Sir Charles William Willink, 2nd Baronet (10 September 1929 – 10 March 2009) was an English classical scholar, teacher and baronet. He succeeded his father Sir Henry Willink to the Willink Baronetcy on his death in 1973, and was himself succeeded on his death by his son Sir Edward Daniel Willink.

Life

Sir Henry's eldest son, Charles won a King's Scholarship to

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

(where he was a friend and contemporary of

Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and ...

, and won the

Newcastle Scholarship The Newcastle Scholarship is an annual prize awarded at Eton College in England for the highest performance in a series of special written examinations taken over the course of a week. It was instituted and first awarded in 1829 and is the colle ...

a year before him) before reading an MA and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

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 ...

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He married the artist Elizabeth Andrewes in 1954 and they had two children, Edward and Penelope. He then entered teaching, first at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

and then (from 1954 to 1984) at Eton, where he rose to housemaster. He was a specialist in

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

metre and

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

. His publications include an

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

edition of ''

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; ) was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia. He was also known by the patronymic Agamemnonides (), meaning "son of Agamemnon." He is the subject of several ...

'' by

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

with commentary, and numerous journal articles and reviews. Willink was one of the foremost Euripides scholars of his era. From 1982 he also cooperated with his Cambridge tutor

John Morrison John (or Jack) Morrison or Morison may refer to: In politics * John Morison (Banffshire MP) (c. 1757–1835), British MP for Banffshire * John Morrison (blacksmith) (1726–1816), farmer, blacksmith and politician in Nova Scotia * John Morison ( ...

, the banker Frank Welsh and the naval architect John Coates to produce a full-size replica of a Greek

trireme A trireme ( ; ; cf. ) was an ancient navies and vessels, ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greece, ancient Greeks and ancient R ...

, founding the Trireme Trust with them and culminating in the launch of the ''

Olympias Olympias (; c. 375–316 BC) was a Ancient Greeks, Greek princess of the Molossians, the eldest daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the sister of Alexander I of Epirus, the fourth wife of Philip of Macedon, Philip II, the king of Macedonia ...

'' in 1987. After his retirement he became an expert amateur botanist, specialising in flowers on

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling ...

and chairing

Highgate cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

Arms

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willink, Charles 1929 births 2009 deaths English classical scholars Classics educators Schoolteachers from Wiltshire Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Eton King's Scholars Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College Teachers at Eton College