Donald Struan Robertson, FBA (28 June 1885 – 5 October 1961) was a

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, particularly noted for his work on

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...

, and for 22 years the Regius Professor of Greek at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

Life

Robertson was born in London, the son of Agnes Lucy Turner, a descendant of Robert Chamberlain (''d''. 1798), ceramicist, and Henry Robert Robertson (1839–1921), an artist. After education at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, he won a scholarship to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, and was placed in the first class of both parts of the

Classical Tripos The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to Literae Humaniores at Oxford. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previously studied ...

, graduating in 1908. Having won several prizes as an undergraduate, he competed for, and in 1909 won, a Trinity fellowship with a dissertation on the manuscript tradition of Apuleius's ''Apologia'' which he illustrated with stories from Apuleius's ''Metamorphoses''.DNB
accessed 19 October 2010 The whole of Robertson's academic life, from undergraduate to retirement, was spent at Trinity College. Interrupted only by war service, where he was commissioned in the Royal Army Service Corps rising to the rank of major, Robertson lectured and supervised at Trinity until in 1928 he succeeded A. C. Pearson as the Regius Professor of Greek, holding the chair until 1950. Robertson published his first book, ''A Handbook of Greek and Roman Architecture'', in 1929; however, the work for which he is best remembered is his text of the ''Metamorphoses'' of Apuleius, published in the Budé series in three volumes between 1940 and 1945. Robertson was elected a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

in 1940; he received

honorary degrees An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the universities of Durham, Glasgow, and Athens. He died in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, aged 76.

Family

Robertson and his first wife, Petica Coursolles, née Jones (1883–1941), were parents to Charles Martin Robertson, an eminent scholar of Greek vase painting, and Giles Henry Robertson, Professor of Fine Art at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. His sister

Agnes Arber Agnes Robertson Arber FRS (23 February 1879 – 22 March 1960) was a British plant morphologist and anatomist, historian of botany and philosopher of biology. She was born in London but lived most of her life in Cambridge, including the las ...

was a botanist and the first woman life scientist to become a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

, and his sister Janet was painter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Donald Struan 1885 births 1961 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge English classical scholars Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics Fellows of the British Academy British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Service Corps officers Regius Professors of Greek (Cambridge)