Winifred Dawson was born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, and spent her early life in North East England.
She worked as a cataloguer in Queen's Great Library, and completed postgraduate studies at Birkbeck College in London.
[1] She came across the story of historian Amy Audrey Locke whilst working as a librarian at St Swithun's school in Winchester.
[5] Dawson was the inspiration and subject of several of Philip Larkin's poems,[6] including Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album; Latest Face; Maiden Name; He Hears That His Beloved Has Become Engaged; and Long Roots Moor Summer to Our Side of Earth.
[1][7] In the Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, 26 are to Dawson, many of which date from her time studying for a postgraduate diploma in librarianship in London.