Winifred Dawson

Winifred Dawson (born Winifred Arnott; 5 February 1929 — 22 August 2014

She studied English at Queen's University Belfast, graduating in 1949. She worked as a cataloguer in Queen's Great Library, and completed postgraduate studies at Birkbeck College in London. The relationship between them has been described as a 'romantic friendship'. They met at Queen's University Belfast in the 1950s, where Dawson worked as a library assistant and Larkin as a librarian.

Dawson was the inspiration and subject of several of Philip Larkin's poems, including Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album; Latest Face; Maiden Name; He Hears That His Beloved Has Become Engaged; and Long Roots Moor Summer to Our Side of Earth.

In the Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, 26 are to Dawson, many of which date from her time studying for a postgraduate diploma in librarianship in London. Philip Larkin's letters to Dawson are held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Dawson's letters to Larkin, along with a photograph album that inspired Larkin's poem Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album, are held at Hull History Centre.