William Spencer Barrett FBA (29 May 1914 – 23 September 2001), usually credited as W. S. Barrett and known as Spencer Barrett, was an English classical scholar, Fellow and Sub-Warden of

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

, and Reader in Greek Literature in 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 ...

. He was also 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 span ...

Early life

The only son of William Barrett and Sarah Jessie Barrett (née Robbins), Barrett was educated at

Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational an ...

and then from 1933 at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he held the Ireland and Craven Scholarship, gained a First in Classical Honours Moderations in 1934, the same year winning the

Gaisford Prize The Gaisford Prize is a prize in the University of Oxford, founded in 1855 in memory of Dr Thomas Gaisford (1779–1855). For most of its history, the prize was awarded for Classical Greek Verse and Prose. The prizes now include the Gaisford Ess ...

for Greek Verse and the de Paravicini Scholarship, and took a First in Literae Humaniores in 1937. Also in 1937 he won the Derby Scholarship, and in 1938 the Charles Oldham Prize.'BARRETT, (William) Spencer' in ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2007, online edition (subscription required) by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, December 2007:
BARRETT, (William) Spencer
'. Retrieved 14 August 2008

Career

Barrett's first post was as a lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1938 to 1939, and then at

, where he was a Lecturer from 1939 to 1952 and Tutor in Classics from 1939 to 1981. At Keble, he was also the college's Librarian from 1946 to 1966, a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the college from 1952 to 1981 (and Honorary Fellow, from 1981 until his death), and Sub Warden, 1968 to 1976. At the University level, he was lecturer in Greek Literature, 1947 to 1966, and then Reader in Greek Literature until 1981. As a scrupulous

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, Barrett could not become a Fellow of Keble (although he was treated as one) until the college's statutes were changed to remove the disability in 1952. After a Warden of Keble,

Austin Farrer Austin Marsden Farrer (1 October 1904 – 29 December 1968) was an English Anglican philosopher, theologian, and biblical scholar. His activity in philosophy, theology, and spirituality led many to consider him one of the greatest figures of 20 ...

, died suddenly in 1968, Barrett as Sub-Warden presided over the further change of statute which removed the requirement for the college's warden to be an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

clergyman.Hollis, Adrian
Spencer Barrett, Oxford don devoted to classics and his college
obituary in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 17 October 2001, online at guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2008 Barrett's edition of

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

' tragedy '' Hippolytus'' appeared in 1964 and was recognised as one of the most important works on Greek tragedy. It was a significant advance on its predecessors, being based on collations of ten of the sixteen mediaeval manuscripts, the other six having little independent value. Barrett said of his text that it presented "what I think the poet wrote".Conacher, D. J.
Review (untitled)
in the Classical Association of Canada's ''Phoenix'', Vol. 19, No. 4 (Winter, 1965), pp. 338–343 EtnaAvió

At his death, Barrett left a major work on

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is ...

unpublished. When an

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

tax inspector once challenged his tax return, questioning whether a computer was an allowable expense for a classicist, Barrett was able to show that for an understanding of the text of Pindar it was essential to know how

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina a ...

had appeared to a sailor passing the mountain in a ship. His other principal research interest was the Greek lyric, and he made outstanding contributions on the poets

Stesichorus Stesichorus (; grc-gre, Στησίχορος, ''Stēsichoros''; c. 630 – 555 BC) was a Greek lyric poet native of today's Calabria (Southern Italy). He is best known for telling epic stories in lyric metres, and for some ancient traditions abou ...

Bacchylides Bacchylides (; grc-gre, Βακχυλίδης; – ) was a Greek lyric poet. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets, which included his uncle Simonides. The elegance and polished style of his lyrics have been noted i ...

and

Simonides of Ceos Simonides of Ceos (; grc-gre, Σιμωνίδης ὁ Κεῖος; c. 556–468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteemed ...

. A collection of his work on Stesichorus, Pindar, Bacchylides and Euripides was edited by

M. L. West Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and Classics, classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was awarded the Order of Merit in 2014. West wrote on Music of Ancien ...

of All Souls and published in 2007 under the title ''Greek Lyric, Tragedy, and Textual Criticism: Collected Papers''.Table of contents for Greek lyric, tragedy, and textual criticism : collected papers / W. S. Barrett ; assembled and edited by M. L. West
at catdir.loc.gov. Retrieved 15 August 2008
at oxfordscholarship.com. Retrieved 14 August 2008 The distinction of Barrett's scholarship was recognised by a fellowship of the

War service

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 ...

, he served as a Temporary Civilian Officer in the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

's Naval Intelligence Division, from 1942 to 1945. He claimed to derive from these years his preferred sleeping hours of 4 a.m. to mid-day, as his reports had to be ready by eight o'clock in the morning, and he found it suited him to work through the night.

Selected publications

*'Bacchylides, Asine, and Apollo Pythaieus' in ''Hermes'' 82 (1954), pp. 421–444Hornblower, Simon, ''The Greek World, 479–323 BC''
p. 349
online at books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2008 *''Euripides, Hippolytos, edited with Introduction and Commentary'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964; Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1964, ) *'Pindar's Twelfth Olympian and the fall of the Deinomenids' in ''JHS'' 93 (1973), pp. 23–35 *'Sophocles, Niobe' in Carden, R. (ed.) ''Papyrus Fragments of Sophocles'' (1974) *"The Oligaithidai and their victories" in: Dawe, R. D., Diggle, J. & Easterling, E. (eds.) (1978), ''Dionysiaca: Nine Studies in Greek Poetry by Former Pupils Presented to Sir Denys Page on His Seventieth Birthday''. Cambridge University Library, pp. 1–20 *''Greek Lyric, Tragedy, and Textual Criticism: Collected Papers'', edited for publication by M. L. West (Oxford & New York, 2007): papers dealing with

and

Family

In 1939, Barrett married Georgina Margaret Elizabeth, elder daughter of William and Alma Georgina Annie Hill, and they had one son and one daughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Spencer 1914 births 2001 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy People educated at Derby School People from Derby Wardens of Keble College, Oxford English classical scholars