Douglas Maurice MacDowell, (8 March 193117 January 2010) was a British

classical scholar 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 ...

. His early career was as a teacher, first in the British Army as part of his national service and then at two private schools. He then moved into academia and was a lecturer at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. Finally, for thirty years, he was Professor of Greek at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Early life

MacDowell was born on 8 March 1931. He was brought up as an only child in London, England. He was educated Elgin Academy, Moray and Madras College,

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

(while his father was posted to Scotland with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War) and then at

Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is a co-educational, fee-charging, private day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparato ...

in London. He applied to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, against the wishes of his school, and won a place. MacDowell left school early, March 1949, to undertake his

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

: it had been expanded from 12 months to 18 months, and he was due to start his degree in autumn 1950. Following completion of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

's basic training, he was promoted to

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

instructor and posted to the Army Apprentices School in

Chepstow Chepstow () is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western end of the ...

where he spent the rest of his time in uniform teaching English to young soldiers. Having been awarded the Domus Exhibition, he studied classics at

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 ...

. His tutors included W. S. Watt,

Kenneth Dover Sir Kenneth James Dover, (11 March 1920 – 7 March 2010) was a distinguished British classical scholar and academic. He was president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1976 to 1986. In addition, he was president of the British Academy f ...

and

Russell Meiggs Russell Meiggs (20 October 1902 – 24 June 1989) was a British ancient historian. He did extensive research on the Roman port city of Ostia. Early life and education Meiggs was born at Balham, south London, son of William Herrick Meiggs (1866� ...

. He achieved a first class in both Mods and Greats, and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 1954.

Career

MacDowell was originally discouraged from entering academia and so he sat the civil service exam: he failed the interview section. His early career was as a school teacher, and he taught classics at Allhallows School and then Merchant Taylors' School. In 1958, he decided he wanted to move into academia. After initial rejections, he was appointed an assistant lecturer at the

. He was promoted to lecturer in 1961, senior lecturer in 1968 and reader in 1970. He was also a

visiting fellow In academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of ...

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

in 1969. In 1971, at the age of 40, MacDowell was selected as the next Professor of Greek at the

. He introduced courses on Ancient Greek civilisation which did not require knowledge of the language and the teaching of

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 ...

from scratch. He was chair of the Classical Association of Scotland from 1976 to 1982. Fearful of the cuts to classics that were happening throughout British universities, he stayed on in his chair until he reached the compulsory retirement age of 70: he was right, and the university did not appoint a replacement.

Personal life

MacDowell died on 17 January 2010, aged 78. In his will, he left the University of Glasgow £2 million to support the teaching of classics. In his honour, the university endowed the re-established chair in Greek as the MacDowell Professor of Greek. He never married, nor had any children.

Honours

In 1991 MacDowell was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(FRSE), Scotland's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ...

. In 1993 he was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. In 2004, a ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was published in his honour titled "Law, Rhetoric and Comedy in Classical Athens: Essays in Honour of Douglas M. MacDowell" and edited by Douglas Cairns and R. Knox.

Selected works

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacDowell, Douglas 1931 births 2010 deaths People educated at Highgate School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British classical scholars Academics of the University of Manchester Academics of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the British Academy People educated at Elgin Academy, Moray People educated at Madras College