Charles Dowsett


Charles James Frank Dowsett was the first Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian at the University of Oxford from 1965 to 1991. A teacher and raconteur, he had a large range of interests and culminated in his work on the poet Sayat Nova based on research on the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium in 1996.

Armenian scholar

Born in London, Dowsett came into contact with expert scholar Harold Bailey whilst at Peterhouse, Cambridge, who introduced him to Armenian. After further study, Dowsett was appointed as lecturer in Armenian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London - the only post in the subject in Britain at the time. In 1965 when the chair was established at Oxford University, he was the obvious candidate.

Children's author

Dowsett wrote under the pseudonym "Charles Downing" and published several works for children.