Husband tells of stabbed lecturer's pride in teaching

THE HUSBAND of Dr Elizabeth Howe, the lecturer found stabbed to death on the campus of the University of York on Saturday, spoke for the first time yesterday, praising her commitment to her teaching.

Jeremy Howe, editor of drama at BBC Radio 3, said that she viewed teaching with the Open University as her 'greatest achievement'. She had hoped one day to win a full-time post with the Open University.

'It represented her interests. She was very proud to be a first-class teacher, teaching people who had not had the opportunity to go to university.'

It is a tragic irony. Dr Howe was found dead in a room in Wentworth College, on the university campus, just before the start of a two-week Open University summer school. She was due to lecture on the Arts foundation and Shakespeare courses. A student was yesterday charged with her murder.

'It was her second year at the summer school. The first she viewed as her proudest moment. She was shoaled with presents from the students. She'd opened a door for them.'

As an academic, Dr Howe dedicated herself first to a study of the English theatre of the 17th century, which was to form the basis of her doctoral thesis, trying at the same time to bring up her two young children, now aged four and six. While she researched, she also did part-time teaching at Oxford University and at Queen's University, Belfast.

The doctoral thesis took five years to complete and was published six weeks ago as The First English Actresses. Other academics have hailed it as a seminal study, which argues that the actresses of the Restoration were not simply sexually exploited by the playwrights of the era, but also influenced the development of the period's drama.

'Although Lizzie was quite a feminist, she didn't put a feminist spin on it,' Mr Howe said. 'It is a book of fact, researched with incredible detail. She was at pains to show that actresses had a role in English society.'

At the time of her death, she was working on a second book about the actresses of the 18th century - by which time they had become fully accepted members of society.

Her passion for the OU developed partly because of her lack of interest in the traditional academic life. 'She was very much her own woman. She was horrified when she went for an interview in Belfast to find that she was being interviewed by 24 people - only one of them a woman. The OU encourages equality of opportunity,' Mr Howe said.

He said he felt no satisfaction that a man had been charged. 'I don't feel any sense of hatred or bitterness. I would say he was clearly in a mental state - he didn't know what he was doing. It is just deeply unfortunate that my darling wife was in the way of it. It has completely ruined my life. All I can think about is the next 10 minutes - and to look after the children. But how do I explain this to a four-year-old?'