Mercia MacDermott ( Adshead; ; 7 April 1927 – 28 March 2023) was an English writer and historian. She was known for her books on Bulgarian history.

Early life

Mercia was born on 7 April 1927 in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, Devon, United Kingdom. Her father was Geoffrey Palmer Adshead, a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

captain, and her mother was Olive May () Adshead, a teacher. Due to her father's work in the navy, she spent some of her early years in

Weihai Weihai ( zh, t=, p=Wēihǎi), formerly Weihaiwei ( zh, s=, p=Wēihǎiwèi, l=Mighty Sea Fort, first=t), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport city in the easternmost Shandong province of China. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow ...

, China, where Mercia learned

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

. She grew up in Ditchling and later was educated at Westonbirt School, Gloucestershire and St Anne's College,

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

where she read Russian Literature. In the summer of 1947, while participating in a youth brigade in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

with other English students, she first met with Bulgarians, among whom was the poet Pavel Matev. In 1948, she graduated with an MA degree from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and visited Bulgaria to participate in the international youth brigade building the Koprinka Reservoir. As a foreign '' udarnik'', Mercia was invited along with other international participants to meet

Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; ) also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian communist politician who served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1933 t ...

in the Euxinograd palace on the

Bulgarian Black Sea Coast The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast (), also known as the Bulgarian Riviera, covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea resorts in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of ...

. While working at the Koprinka reservoir, Mercia met her future husband James MacDermott. Returning to the United Kingdom in 1948, MacDermott enrolled in a

Bulgarian language Bulgarian (; , ) is an Eastern South Slavic, Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeast Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians. Along with the closely related Macedonian language (collectively forming the ...

course at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

School of Slavonic and East European Studies The UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES ) is a University College London#Faculties and departments, school of University College London (UCL) specializing in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and South-Easte ...

Career

Mercia MacDermott visited and lived in Bulgaria from 1957 to 1989. From 1963 to 1964 and from 1973 to 1979 she was a teacher at the English Language High School in Sofia. MacDermott subsequently lectured on the Bulgarian national liberation movement in the region of

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

's Faculty of History. She was elected a foreign member of the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; , ''Bŭlgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated БАН) is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy, with headquarters in Sofia, is autonomous and consists of a S ...

in 1987. In 2007,

awarded her an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

. MacDermott's activity is described by Waller, Diane in

Positions and awards

From 1958 to 1973, Mercia MacDermott was the chairwoman of the London-based British–Bulgarian Friendship Society. An honorary citizen of Karlovo and

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...

, she was also the bearer of a number of Bulgarian state decorations.

Personal life and death

The MacDermotts divorced in 1964. Their daughter Alexandra (born 1952) has been a professor in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Her brother, Samuel Adrian Miles Adshead (1932–2009), was a distinguished

sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...

and former professor of history at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

in New Zealand. MacDermott died on 28 March 2023, at the age of 95.

Bibliography

* * * ''Freedom or Death (the life of Gotsé Delchev)'', Journeyman Press, 1978, * ''For Freedom and Perfection (the life of Yané Sandansky)'', Journeyman Press, 1988, * * ''Explore Green Men'', Heart of Albion Press, 2006, * ''Lone red poppy'', Manifesto Press, 2014, * ''Once upon a time in Bulgaria'', Manifesto Press, 2016,

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdermott, Mercia 1927 births 2023 deaths English historians English women historians British expatriates in Bulgaria People educated at Westonbirt School Foreign members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Academic staff of Sofia University English women non-fiction writers English biographers Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford English women biographers People from Ditchling