Madeleine Hope Dodds known as M. Hope Dodds (2 January 1885 – 13 May 1972) was an English author and historian who wrote '' The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536–1537'', and the ''Exeter Conspiracy, 1538''. She had three sisters and one brother, their parents were Edwin and Emily Dodds. She and two of her sisters founded the

Little Theatre Gateshead The Little Theatre Gateshead is Gateshead's only theatre. It was built during World War II, thanks to the generosity of sisters Ruth, Sylvia and M. Hope Dodds. It is believed that the theatre is the only one built in Britain during the war. The b ...

Early life

Madeleine Hope Dodds was the second of five children of Edwin Dodds, of Home House, Gateshead, County Durham, and Emily (née Bryham). She had three sisters and a brother. One of her grandfathers had a printing business and the other, John Mawson, was Sheriff of Newcastle. She went to a girls-only high school called Gateshead High School. After she graduated high school in 1904, she attended

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

for two years. Dodds was able to pass within those two years with Second Class Honors in the History Tripos. Dodds was able to get her degree years later because at the time when she attended the college, women were not able to obtain any degree.

is still one of the few colleges that still give out education to exclusively women.

Writing career

Dodds began writing for the

Victoria History of the Counties of England The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

in 1907 contributing towards the history of Durham. Finding herself short of funds for her education she wrote to the publication's editor with the support of her tutor at Newnham. She offered to work more on Durham or on Northumberland. William Page agreed that she would join his staff and later she continued as an outworker being paid for every 1,000 words about Darlington. Dodds' college thesis on the bishops of Durham's boroughs gained her the Creighton memorial prize in 1909. In 1915, Madeleine Hope Dodds and her sibling, Ruth, wrote ''The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536–1537, and the

Exeter conspiracy The Exeter Conspiracy in 1538 was a supposed attempt to overthrow Henry VIII, who had taken control of the Church of England away from the Pope, and replace him with Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, who was a first cousin of the King. Co ...

, 1538'', which was published by the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. Their work is still being recognised a century later. Their book appeared in ''

The American Historical Review ''The American Historical Review'' is a quarterly academic history journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association, for which it is an official publication. It targets readers interested in all period ...

'', which reviews historical pieces from 1895 to the present. Their work is well respected by scholars who are still alive to this day. Dodds was also featured in a book called, ''In Search of the New Woman: Middle-Class Women and Work in Britain 1870–1914'', which briefly describes her work. Not only did she write ''The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536-1537, and the Exeter Conspiracy, 1538'' with her sister in 1915, she also wrote journals in her career, like "The Problem of the 'Ludus Coventriae'" and "Political Prophecies in the Reign of Henry VIII". The journals that Dodds have published can range from theatre and poetry to

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

, religion and history. Dodds was also one of many who worked for the

Newcastle Society of Antiquaries The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, the oldest provincial antiquarian society in England, was founded in 1813. It is a registered charity under English law. It has had a long-standing interest in the archaeology of the North East ...

in 1908. In 1947 she was promoted to be an honorary member by the society that she worked for.

Death and legacy

Dodds died in 1972. There is a plaque to her and her elder sisters, Ruth and Sylvia, noting that they founded the

that was installed in 2005. The plaque is on their home in

Low Fell Low Fell is a suburb of Gateshead situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. Built predominantly on sandstone, grindstone and clay, it is bordered by Sheriff Hill/ Deckham to the east, Saltwell/Bensham to the ...

in Gateshead they shared for most of their lives.

References

External links

Madeleine Hope Dodds
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Madeleine Hope Dodds
at Gateshead History {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodds, M. Hope 1885 births 1972 deaths English women historians 20th-century English historians Contributors to the Victoria County History