'How beautiful you were, and near, and young,' Larkin wrote of Winifred Dawson

Winifred Dawson obituary

Ann Thwaite
Thu 28 Aug 2014 15.34 BST

First published on Thu 28 Aug 2014 15.34 BST

Winifred Dawson, who has died unexpectedly aged 85, after a stroke, was much loved and will always be remembered for one early relationship. As a young woman in Belfast in the 1950s, Winifred inspired five of Philip Larkin's poems – more than did any of the other women in his life. The "sweet girl-graduate" (in Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album) was also the subject of Latest Face and of Maiden Name (with "its five light sounds"), of He Hears That His Beloved Has Become Engaged and, written on the day of her wedding, Long Roots Moor Summer to Our Side of Earth.