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{{short description|British classical scholar and Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge (1885-1961)}}
{{short description|British classical scholar (1885–1961)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2024}}

{{Infobox academic
{{Infobox academic
| name = Donald Struan Robertson
| name = Donald Struan Robertson
| birth_date = {{birth date|1885|06|28}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1885|06|28|df=yes}}
| birth_place = London
| birth_place = London
| death_date = {{death date and age|1961|10|05|1885|06|28}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1961|10|05|1885|06|28|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Cambridge]]
| death_place = [[Cambridge]]
| image = Donald Struan Robertson.jpg
| image = Donald Struan Robertson.jpg
Line 22: Line 21:
| children = {{plainlist|*[[Martin Robertson|Charles Martin Robertson]]
| children = {{plainlist|*[[Martin Robertson|Charles Martin Robertson]]
* [[Giles Henry Robertson]]}}
* [[Giles Henry Robertson]]}}
| relatives = [[Agnes Arber]] (sister)
| relatives = {{plainlist|*[[Agnes Arber]] (sister)
* [[Margaret Hills]] (sister)}}
| module =
{{infobox military person|embed=yes
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = [[British Army]]
| unit = [[Royal Army Service Corps]]
| rank = [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]
| battles = [[First World War]]
| battles_label = Wars
}}
}}
}}

'''Donald Struan Robertson''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|FBA}} (28 June 1885 – 5 October 1961) was a [[classical scholar]], particularly noted for his work on [[Apuleius]], and for 22 years the [[Regius Professor of Greek (Cambridge)|Regius Professor of Greek]] at the [[University of Cambridge]]. He was the father of the classicist [[Martin Robertson|Charles Martin Robertson]] and the art historian [[Giles Henry Robertson]], and the sister of the botanist [[Agnes Arber]].
'''Donald Struan Robertson''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|FBA}} (28 June 1885 – 5 October 1961) was a [[classical scholar]], particularly noted for his work on [[Apuleius]], and for 22 years the [[Regius Professor of Greek (Cambridge)|Regius Professor of Greek]] at the [[University of Cambridge]]. He was the father of the classicist [[Martin Robertson|Charles Martin Robertson]] and the art historian [[Giles Henry Robertson]], and the brother of the botanist [[Agnes Arber]].


==Life==
==Life==
Line 38: Line 46:
==Family==
==Family==


Robertson and his first wife, Petica Coursolles, {{Nee|Jones}}, married in 1909. They were the parents of [[Martin Robertson|Charles Martin Robertson]], an eminent scholar of Greek vase painting,<ref name=ODNB/> and [[Giles Henry Robertson]], Professor of Fine Art at the [[University of Edinburgh]]. Petica Robertson, an [[Air Raid Precautions|air-raid warden]], was killed by a German bomb in 1941, the only person to die from bombing in Cambridge during the Second World War.<ref name=TrinityChapel/> Robertson remarried in 1956, to Margaret Ann Carey, the widow of his Trinity colleague George Carey.<ref name=ODNB/>
Robertson and his first wife, Petica Coursolles, {{Nee|Jones}}, married in 1909. They were the parents of [[Martin Robertson|Charles Martin Robertson]], an eminent scholar of Greek vase painting,<ref name=ODNB/> and [[Giles Henry Robertson]], Professor of Fine Art at the [[University of Edinburgh]]. Petica Robertson, an [[Air Raid Precautions|air-raid warden]], was killed by a German bomb on 24 February 1941, the only person to die from bombing in Cambridge during the Second World War.<ref name=TrinityChapel/><ref>{{CWGC|id=3100418|name=Robertson, Petica Corsolles|access-date=15 November 2024}}</ref> Robertson remarried in 1956, to Margaret Ann Carey, the widow of his Trinity colleague George Carey.<ref name=ODNB/>


