A. L. Rowse

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "A. L. Rowse" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A. L. Rowse CH FBA FRSL
Rowse in 1926
Born	Alfred Leslie Rowse 4 December 1903 Tregonissey, Cornwall, UK
Died	3 October 1997(1997-10-03) (aged 93) Trenarren, Cornwall, UK
Occupation(s)	Poet, academic and Elizabethan historian
Awards	Companion of Honour
Academic background
Education	St Austell Grammar School
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Academic work
Institutions	All Souls College, Oxford Merton College, Oxford London School of Economics Huntington Library

Alfred Leslie Rowse CH FBA FRSL FRHistS (4 December 1903 – 3 October 1997) was a British historian and writer, best known for his work on Elizabethan England and books relating to Cornwall.

Born in Cornwall and raised in modest circumstances, he was encouraged to study for Oxford by fellow-Cornishman Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. He was elected a fellow of All Souls College and later appointed lecturer at Merton College. Best known of his many works was The Elizabethan Age trilogy. His work on Shakespeare included a claim to have identified the Dark Lady of the Sonnets as Emilia Lanier, which attracted much interest from scholars, but also many counterclaims. Rowse was in popular demand as a lecturer in North America.^[1]

In the 1930s, he stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Penryn and Falmouth, though later in life he became a Conservative.