Alick Robin Walsham Harrison

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(15 November 1900 – 18 May 1969) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

academic, Warden of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...

, from 1963 until his death in 1969.

Life

Robin Harrison was born on 15 November 1900 in

Hambledon, Surrey Hambledon is a rural scattered village in the Waverley borough of Surrey, situated south of Guildford. It is dominated by a buffer zone of fields and woodland, mostly south of the Greensand Ridge escarpment between Witley and Chiddingfold, h ...

and was educated at Haileybury and

. He became a master at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...

and returned to Merton in 1930. In 1932 he married Margaret, eldest daughter of

Sir David Ross Sir William David Ross (15 April 1877 – 5 May 1971), known as David Ross but usually cited as W. D. Ross, was a Scottish Aristotelian philosopher, translator, WWI veteran, civil servant, and university administrator. His best-known wor ...

. He was a nephew of Sir Francis Younghusband and a cousin of Eileen Younghusband. At the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he entered government service in the Ministry of Food, where he became Deputy Director of Public Relations and Private Secretary to the minister

Lord Woolton Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton, (23 August 1883 – 14 December 1964) was an English businessman and politician who served as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1946 to 1955. In April 1940, he was appointed Minister of Food ...

. He was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1943 and made a CBE in 1950. That year he returned to Merton to take up his old job as Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History. He served for a time as Domestic Bursar and was elected Warden in 1963. He was involved in university planning and helped in the foundation of two new colleges,

Wolfson See also Woolf, Woolfe, Wolff, Wolfson and Woolfson (especially for family names). Wolfson or Volfson is a Jewish surname, and may refer to: * David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale (born 1935), British politician and businessman, nephew of ...

and St. Cross. He was made an honorary fellow of both. He was the author of various academic books mainly dealing with

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

in the

ancient world Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

, including ''The Law of Athens''. He was a man of "untiring scholarship, good sense, and sound judgment". Harrison died on 18 May 1969 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

References

External links

Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Wardens of Merton College, Oxford People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College 1900 births 1970 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English antiquarians People from the Borough of Waverley 20th-century antiquarians {{UK-academic-bio-stub