Bonamy Dobrée

Born in 1891, Bonamy Dobrée was an English writer, critic, and scholar whose work ranged widely across fiction, biography, and literary history. He served in the First World War and later built a varied literary career that included journalism and broadcasting as well as academic work.

He is especially remembered for books on major English writers and for studies that helped make seventeenth- and eighteenth-century literature more approachable to a broad audience. Dobrée also wrote novels and edited literary works, showing the same interest in both creative writing and criticism.

Later in his career he was associated with the University of Leeds, where his name remains connected with special collections relating to his papers and legacy. He died in 1974, leaving behind a body of work shaped by wide reading, curiosity, and a strong feel for English literary culture.