Rose Graham (historian)

Graham was born in London in 1875 to W. Edgar Graham and Jane (née Newton).^[1] She was educated at Notting Hill High School and Somerville College, Oxford.^[2]

After graduating, Graham embarked on a research career that saw her producing a series of books on church history, the first of which was a study of St Gilbert of Sempringham, founder of a double monastery.^[3] Graham was encouraged by her mother and with her she travelled in France to research her second book. She wasn't able to gain a degree until 1920 from Oxford.^[4] She was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree by Oxford in 1929.^[1] She was made an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College in 1933, and worked as a member of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments from 1934 to 1963.^[1]

In 1945 she became the first female president of the British Archaeological Association which she held until 1951 when she served on as vice president until 1963.^[2] She had also been elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS).^[1]

She died on 29 July 1963.^[1] Her early work on ecclesiastical history is seen as a great foundation for later scholarship on women's history.^[5]