Dorothy Middleton (9 November 1909 – 3 February 1999) was a writer and geographer who held several roles at the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. Her best-known work is ''Victorian Lady Travellers'' (1965).

Biography

Dorothy Butler was born on 9 November 1909 to Sir

Montagu Sherard Dawes Butler Sir Montagu Sherard Dawes Butler, (19 May 1873 – 7 November 1952) was Governor of the Central Provinces of British India (1925–33), Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man (1933–37), and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge (1937–48). ...

and Anne Gertrude Smith, in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, where her father was Deputy Commissioner. The family later relocated to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, when her retired father became a master at Pembroke College. On 30 April 1938, she married Laurence Henry Neave Middleton, a lawyer, and the Middletons settled in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

. In the 1950s, Middleton was introduced by John Murray to some letters written by

Isabella Bird Isabella Lucy Bishop (; 15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904) was an English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. Alongside fellow Englishwoman Fanny Jane Butler, she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar in modern-da ...

. From this, Middleton's interest in women travellers grew, resulting in the book ''Victorian Lady Travellers'' (1965) along with contributions to the

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

and lectures around Britain. She published ''Lugard in Africa'' jointly with

A. A. Thomson Arthur Alexander Thomson, (7 April 1894 at Harrogate, Yorkshire – 2 June 1968 near Lord's in London) was an English writer best known for his books on cricket, for which he used the byline A. A. Thomson. He wrote nearly 60 books in all, inclu ...

(1959), and edited a reprint of ''The Art of Travel'' by

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911) was an English polymath and the originator of eugenics during the Victorian era; his ideas later became the basis of behavioural genetics. Galton produced over 340 papers and b ...

(1971). Middleton held a number of roles at the

, at a time when this was still a male preserve. She was assistant editor of

The Geographical Journal ''The Geographical Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It publishes papers covering research on all aspects of geography. It also publishes shorter ...

for twenty years, became an Honorary Fellow in 1971 and an Honorary Vice-President in 1987. Dorothy Middleton died on 3 February 1999 in Chelsea.

Works

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Dorothy 1909 births 1999 deaths Indian writers Indian geographers Indian women earth scientists 20th-century Indian earth scientists British women writers British geographers 20th-century British geographers

Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series * Dorothy Mills, a 2008 French movie, sometimes titled simply ''Dorot ...