DROWER, Ethel May Stefana (née E. St. Stevens). London 1.12.1879 — 27.1.1972.Lady. British Autodidact Oriental Scholar and Anthropologist in Iraq.  Daughter of a clergyman, Rev. S. W. Stevens. Married 1911 with Sir Edwin Drower, a diplomat, who was judicial adviser in Iraq in 1921-46. They had one daughter, Margaret Stefana Drower (1911–2012, historian of ancient Near East and Egypt), and two sons. Last years living in Oxford.

Drower’s main line of study was the Mandaean religion. She met first Mandarins in 1923 and began their serious study in 1931. She obtained 54 Mandaic manuscripts and presented them to Bodleian Library. The evacuation of British women during WW II from Iraq to India gave her occasion to observe the Parsi rituals. Hon. D.Litt. Oxford. Hon. D.D. Uppsala.

Publications: The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic, Legends, and Folklore. Oxford 1937; other writings on Mandaeism, editions and translations of Mandaean texts.

– “The Role of Fire in Parsi Ritual”, JRAnthrInst 74, 1944, 75-89.

– As E. S. Stevens she wrote 13 romantic novels 1909-27; other works.

Sources: J.J. Buckley (ed.), Lady E. S. Drower’s Scholarly Correspondence: An Intrepid English Autodidact in Iraq. Leiden 2012 with photo; R. Macuch, ZDMG 124, 1974, 6-12; *Chr. Müller-Kessler, Oxford D.N.B. 16, 2004, 193f.; J.B. Segal, BSOAS 35, 1972, 621f. with photo; Wikipedia with two photos.