Charles James Frank Dowsett (2 January 1924 – 8 January 1998) was the first

Calouste Gulbenkian Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (, Western hy, Գալուստ Կիւլպէնկեան; 23 March 1869 – 20 July 1955), nicknamed "Mr Five Per Cent", was a British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petrole ...

Professor of Armenian at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1965 to 1991. A teacher and raconteur, he had a large range of interests and culminated in his work on the poet

Sayat Nova Sayat-Nova (Armenian: Սայեաթ-Նովայ ( сlassical), Սայաթ-Նովա ( reformed); ka, საიათნოვა; ; ; born Harutyun Sayatyan; 14 June 1712 – 22 September 1795) was an Armenian poet, musician and '' ashugh'', w ...

based on research on the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium in 1996. Under the pseudonym Charles Downing he also published several works for children.

Armenian scholar

Born in London, Dowsett came into contact with expert scholar

Harold Bailey Sir Harold Walter Bailey, (16 December 1899 – 11 January 1996), who published as H. W. Bailey, was an English scholar of Khotanese, Sanskrit, and the comparative study of Iranian languages. Life Bailey was born in Devizes, Wiltshire, and rai ...

whilst at Peterhouse, Cambridge, who introduced him to Armenian. After further study (including four years on a substantial British scholarship in Paris), Dowsett was appointed as Lecturer in Armenian at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...

in London - the only post in the subject in Britain at the time. In 1965 when the Chair was established at Oxford University, he was the obvious candidate.Brock, Sebastian (1998
Obituary: Professor C. J. F. Dowsett
''The Independent'', 16 January 1998.

Bibliography

* ''History of the Caucasian Albanians'' (1961) (translator) * ''Penitential of David of Gandzak'' (1961) (translator) * ''The Inscribed Tiles'' (1972) * ''Kütahya Tiles and Pottery from the Armenian Cathedral of St.James, Jerusalem.'' 2 Volumes. With John Carswell, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1972) * ''Sayat'-Nova: An 18th-century Troubadour: a Biographical and Literary Study'' (1996)

Children's author

Dowsett wrote under the pseudonym "Charles Downing" and published several works for children.

Bibliography

* ''Tales of the Hodja'' (1964) - illustrated by the Greek cartoonist Papas. * ''Russian Tales and Legends'' (1956) * ''Armenian Folktales and Fables'' (1972)

Notes

References

* Pembroke College, Oxford University

Accessed 13 February 2007.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowsett, Charles 1924 births 1998 deaths Armenian studies scholars Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Fellows of Pembroke College, Oxford Academics of SOAS University of London Fellows of the British Academy British writers