His sister [[Agnes Arber]], a botanist, was the first female life scientist to become a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]],{{Refn|{{cite odnb|last=Packer|first=Kathryn| date=2004-09-23| title=Arber [née Robertson], Agnes| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30427}}}} and his sister Janet was a painter.<ref name=ODNB>{{Cite ODNB|title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|date=2004-09-23|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30427|pages=ref:odnb/30427|editor-last=Matthew|editor-first=H. C. G.|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30427|access-date=2019-12-07|editor2-last=Harrison|editor2-first=B.}}</ref>
His sister [[Agnes Arber]], a botanist, was the first female life scientist to become a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].{{Refn|{{cite odnb|last=Packer|first=Kathryn| date=2004-09-23| title=Arber [née Robertson], Agnes| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30427}}}} Of his other two sisters, one, Janet, was a painter,<ref name=ODNB>{{Cite ODNB|title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|date=2004-09-23|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30427|pages=ref:odnb/30427|editor-last=Matthew|editor-first=H. C. G.|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30427|access-date=2019-12-07|editor2-last=Harrison|editor2-first=B.}}</ref> while the other, [[Margaret Hills]], became a [[Women's Social and Political Union|suffragist]] organiser and the first woman to sit on [[Stroud]] Urban District Council.<ref name="Hanshaw">{{cite journal|last=Hanshaw Thomas | first=H.| year=1960| title=Agnes Arber, 1879–1960 | journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society| volume=6}}.</ref>


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==

Latest revision as of 13:02, 15 November 2024

Donald Struan Robertson
FBA
Head-and-shoulders portrait of Robertson in early middle age, in a formal suit, facing the camera
Photographed at an unknown date
Born(1885-06-28)28 June 1885
London
Died5 October 1961(1961-10-05) (aged 76)
Cambridge
OccupationClassical scholar
Spouses
Petica Coursolles Jones
​
​
(m. 1909; died 1941)​
Margaret Ann Carey
​
(m. 1966)​
Children
Relatives
Academic background
Education
Academic work
InstitutionsTrinity College, Cambridge
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
RankMajor
UnitRoyal Army Service Corps
WarsFirst World War

Donald Struan Robertson FBA (28 June 1885 – 5 October 1961) was a classical scholar, particularly noted for his work on Apuleius, and for 22 years the Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge. He was the father of the classicist Charles Martin Robertson and the art historian Giles Henry Robertson, and the brother of the botanist Agnes Arber.

Life

[edit]

Robertson was born in London, the son of Agnes Lucy Turner, a descendant of Robert Chamberlain, a ceramicist, and Henry Robert Robertson, an artist.[1] After education as a day pupil at Westminster School, he won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, and was placed in the first class of both parts of the Classical Tripos, 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.[1]

The whole of Robertson's academic life, from undergraduate study to retirement, was spent in Cambridge at Trinity College. In 1911, he was appointed as an assistant lecturer in the college. During the First World War, he served as an officer in the Royal Army Service Corps, rising to the rank of major. He returned to Trinity in 1919, and lectured and supervised there until he succeeded, in 1928, A. C. Pearson as the Regius Professor of Greek. He held that chair until 1950.[1] Between 1947 and 1951, he was vice-master of Trinity.[2]

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.[1]

Robertson was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1940.[2][3] He received honorary degrees from the universities of Durham, Glasgow, and Athens.[1] He died in Cambridge, aged 76, on 5 October 1961.[1]

Family

[edit]

Robertson and his first wife, Petica Coursolles, née Jones, married in 1909. They were the parents of Charles Martin Robertson, an eminent scholar of Greek vase painting,[1] and Giles Henry Robertson, Professor of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh. Petica Robertson, an air-raid warden, was killed by a German bomb on 24 February 1941, the only person to die from bombing in Cambridge during the Second World War.[2][4] Robertson remarried in 1956, to Margaret Ann Carey, the widow of his Trinity colleague George Carey.[1]

His sister Agnes Arber, a botanist, was the first female life scientist to become a Fellow of the Royal Society.[5] Of his other two sisters, one, Janet, was a painter,[1] while the other, Margaret Hills, became a suffragist organiser and the first woman to sit on Stroud Urban District Council.[6]

Further reading

[edit]
  • Sandbach, Francis Harry (1962). "Donald Struan Robertson, 1885–1961". Proceedings of the British Academy. 48: 411–425.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/30427. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30427. Retrieved 7 December 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c "Trinity College Chapel – Donald Struan Robertson". Trinity College, Cambridge. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  3. ^ British Academy fellowship entry Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Casualty Details: Robertson, Petica Corsolles". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  5. ^ Packer, Kathryn (23 September 2004). "Arber [née Robertson], Agnes". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30427. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ Hanshaw Thomas, H. (1960). "Agnes Arber, 1879–1960". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 6..
Academic offices
Preceded by Regius Professor of Greek Cambridge University
1928 - 1950 		Succeeded by
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