Ingrid Roscoe


Dame Ingrid Mary Roscoe, DCVO, FSA was a writer on English art and Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire from 2004 to 2018.

Biography

Ingrid Roscoe was born at Rugby School, Warwickshire in 1944 to Arthur Allen and Else, who had married after only meeting three times. Her father died during Ingrid's childhood. Her mother subsequently married Brigadier Kenneth Hargreaves who would become the last Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1970 and then the first Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire from 1974 to 1978. She had eight grandchildren and was the patron of numerous groups.

Academic career

Roscoe abandoned an English degree at the University of Nottingham to marry Marshall Roscoe at the age of 19 and had three children. She subsequently studied at the University of Leeds, completing a BA in Fine Art and Cultural Studies in 1985 and a PhD in 1990. Her doctoral thesis on Peter Scheemakers was published by the Walpole Society.
Roscoe remained at Leeds University in the 1990s as a Lecturer in British Sculpture in the Department of Fine Art. On 15 July 2010 she was given the honorary degree of LLD by the university.

Publications

Roscoe was editor-in-chief and co-author of A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660–1851, published in November 2009. The book is an update of Rupert Gunnis's Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851.

Honours

Roscoe was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire in 1994 and was the north of England's first female Lord Lieutenant when she became Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire in 2004. She retired in 2018.
Roscoe was appointed Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 2017 Birthday Honours.