Dorothy Helen Cornish (1 October 1870 â 7 October 1945) was an English educator, translator, writer, and social reformer. A Montessori teacher, she acted as an interpreter for Maria Montessori during Montessori's courses in England. Cornish was also a member of the Aëthnic Union and, with Eva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper, Thomas Baty and others, co-founded and edited the feminist journal Urania from 1916. She moved to Siena around 1895 and spent most of her life in Italy, while maintaining editorial work for Urania.
Cornish was born in Sixhills, Lincolnshire, on 1 October 1870 to Rev. Frank Fortescue Cornish, H. M. Inspector of Schools, and Margaret Gertrude Cornish (). Her maternal grandfather was Thomas Garnier the Younger and great grandfather was Thomas Garnier the Elder.
Cornish moved with her family to Manchester when she was six, following her father's work.
Cornish worked as a Montessori educator and acted as an interpreter for Maria Montessori during her English courses.
Cornish was a member of the Aëthnic Union, alongside Eva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper, Thomas Baty (also known as Irene Clyde) and Jessey Wade. In 1916, they co-founded the feminist journal Urania which she contributed and for which she served as an editor. She opposed the socialisation of children into gender roles. She moved to Siena around 1895 and spent most of her life in Italy, where she continued her work as a co-editor of Urania.
In 1914, she signed the Open Christmas Letter with 100 other suffragists, including Gore-Booth and Roper.
Cornish was a member of the Brontë Society. In 1940, she published a novel about the Brontë sisters. The novel was reviewed in The New York Times. She also translated two essays by Emily Brontë from French.
Cornish died in Sidmouth, Devon, on 7 October 1945.