Sir Archibald Duncan Wilson (12 August 1911 – 20 September 1983) was a British diplomat and Master of

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

Background

Wilson was born on 12 August 1911 in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

to Archibald Edward Wilson, German teacher at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, and Ethel Wilson, daughter of banker and financier

Felix Schuster Sir Felix Otto Schuster, 1st Baronet (21 April 1854 — 13 May 1936) was a British banker, financier and Liberal politician. Biography Schuster was born in the Free City of Frankfurt in 1854. His father was a merchant banker who converted f ...

. His father died during his childhood, in 1923. Wilson's youngest sister was the philosopher

Mary Warnock Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, (née Wilson; 14 April 1924 – 20 March 2019) was an English philosopher of ethics, morality, philosophy of education, education, and philosophy of mind, mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best ...

. Another younger sister, Grizel, married his Balliol friend, the historian and civil servant Michael Balfour. Wilson was educated at

Sandroyd School Sandroyd School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for day and boarding pupils aged 2 to 13 in the south of Wiltshire, England. The school's main building is Rushmore House, a 19th-century country house which is surrounded by th ...

then

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, where he studied

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

Career

After his studies in Oxford he applied for the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

but due to a chest ailment was not successful. He then spent a year teaching in

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

and then joined the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

as assistant keeper in 1937. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in which he served in the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Economic Warfare, the opportunity arose to join the Foreign Office. After the war, he served in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

for the

Allied Control Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany, Italy and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far ...

for Germany. He then specialized in

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

affairs and held the following positions: *

Charge d'affaires Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * '' Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aq ...

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

1957–59 * Ambassador to Yugoslavia 1964–1968 * Ambassador to the USSR 1968–1971The London Gazette, 26 November 1968
/ref> He retired from the diplomatic service in 1971 and was appointed Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. While at

Corpus Corpus (plural ''corpora'') is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of ...

he was also Chairman of the Appeal Committee of

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and was instrumental in the procurement of a new building to house the Faculty of Music. He retired from the Mastership in 1980 and was succeeded by

Michael McCrum Michael William McCrum CBE (23 May 1924 – 16 February 2005) was an English academic and ancient historian who served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Head Master of Tonbridge ...

Personal life and death

Wilson married Elizabeth Fleming in 1937 and had three children. His daughter Elizabeth married

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

pianist

Radu Lupu Radu Lupu (30 November 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time. Born in Galați, Romania, Lupu began studying piano at the age of six. Two of his major piano teache ...

. Wilson was a good friend of the composer

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

and the cellist

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enl ...

. Wilson died on 20 September 1983, aged 72, from complications following two heart attacks. At the time of his death, he had been working on a biography of

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greec ...

, which his wife finished and published in 1988.

Publications

Wilson wrote several books including: *''Life and Times of

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić VUK or Vuk may refer to: *Vuk (name), South Slavic given name ** Vuk, Ban of Bosnia (), a member of the Kotromanić dynasty ** Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), Serbian language reformer and folklorist, often referred to simply as Vuk * ''Vuk'' (film) ...

'' (1970) *''Tito's Yugoslavia'' (1979) *''

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British List of political theorists, political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Fabian Socie ...

: A political biography'', ed. Powell, (1978),

Notes

References

WILSON, Sir (Archibald) Duncan
Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012
Sir Duncan Wilson
(obituary), ''The Times'', London, 22 September 1983 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Duncan 1911 births 1983 deaths 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English non-fiction writers Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Soviet Union English people of German descent Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Masters of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge People educated at Sandroyd School People educated at Winchester College