Dorothy Una Ratcliffe (20 April 1887 – 20 November 1967), often known as D.U.R., was a socialite, heiress and author. She wrote in the Yorkshire dialect, despite being born in Sussex and brought up in Surrey. She published 49 books, edited a magazine called The Microcosm, travelled all over the world, and was a prolific collector of books, manuscripts and other documents.
Life
Born 20 April 1887 in Preston, Sussex, Dorothy was the eldest of four children born to George Benson Clough, a barrister originally from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and Rose Emily Russell, a Londoner. Dorothy had two sisters, Winifred and Pauline, and a brother Hugh. As children they were encouraged to pursue an interest in literature and produced handwritten magazines of poems, essays and illustrations. Dorothy was educated at the local grammar school before being sent to finishing schools in Germany and Paris. In Paris she studied singing and shared a teacher with Dame Nellie Melba.
In 1909, aged 22, Dorothy married Charles Frederick Ratcliffe at St Stephen's Church, Kensington having met him on a family holiday in the Isle of Wight. Charles was the nephew of the self-made wealthy tycoon Edward Allen Brotherton, later Lord Brotherton of Wakefield. Charles was heir to Brotherton, who was a widower with no children as he had lost his wife and baby in childbirth. The newly married couple moved into a home near to Brotherton's own at Roundhay Hall (now Spire Hospital) in Leeds, West Yorkshire. They would later live at Roundhay Hall themselves.
Dorothy's marriage to Charles was not a success due to his affairs. A treatment for a venereal disease that Charles gave to Dorothy left her unable to have children. Divorce would have led to a scandal for Charles and his family so instead D.U.R focused her attentions on her social life and on helping Brotherton with his political career. Around this time, she also began to write plays, poems and character sketches. In 1930, after Brotherton became ill and died, Dorothy was finally able to divorce Charles. She did however keep the name Ratcliffe as her pen name, writing as either Dorothy Una Ratcliffe or D.U.R for the rest of her life.
Finally free from her first husband, Dorothy married Noel McGrigor-Phillips in 1932. In the early years of their marriage they travelled extensively throughout the world, until war broke out in 1939. Back in the UK they purchased and renovated Temple Sowerby Manor (now Acorn Bank) in the Lake District.
Dorothy and Noel were married for 11 years until his sudden death in 1943. The couple were campaigning in Scotland during the Second World War to raise money for Greece when he was taken ill with a kidney complaint and never recovered.
In 1947 Dorothy married Alfred Charles Vowles, a successful photographer and journalist. Alfred was a long-term friend of Dorothy's having met her in the hills near Kirkby Malzeard in the 1920s while she was still married to Charles Ratcliffe. On marrying Dorothy, Alfred changed his name from Vowles to Phillips. They lived together at Temple Sowerby Manor until 1950 when it was donated to the National Trust.
After donating Temple Sowerby Manor to the National Trust, Dorothy and Alfred moved to Edinburgh where they lived at 42 Ann Street. After Alfred's death in 1964 she moved to an apartment in North Berwick where she lived out the rest of her life. She continued to write until suffering a major stroke aged 80, leaving her first novel unfinished. Three months later she suffered another stroke and died. Dorothy died on 20 November 1967 and was buried at St James Church, Temple Sowerby.
D.U.R. as Lady Mayoress
Lord Brotherton became Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1913 – 1914 and Dorothy was his Lady Mayoress – the youngest woman ever to hold the post. This coincided with the outbreak of the First World War and Dorothy campaigned and fund-raised alongside Lord Brotherton, encouraging men to volunteer. In 1919, Dorothy wrote a poem dedicated to the 'Mothers, Wives & Sweethearts' of the Leeds Pals, which was read aloud at a thanksgiving dinner at Leeds Town Hall.