Susan Skilliter (1930–1985) was a British academic, a lecturer in

Turkish Studies Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative cont ...

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 ...

and a Fellow of

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

. She left her library to the College with a bequest which enabled the foundation of the Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies.

Life

Susan Skilliter took a degree in Oriental Studies (Arabic and Persian) at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1962 she was appointed to a lecturership in Turkish at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

. She returned to Cambridge to take up a university lecturership in Turkish and a fellowship at her alma mater in 1964. She published on

William Harborne William Harborne of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (c.1542–1617) was a diplomat, businessman, and English Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, appointed by Queen Elizabeth I of England. Establishment of the English Embassy in Constantinople Following ...

and trade relations between England and the Ottomans in the Elizabethan era, and became a noted authority on the subject. She died on 16 September 1985 at the age of 54, and left her library and a significant bequest to Newnham College.

References

1930 births 1985 deaths Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge British women academics {{UK-academic-stub