Carol Margaret Handley (née Taylor; born 17 October 1929) is a former headmistress of

Camden School for Girls The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialist- ...

(1971–1985) and president of the

Classical Association The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, aimed at developing classical study and promoting its importance in education. Constitution The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are def ...

(1996–1997). Handley is now a classics tutor at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Handley is known for her longstanding advocacy for Classics education in schools and universities, as well as for her work on teaching and examination materials for the

Joint Association of Classical Teachers The Joint Association of Classical Teachers (JACT) was a UK organisation for the encouragement of the teaching of Classics in schools and universities. It was merged into the Classical Association with effect from 2 January 2015. The JACT Summer S ...

and for the University of Cambridge.

Career

After completing her Classics BA at UCL in 1951, Handley began her teaching career at Queen's Gate School, London in 1952. She moved to

in 1956 as a Classics teacher becoming the Senior Classics mistress. In 1965 Handley became Deputy Head and then Headmistress in 1971. She retired from

in 1985. Throughout this time Handley was involved with the

, and was co-founder with David Raeburn and John Sharwood Smith of the JACT Greek summer school in 1968. When the original venue, Dean Close School,

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral ...

, became unavailable in 1986, she was instrumental in finding

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset in South West England. It was founded in 1928. ...

for the new location of the Greek summer school, working closely with

James Morwood James Henry Weldon Morwood (25 November 1943 – 10 September 2017) was an English classicist and author. He taught at Harrow School, where he was Head of Classics,Harrow School Register 2002 8th edition edited by S W Bellringer & published by T ...

, who had succeeded David Raeburn as Director. From 1991 to 2005, Handley was the director of the Reading Greek courses at the Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge. During this time Handley became president of the

in 1996, and her presidential address in 1997 was published as ''Things That Matter''. Handley was only the fifth woman president since the Classical Association was founded in 1903. She is now a Classics tutor at Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Personal life

Handley married

Eric Handley Eric Walter Handley, (12 November 1926 – 17 January 2013) was a British classical scholar, noted for his work on the Greek new comic poet Menander. He was Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London from 1967 to 198 ...

on 31 July 1952. He was the leading scholar in the rediscovery of the playwright

Menander Menander (; grc-gre, Μένανδρος ''Menandros''; c. 342/41 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek dramatist and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His rec ...

, writing an important commentary on the

Dyskolos ''Dyskolos'' ( el, , , translated as ''The Grouch'', ''The Misanthrope'', ''The Curmudgeon'', ''The Bad-tempered Man'' or ''Old Cantankerous'') is an Ancient Greek comedy by Menander, the only one of his plays, and of the whole New Comedy, tha ...

. He was Professor of Greek at UCL and then held the Regius Professor of Greek chair at Trinity College, Cambridge until his death in 2013. He was also a fellow of the British Academy.

Select publications

*''A Greek Anthology'' (Carol Handley,

and John Taylor, Cambridge University Press, 2002) * with Pat Easterling (eds.) ''Greek Scripts: An Illustrated Introduction'' (

Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, known as the Hellenic Society, was founded in 1879 to advance the study of Greek language, literature, history, art and archaeology in the Ancient, Byzantine and Modern periods. The first Presid ...

2001) * ''Things That Matter'' (

1997) * with Jeannie Cohen,

, James Neville ''An Independent Study Guide to Reading Greek'' (Cambridge University Press, various editions) * ''The Future of Greek in Schools'', Didaskalos (1967) v2 n2 p. 12-22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handley, Carol 1929 births Living people British classical scholars Women classical scholars Women heads of schools in the United Kingdom Academics of the Institute of Continuing Education Presidents of the Classical Association