Alison Duke (22 July 1915 – 6 November 2005) was a British classicist, academic, and

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

leader.

Biography

Duke was born on 22 July 1915 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. Her parents were William Holden Duke, an English classical scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Emilie Johanna von Lippe, a German aristocrat. She was educated at the

Perse School for Girls The Stephen Perse Foundation is a family of independent schools in Cambridge and Saffron Walden for students aged 1 to 18. The Foundation is made up of 3 nurseries (2 in Cambridge and 1 in Saffron Walden, Essex) for ages 1–5, 2 Junior Schoo ...

, a

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in Cambridge. She was enrolled into 1st Cambridge Company,

Girl Guides Association Girlguiding is the operating name of The Guide Association, previously named The Girl Guides Association and is the national guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation. Girlguiding is a char ...

, at the age of 11. She studied classics at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status ...

, from 1934 to 1939, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) degree. In 1940, Duke became a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she contributed to the

war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size ...

via her work with the

. She was posted to Greece with the

Guide International Service The Guide International Service (G.I.S.) was an organisation set up by the Girl Guides Association in Britain in 1942 with the aim of sending teams of adult Girl Guides to do relief work into Europe after World War II. A total of 198 Guiders and ...

between 1944 and 1946. 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 The Greek People's Liberation Army ( el, Ελληνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός (ΕΛΑΣ), ''Ellinikós Laïkós Apeleftherotikós Stratós'' (ELAS) was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberat ...

guerrillas in Amphissa. In 1946, Duke returned to her '' alma mater'', Girton College, Cambridge, where she had been appointed an assistant tutor. She would remain at Girton until she retired. In 1951, she was promoted to tutor and succeeded Norah Christina Jolliffe as director of studies in Classics. She officially became the college's first senior tutor in 1968, holding the post until 1974. She additionally taught

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...

within the

Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge The Faculty of Classics is one of the constituent departments of the University of Cambridge. It teaches the Classical Tripos. The Faculty is divided into five caucuses (i.e. areas of research and teaching); literature, ancient philosophy, ancien ...

, where she was an assistant lecturer from 1952 and then a lecturer from 1957. In 1982, she retired from full-time academia and was made a life fellow by Girton. Duke died on 6 November 2005, aged 90. Her funeral service was held on 21 November in the chapel of Girton College.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Alison 1915 births 2005 deaths British classical scholars Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge Girlguiding Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Reading People educated at the Perse School for Girls Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics