Rosemary Dorward

Rosemary Dorward (née Birts, 1921 – 1998) was a British translator of Middle English mystical texts.  

Birts served with the WRNS during World War II, achieving the rank of Third Officer in January 1944.[1][2]

She studied English Language and Literature as an Exhibition Scholar at St Hilda’s College, Oxford in 1945,[3] under Dorothy Everett, Helen Gardner, and Dorothy Whitelock. She received a B.Litt for her work towards an edition of fourteenth-century mystic Walter Hilton’s Scale of Perfection, Book One, which had been started by Gardner.[4][5][6]

In 1951, she married forestry worker Frank Dorward, and they moved to Africa, living in Tanzania, Malawi, and Swaziland. During this time Rosemary worked as a secondary school teacher. They had three sons.[4][5]

She continued to work towards an edition of Scale of Perfection alongside Alan Bliss,[7] and it was finally published in 1991. When she returned from Africa to live in the Scottish Borders, she produced other translations of Hilton’s work: Eight Chapters on Perfection and Angels’ Songs (published 1983)[8] and Mixed Life (published posthumously in 2024).[4]

She died on 26 June 1998.[4][9]

References

  1. ^ "Women's Royal Naval Service". The London Gazette. 29 August 1944. p. 4018.
  2. ^ "Women's Royal Naval Service". Navy Lists. 2: 855. Oct 1944.
  3. ^ Oxford University Calendar. University of Oxford. 1947. p. 786.
  4. ^ a b c d Hilton, Walter (2024-08-29). Mixed Life. SLG Press. pp. iv–v. ISBN 978-0-7283-0406-2.
  5. ^ a b Hilton, Walter; Clark, John P. H.; Dorward, Rosemary (1991). The Scale of Perfection. Paulist Press. pp. viii. ISBN 978-0-8091-3194-5.
  6. ^ Gardner, Helen (1982). In Defence of the Imagination. Harvard University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-674-44540-6.
  7. ^ James-Maddocks, Holly; Connolly, Margaret; Pearsall, Derek (2022). Scribal Cultures in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Linne R. Mooney. Boydell & Brewer. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-84384-575-1.
  8. ^ Hilton, Walter (1983). 8 Chapters on Perfection & Angels' Song. SLG Press. ISBN 978-0-7283-0096-5.
  9. ^ "Personal Column". The Times. No. 66241. 30 June 1998. p. 22.
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