The tragic death of Professor Sally Ledger

Birkbeck is mourning the untimely death of one of its former academics, Professor Sally Ledger, who was Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature in the School of English and Humanities where she had worked since 1995. She took on the role of Head of School in 2002 at a key moment of transition, and during her time oversaw a large School expansion, reshaping the teaching staff on the 19th-century studies course after several important figures retired. Her scholarship, commitment to collaboration, passion for teaching, and brilliance as a diplomat took her on a rapid and stellar rise through the ranks and she was appointed Professor of Victorian Studies in 2005.

Sally wrote a number of important books including The New Woman: Fiction and Feminism at the Fin de Siècle (Manchester University Press, 1997) and Dickens and the Popular Radical Imagination (Cambridge University Press, 2007), both of which are very highly regarded. Sally left Birkbeck to join Royal Holloway’s Department of English in autumn 2008 as Hildred Carlile Professor in English and Director of the Centre for Victorian Studies.

 For the School’s obituary click here

Click here to read the Guardian's obituary, written by Prof Tom Healy