Dorothy Middleton


Dorothy Middleton was a writer and geographer who held several roles at the Royal Geographical Society. Her best-known work is Victorian Lady Travellers.

Biography

Dorothy Butler was born on 9 November 1909 to Montagu Sherard Dawes Butler and Anne Gertrude Smith, in Lahore, India, where her father was Deputy Comissioner. She moved to Cambridge, when her father retired and became master of Pembroke College. On 30 April 1938, she married Laurence Henry Neave Middleton, a lawyer, and the Middletons settled in Chelsea, London.
In the 1950s, Middleton was introduced by John Murray to some letters written by Isabella Bird. From this, Middleton's interest in women travellers grew, resulting in the book Victorian Lady Travellers along with contributions to the Dictionary of National Biography and lectures around Britain. She published Lugard in Africa jointly with A. A. Thomson, and edited a reprint of The Art of Travel by Francis Galton.
Middleton held a number of roles at the Royal Geographical Society, at a time when this was still a male preserve. She was assistant editor of The Geographical Journal 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

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