Elizabeth Gidley Withycombe (15 June 190212 November 1993) is the compiler of ''The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names'', first published by the

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1945 and in multiple editions since. Her name appeared as "E. G. Withycombe" in her published books.

Early life and family

Elizabeth Withycombe was born in

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the ...

, Hampshire, on 15 June 1902. Her father was a painter, John Withycombe, and her mother was Ellen Hannah Bell. Her grandmother was Elizabeth Gidley before her marriage. Betty Withycombe had younger sisters Marjorie and Ellen Joyce. She grew up in

East Bergholt East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. The nearest town and railway station is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is north of Colchester and south of Ipswich. Schools include E ...

, Suffolk. Her younger sister Margaret became famous as the sculptor known as Peggy Garland.

Career

Withycombe worked at the Clarendon Press and helped to promote the early work of

Edward Ardizzone Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, (16 October 1900 – 8 November 1979), who sometimes signed his work "DIZ", was a British painter, printmaker and war artist, and the author and illustrator of books, many of them for children. For ''Tim All Al ...

and

Iona and Peter Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and p ...

. She is best known as the compiler of ''The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names'', published by the Clarendon Press in 1945, and in a second edition in 1950 and a third in 1977.

Relationship with Patrick White

Betty Withycombe has been described as a mentor to the Australian writer

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, co ...

who was her father's cousin and who stayed with the Withycombes when he was writing his first book of poems, ''Thirteen Poems'' in 1927-29 when he was aged 15–17 and she was in her mid twenties. According to White's biographer David Marr, Betty Withycombe was the first person, apart from White's mother, to encourage him to write. He described her as "a dark, severe, woman of 26" and a "tremendous bluestocking". His novel ''The Aunt's Story'' (1948) was dedicated to her. In 1977 White asked her to return the approximately 400 letters that he had sent to her, on the pretext that they would help him write ''The Twyburn Affair'', but he subsequently burned them.

Death and legacy

Withycombe died at Wyndham House in Oxford on 12 November 1993. She left an estate not exceeding £125,000.Elizabeth Gidley Withycombe England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007.
Family Search. Retrieved 30 October 2017.1993 Probate Calendar.
Probatesearch.service.gov.uk, Retrieved 30 October 2017

Selected publications

* ''A New Loggan View of the Oxford Colleges.'' * ''Annals of English Literature, 1475-1925. The principal publications of each year, together with an alphabetical index of authors with their works.'' Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1935. (Compiled with Jyotiṣchandra Ghosha) * ''The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names'', Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1945. (2nd 1950, 3rd 1977: also in paperback) * ''Annals of English Literature, 1475-1950. The principal publications of each year, together with an alphabetical index of authors with their works,'' Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1961. (Compiled with Jyotiṣchandra Ghosha, updated by R. W. Chapman)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Withycombe, Elizabeth 1902 births 1993 deaths English women writers People from Hart District People from East Bergholt Writers from Hampshire