Queen's College, Lagos Queen's College, Lagos, is a government-owned girl's secondary (high) school with boarding facilities, situated in Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria. Often referred to as the "sister college" of King's College, Lagos, it was founded on October 10, 1927, when ...

, a girls' boarding school, and founded a girls' school in Kano. In 1931 she was sent back to England to recover her health. When she returned again, she used a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to conduct anthropological studies among the women of eastern Nigeria, following the

Women's War The Women's War, or Aba Women's Protest (Igbo: ''Ogu Umunwanyi''; Ibibio: ''Ekong Iban''), was a period of unrest in colonial Nigeria over November 1929. The protests broke out when thousands of Igbo women from the Bende District, Umuahia and o ...

; this work resulted in the book ''African Women: A Study of the Ibo of Nigeria'' (1939). During World War I, Sylvia Leith-Ross, using her fluency in French, volunteered in military hospitals under the supervision of the French Red Cross. That work led to a job at a clinic in London from 1920 to 1925. She also worked at military hospitals during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and early in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was in Nigeria for the rest of the second World War, in part to provide intelligence on the French colonies to the Political and Economic Research Organization. Two more books, ''African Conversation Piece'' (1944, a travel diary) and ''Beyond the Niger'' (1951) were written during this time. Late in life, she spent a decade (1956 to 1966) collecting pottery and interviewing pottery makers in Nigeria. Her last book published in her lifetime, ''Nigerian Pottery'' (1970), records her findings in photographs and text, as a catalogue to an exhibit she organised at the

Jos Museum Jos Museum is a museum in Jos, Nigeria. The museum was established in 1952 by Bernard Fagg. The museum administers the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture. History The museum was founded in 1952 by Bernard E. B. Fagg, who served as t ...

Personal life

Sylvia Ruxton married Arthur Leith-Ross, a Canadian officer who served in Northern Nigeria with Upton Fitzherbert Ruxton, Sylvia's brother. Sylvia was widowed at 24, when Arthur died from

blackwater fever Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease ...

. She died in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

, London in 1980, aged 95. One more book, her autobiography titled ''Stepping Stones: Memoirs of Colonial Nigeria, 1907–1960'', was published after her death, in 1983.Kristin Mann
review of Sylvia Leith-Ross, ''Stepping Stones: Memoirs of Colonial Nigeria, 1907–1960''
in ''International Journal of African Historical Studies'' 19(1)(1986): 136–138.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leith-Ross, Sylvia 1884 births 1980 deaths British women in World War I English women writers British women anthropologists Scientists from London Founders of Nigerian schools and colleges People of colonial Nigeria British cookbook writers British expatriates in Nigeria British travel writers British anthropologists British expatriates in France British memoirists People of the Spanish Civil War British people of American descent British people of World War II 20th-century anthropologists 20th-century memoirists British women travel writers 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Women cookbook writers Winthrop family Women in the Spanish Civil War