The journal was begun as Leeds Studies in English & Kindred Languages by Bruce Dickins, Alan S. C. Ross and R. M. Wilson, who were then all in the Department of English Language at the University of Leeds. It was initially intended to showcase the work of staff and postgraduate students in the department.A. C. C[awley] and R. C. A[lston], 'Editorial Note', Leeds Studies in English, n. s. 1 (1967), [ii]. The first volume emerged in 1932, and further volumes emerged annually until 1938, at which point volumes 7 and 8 were both delayed by the outbreak of the Second World War. During 1945-46, as the war ended, the editors all took new posts, respectively at Cambridge, Birmingham and Sheffield, whereupon 'any chance of refloating Leeds Studies in English with the old crew vanished'.Bruce Dickins, 'Preface: Leeds Studies in English, 1932-40', Leeds Studies in English, 7-8 (1952), 1-2 (p. 2). A. C. Cawley and Harold Orton saw volumes 7 and 8 through the press as a single volume in 1952 and hoped to publish more, but this did not eventuate.A. C. Cawley and Harold Orton, 'Editorial Note', Leeds Studies in English, 7-8 (1952), p. 3.
