Bruce Dickins, FBA (26 October 1889 – 4 January 1978), a graduate of

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, was

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

English Language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

from 1931 to 1946 (where he succeeded

E. V. Gordon Eric Valentine Gordon (14 February 1896 – 29 July 1938) was a Canadian philologist, known as an editor of medieval Germanic texts and a teacher of medieval Germanic languages at the University of Leeds and the University of Manchester. Earl ...

), teaching medieval English and Old Norse. He sat on the executive committee of the

Yorkshire Society for Celtic Studies Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the city of York. The so ...

from 1931 to at least 1943, serving as president in 1936-37, and editing several numbers of its journal, ''Yorkshire Celtic Studies''. Dickins became

Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon The Elrington and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon is the senior professorship in Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. The first chair was elected in 1878, when a gift endowed in 1867 by Joseph Bosworth, Rawlinsonian Professor of Angl ...

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, from January 1946 until September 1957 (when he was succeeded by

Dorothy Whitelock Dorothy Whitelock, (11 November 1901 – 14 August 1982) was an English historian. From 1957 to 1969, she was the Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. Her best-known work is ''English Historica ...

) afterwards Emeritus Professor; and Fellow of

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

from 1946. At Cambridge, Dickins continued to support Celtic Studies, creating a University Lectureship for

Nora Chadwick Nora Kershaw Chadwick CBE FSA FBA (28 January 1891 – 24 April 1972) was an English philologist who specialised in Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Old Norse studies. Early life and education Nora Kershaw was born in Lancashire in 1891, the first da ...

in 1950 and in 1955 making "an eloquent case to the General Board for the establishment of a Professorship of Celtic in his Department, so as to put Cambridge on an equal footing with Oxford in this respect"Michel Lapidge, 'Introduction: The Study of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic in Cambridge, 1878–1999', in ''H. M. Chadwick and the Study of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic in Cambridge'', ed. by Michael Lapidge ''Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies'', 69–70(Aberystwyth: Department of Welsh, Abersytwyth University, 2015), pp. 1–58. (though the latter proposal was scotched in the face of "aggressive opposition" from Whitelock). In November 1947, when the issue of full membership of Cambridge University for women was being debated for the fourth time, and a proposal to grant full equality was proposed by a Syndicate appointed to report on the issue, there was only one speaker at the ensuing debate who opposed the proposal and that was Bruce Dickins. He

came forward to oppose the motion. He seemed to think he would be one of a long line of disputants, but he had the floor to himself and no one bothered to counter his plea against the proposed new status for women. In his view, the women did not have any grievances which needed righting, they would gain nothing by membership of the University and, if Oxford was any example, nor would the University. Cambridge would do better to stand firm with Harvard and Yale as all-male institutions. The dim echoes of what had once been a white-hot argument found no support, and the discussion was closed.

In 1968 he held the

Sandars Readership in Bibliography The Sandars Readership in Bibliography is an annual lecture series given at Cambridge University. Instituted in 1895 at the behest of Samuel Sandars of Trinity College (1837–1894), who left a £2000 bequest to the University, the series has con ...

at Cambridge University speaking on "The Making of the

Parker Library The Parker Library is a library within Corpus Christi College, Cambridge which contains rare books and manuscripts. It is known throughout the world due to its invaluable collection of over 600 manuscripts, particularly medieval texts, the ...

." Dickins's seventieth birthday was marked by the publication of a ''Festschrift''.Clemoes, Peter d. The Anglo-Saxons: studies in some aspects of their history and culture, presented to Bruce Dickins, London: Bowes & Bowes, 1959.

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