Alfred Leslie Rowse CH FRSL (1903 - 1997)

Born 4 Dec 1903 in Tregonissey, St Austell, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Died 3 Oct 1997 at age 93 in St Austell, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Alfred Rowse CH FRSL is Notable.

Alfred Rowse CH FRSL was born in Cornwall, England.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

A.L. Rowse was a historian and writer from Cornwall. He is best known for his work on the Elizabethan period in England, and his poetry about Cornwall. He also wrote biographies of English historical and literary figures, and many other historical works.

Birth, Childhood, and Education

Alfred Leslie Rowse (known as Leslie, or A.L.) was born 4 December 1903 at Tregonissey, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. He was the son of Richard Rowse and Annie (Vanson) Rowse. ^{[1] [2]} Richard Rowse was a china clay worker and shopkeeper, ^[3] and Annie Rowse had been a domestic servant before her marriage. ^[4]

In 1911 Leslie was 7, and living in a 6-room house in Tregonissey with his parents and two older siblings. Hilda, 17, was a dressmaker, while George , 12, was at school. Nothing was recorded against Leslie's name in the 'Occupation' column. ^{[5] [3]} He was, in fact, also at school, having started attending Carclaze elementary school in 1907, and four years after the Census, in 1915, he was to win a scholarship to St Austell Grammar School. ^[6]

Rowse won a scholarship to Christchurch, Oxford, in 1921. He initially planned to study English Literature, and was elected Douglas Jerrold Scholar in the subject, but soon changed to study history. His undergraduate years saw the awakening of his interest in politics, and he became secretary of the university Labour Club. In 1925 he gained a first in History (the second best in the year), and soon after was elected to a fellowship at All Souls College.^[6]

Academic and Literary Career

Rowse held various academic appointments throughout his life. These included:

• Fellow of All Soul's College, Oxford.
• Sub-Warden of All Soul's College, Oxford.
• Senior Research Fellow at The Huntington Library in Southern California. ^[7]
• Fellow of the British Academy.
• Lecturer at the London School of Economics. ^[6]
• Visiting professor at several American universities. ^[6]

He published about 100 books, many of which were works of Elizabethan and Shakespearean scholarship. in 1973 he published the ground-breaking Shakespeare the Man. In this and in Simon Forman: Sex and Society in Shakespeare's Age (1974), Rowse claimed to have solved some of the major Shakespearean mysteries: those of the identity of the 'Dark Lady'. the 'rival poet' and the 'Fair Youth' of the Sonnets.

Other important works included:

• Tudor Cornwall (1941)
• The Spirit of English History (1943)
• A Trilogy comprising:
  • The Elizabethan Age: The England of Elizabeth (1950),
  • The Expansion of Elizabethan England (1955)
  • The Elizabethan Renaissance (1971–72)
• William Shakespeare: a Biography (1963)
• The Cornish in America (1969)
• Homosexuals In History (1977)
• Biographies of Marlowe, The Earl of Southampton, John Milton, Matthew Arnold and Jonathan Swift, among others.

Death

In July 1996 Rowse suffered a major stroke. He died aged 93, at Trenarren, near St Austell, on 3 October 1997. ^[8][9]

He is buried at Campdowns Cemetery, Charlestown, near St Austell. ^[10]

A memorial stone was also erected at Black Head, near Trenarren. The memorial reads:

Honours

• Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) ^[12]
• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) ^[13]
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) ^[7]
• DLitt (Oxon), 1953 ^[6]
• DLitt (Exeter), 1960 ^[6]
• DCL (University of New Brunswick, Canada), 1960 ^[7]
• Bard of Gorseth Kernow, taking the bardic name Lef A Gernow ('Voice of Cornwall')
• Awarded the Benson Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, 1982 ^[6]
• Appointed a Companion of Honour (CH) in the 1997 New Year Honours ^[6]

Research Notes

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/13/biography.features1 https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/06/world/a-l-rowse-masterly-shakespeare-scholar-dies-at-93.html

Radio play based on his identification of the Dark Lady: http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/oxford.html

Sources

Rowse, A.L. A Cornish Childhood, London: Jonathan Cape, 1942/ Truro: Truran, 1998. Page references are to the 1998 edition.

1. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2F6L-JSQ : 1 October 2014), Alfred Leslie Rowse, 1904; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Birth Registration, St. Austell, Cornwall, England, citing General Register Office, Southport, England.
2. ↑ General Record Office for England and Wales, Index of Births. Record for ROWSE, ALFRED LESLIE, Mother's Maiden Surname: VANSON, Registration District: St. Austell, Cornwall, England, Volume: 5C, Page: 97
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} 1911 England Census , Ancestry Record 2352 #54883856
4. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WXM7-YZM : 4 May 2019), Annie Vanson in household of Richard T Stephens, St Austell, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Cornwall county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
5. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7L5-C91 : 18 July 2019), Leslie Rowse in household of Richard Rowse, St Austell, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7} Clarke, John, Entry for Rowse, (Alfred) Leslie (1903–1997) in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004). Accessed Online 10 February 2020
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Wikipedia contributors, "A. L. Rowse," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A._L._Rowse&oldid=919101533 (accessed March 31, 2020).
8. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ6-XBBW : 4 September 2014), Alfred Leslie Rowse, Oct 1997; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death Registration, St. Austell, Cornwall, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
9. ↑ General Register Office for England and Wales, Index of Deaths, Entry for: ROWSE, ALFRED LESLIE, born 1903 GRO Reference: DOR Q4/1997 in St Austell (3671A) Reg 12B Entry Number 130
10. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #121287343
11. ↑ Memorial to AL Rowse at Wikimedia Commons Accessed 10 Feb 2020
12. ↑ The British Academy, Deceased Fellows, Rowse, Alfred Leslie, 1903-1997. Accessed online 31 March 2020.
13. ↑ Wikipedia, Category: Fellows of the Royal Historical Society

See also:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._L._Rowse
• https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/100
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-L-Rowse
• 'Jane Austen's Family through Five Generations' by Maggie Lane, published by Robert Hale Limited, London. ISBN 0 7090 4832 7. Includes extensive family trees. Details of contemporaries and other connections are also mentioned in the text.Jane Austen's Family through Five Generations