Norman Davis (16 May 1913 – 2 December 1989) was a New Zealand-born professor of English language and literature at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Early life and career

Davis was born in 1913 at

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand. He received his education at

Otago Boys' High School , motto_translation = "The ‘right’ learning builds a heart of oak" , type = State secondary, day and boarding , established = ; years ago , streetaddress= 2 Arthur Street , region = Dunedin , state = Otago , zipcod ...

and the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

, where he was taught by Professor Herbert Ramsay. He was awarded a

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, in 1934 and studied comparative philology. From 1937 to 1938, he lectured in English at the University of Kaunas in Lithuania, and then at the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

, Bulgaria, 1938–39.

Second World War

According to his biographer

James McNeish Sir James Henry Peter McNeish (23 October 1931 – 11 November 2016) was a New Zealand novelist, playwright and biographer. Biography McNeish attended Auckland Grammar School and graduated from Auckland University College with a degree in lan ...

, Davis was "undistinguished in appearance" and had a talent for mimicry. When 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 ...

broke out, he was recruited by the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

and became Assistant Press Attaché at the British Legation in Sofia. In 1941, he warned the British ambassador in Sofia,

George William Rendel Sir George William Rendel (23 February 1889 – 6 May 1979) was a British diplomat.Eid Al Yahya, ''Travellers in Arabia'', (Stacey International, 2006). Early years Rendel, the son of the engineer George Wightwick Rendel was educated at Downs ...

, of Bulgaria's imminent admission to the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

. He smuggled the leader of the Bulgarian resistance, G. M. Dimitrov, out of Bulgaria to the safety of the British Legation in Turkey (January–February 1941). Davis was trying to escape from Yugoslavia when he was captured by the Italians and interned in Italy for three months, before being repatriated to England. He continued his clandestine work, operating out of Turkey under an assumed name. His wife Lena was also "in the firm". Davis and Dimitrov were tried in Sofia for subversion and sentenced ''in absentia'' to execution by hanging. At the end of the war, Davis had reached the rank of major, and in 1945 he was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

Post-war academic career

Davis resumed his university teaching as a lecturer in English language at

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, in 1946, having proceeded to MA at Oxford in 1944. He was then appointed to a similar position at Oriel and

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

s, Oxford, where he also lectured in Medieval English. From 1949 to 1959, he taught at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He then succeeded

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

Merton Professor of English Language and Literature There are two Merton Professorships of English in the University of Oxford: the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, and the Merton Professor of English Literature. The second was created in 1914 when Sir Walter Raleigh's chair was ...

at Oxford, a position he held until his retirement in 1980. According to McNeish,"... he liked to say that his achievement was that he "added a letter to the Bulgarian alphabet", but his monument is the great edition of the ''

Paston Letters The ''Paston Letters'' is a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impor ...

'', "a text throwing light on the attitudes of a 15th-century English family in Norfolk on the make."

Death

Davis died in Oxford on 2 December 1989. Practically his entire estate was left to the University of Otago. According to McNeish, the proper use of the funds was contested by his executor, as Otago's University Council decided to use them to fund visiting academics, rather than for sending New Zealand scholars to benefit from study at Oxford.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Norman 1913 births 1989 deaths Merton Professors of English Language and Literature Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand Rhodes Scholars Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Academic staff of the Kaunas University of Technology Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Alumni of Merton College, Oxford New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom