Lady Margaret Davies-Mitchell

We are very sorry to announce the death of Lady Margaret Davies-Mitchell, Honorary Fellow of Somerville.

4 May 1923 – 25 August 2013

Margaret Davies-Mitchell, née Brown, read Modern Languages at Somerville, 1941, and then went on to take a Doctorat de l’Université de Paris, at the Sorbonne in 1948. She was a Lecturer, Westfield College, London, until 1965, when she moved to the University of Reading. She became a Personal Professor in 1975, and Emeritus Professor of French, 1988. She was a member of the Academia Europaea, 1990, and in 1993 was awarded Chevalier dans l’ordre des Palmes Académiques. She became an Honorary Fellow of Somerville in 1999.

She was recognised in both France and England as a major specialist in French literature of the early twentieth century. She was the author of Colette (1961), Apollinaire (1964) and Une saison en enfer d’Arthur Rimbaud: analyse du texte (1975) and the novel,Two gold rings, 1958.

Details of a College Memorial Service will be announced shortly.