Dr Marie Rowlands Rest In Peace 

We were sad to receive the news of Dr Marie Rowlands recent death on Tuesday 22nd July. Marie’s relationship and engagement with us here at Birmingham Newman University was a long and rich one, being Head of History from 1969 to 1989 and subsequently an Emeritus Research Fellow and member of the Humanities Research Centre.

Prof Peter Childs, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, who oversees research at the University, praised Marie’s contribution to the staff and student community during her long association with the University as a scholar, a colleague, an academic leader, and an esteemed researcher who will be fondly remembered and much missed.

Dr Rowlands achieved great recognition in the academic world as a professional historian. For over six decades she placed those gifts at the service of the Catholic Church in this country, and especially in her home of the West Midlands. Her research and publications have changed our perception of the role of laypeople, particularly women, in fostering the life of the Catholic community in this country and in educating the young in the centuries following the Reformation.

Marie remained intellectually active to the end of her life, and attended the 2025 Catholic Record Society Conference online, during the last week of her life.

Marie will be received into her parish church, St Brigid’s, Northfield, Birmingham B31 5AB on 11th August at 4:30, and her funeral Mass will be on Tuesday 12th August at 10:00.