Ann, Lady Dummett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Agnes Margaret Ann Chesney 4 September 1930 St George Hanover Square, London, England, UK |
| Died | 7 February 2012(2012-02-07) (aged 81) Oxford, England, UK |
| Education | Ware Grammar School for Girls |
| Alma mater | Somerville College, Oxford |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, author |
| Years active | 1950s–2012 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 7 |
| Parent(s) | Arthur Chesney Kitty Chesney (née Ridge) |
| Family | Edmund Gwenn (uncle) Cecil Kellaway (cousin) Alec Kellaway (cousin) |
Ann, Lady Dummett (bornAgnes Margaret Ann Chesney; 4 September 1930 – 7 February 2012) was an English activist, campaigner for racial justice and published author.
Ann (as she was always known) was born on 4 September 1930 atWestminster Hospital, the daughter of actorArthur Chesney (1882–1949) and artist Kathleen ('Kitty') née Ridge (1901–1988).[1][2] At the time of her birth her parents lived inPimlico, London, but she was to grow up inBattersea, then a poor working-class part of the city,[3] And the family were so 'hard up' that Kitty "sometimes pretended she had eaten earlier to have enough food to feed her".[4]
She was a child prodigy, being able to read at the age of two.[5][4] A 'lifelong friend' Jill Kaye recalled that "at theBritish Museum when we were five or six ... an old chap gave her sixpence ... impressed she was translating Ancient Greek from theRosetta Stone."[5]
Ann attended Guildhouse School in Pimlico, London, and then, having fledthe blitz with her mother, was educated atWare Grammar School in Hertfordshire[6][4] She performed exceptionally at the latter,[4] and unusually for a young woman of her background, won a scholarship to read modern history atSomerville College, Oxford from where she graduated in 1951.[3] She was awarded anMA at the same.[1]
In December 1951 she married the philosopherMichael Dummett at the Roman CatholicChurch of St Edmund and St Frideswide, Oxford.[3] And she devoted most of the next few years to looking after their seven children (two of whom died at a young age).[6] In 1955 Dummett travelled with her husband to theUniversity of California, Berkeley, where he had been awarded a fellowship.[2] They both joined theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People and heardMartin Luther King Jr. address a rally.[3]
WithEvan Luard, Oxford's MP, they founded the Oxford Committee for Racial Integration, forerunner to Oxfordshire Council for Community Relations, and she became a full-time community relations officer .[6]
She went on to work at theInstitute of Race Relations, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and theRunnymede Trust of which she was director from 1984 to 1987.
Dummett died on 7 February 2012 in Oxford, six weeks after the death of her husband.[6]
For a complete bibliography (and an introduction to her work) see "Ann Dummett's Contribution to the Understanding of Immigration and Racism" (2015).[7]
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