Alfred Leslie Rowse

He was born in St Austell, Cornwall, into a very poor background, his parents being virtually illiterate. Despite this handicap, he won a scholarship to Christ Church College, Oxford in 1921, eventually becoming a Fellow of All Souls'. Nevertheless, he remained proud of his working-class origins. His love for his native county inspired him to write poetry as well as the works on history and English literature for which he became famous. He developed a widespread reputation for irascibility.

Works

• Tudor Cornwall (1941)
• The Use of History (1946)
• The England of Elizabeth (1950)
• Christopher Marlowe: a biography (1964)
• A Cornishman at Oxford (1965) (autobiography)