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Alison Duke (classicist)
Alison Duke (22 July 1915 – 6 November 2005) was a British classicist, academic, and Girl Guide leader. Personal life and educationDuke was born on 22 July 1915 in Cambridge, England.[1][2] Her parents were William Holden Duke, an English classical scholar and fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and Emilie Johanna von Lippe from near Dresden in Saxony.[3] Her maternal grandfather, Robert von Lippe, managed a farm estate at Helfenberg as a tenant of the Saxon royal family. Alison’s parents married in Frauenkirche, Dresden in January 1913 and subsequently moved to Cambridge.[4] Duke was educated at the Perse School for Girls, a private school in Cambridge.[2] She was enrolled into 1st Cambridge Company, Girl Guides Association, at the age of 11.[2] From 1934 to 1938, she studied classics at Girton College, Cambridge.[5] Having achieved first class honours in Part II of the Classical Tripos, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1938.[6] She was awarded the Charles Oldham Classical Scholarship in 1938, and so remained on at Cambridge to undertake research on the manuscripts of Books 31-40 of Livy's History of Rome.[6] Duke died on 6 November 2005, aged 90.[1] Her funeral service was held on 21 November in the chapel of Girton College.[2] CareerIn 1940, Duke became a lecturer at the University of Reading.[1] During WWII, she contributed to the war effort via her work with the Girl Guides.[1] She was posted to Greece with the Guide International Service between 1944 and 1946.[1] During this time, she worked at Greek refugee camps in Egypt, ensured that relief supplies reached a women's prison in Athens, and accepted the arms surrendered by ELAS guerrillas in Amphissa.[2] After the war she was instrumental in rebuilding the Guide movement in both Germany and Greece, and in Britain she served on the national education panel at Girl Guides' headquarters.[7] In 1946, Duke returned to her alma mater, Girton College, Cambridge, where she had been appointed an assistant tutor.[1] She would remain at Girton until she retired.[1] In 1951, she was promoted to tutor and succeeded Norah Christina Jolliffe as director of studies in classics.[2][8] She officially became the college's first senior tutor in 1968, holding the post until 1974.[9] She additionally taught palaeography within the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, where she was an assistant lecturer from 1952 and then a lecturer from 1957.[9] In 1982, she retired from full-time academia and was made a life fellow by Girton.[1][9] References
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