Rachael Low (6 July 1923 – 14 December 2014)[1] was a British film historian, best known as the author of the seven-volume The History of the British Film.[2][3]
The daughter of the cartoonist Sir David Low,[4] she gained her BSc in sociology and economics in 1944 from the London School of Economics,[4] and her doctorate from the University of London in 1949. She published, in seven volumes between 1948 and 1985, The History of the British Film; this examines, in exacting detail, film production in Britain from its origins in 1896 until 1939. She was awarded a Research Fellowship by Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, to facilitate her work on the later volumes of the series.[5]
Film critic Matthew Sweet has criticised Low's "tyrannous influence" on the writings of subsequent film historians.[6]
The annual Rachael Low Lecture was established in 2007 in her honour, as part of the British Silent Film Festival.[7] In December 2018, an event was held at the British Film Institute Library to assess her legacy and mark her contribution to the history of early British film.[1]
Originally published by George Allen & Unwin, Low's history is now published by Routledge.