Spencer Barrett

(William) Spencer Barrett FBA, born 29 May 1914, died 23 September 2001, was an English classical scholar, Fellow and Sub-Warden of Keble College, Oxford and Reader in Greek Literature in the University of Oxford.

Early life

The only son of William Barrett and Sarah Jessie Barrett (née Robbins, Barrett was educated at Derby School and then from 1934 at Christ Church, Oxford, where he held the Ireland and Craven Scholarship, gained a First in Classical Honours Moderations in 1934, the same year winning the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse, and the de Paravicini Scholarship, and took a First in Literae Humaniores in 1937. Also in 1937 he won the Derby Scholarship, and in 1938 the Charles Oldham Prize.'BARRETT, (William) Spencer' in Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2007, online edition (subscription required) by Oxford University Press, December 2007: BARRETT, (William) Spencer, accessed 14 August 2008

Career

Barrett's first post was as a Lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1938 to 1939, and then at Keble College, Oxford, where he was a Lecturer from 1939 to 1952 and Tutor in Classics from 1939 to 1981. At Keble, he was also the college's Librarian from 1946 to 1966, a Fellow of the college from 1952 to 1981 (and Honorary Fellow, from 1981 until his death), and Sub Warden, 1968 to 1976. At the University level, he was Lecturer in Greek Literature, 1947 to 1966, and then Reader in Greek Literature until 1981.

As a scrupulous atheist, Barrett could not become a Fellow of Keble (although he was treated as one) until the college's statutes were changed to remove the disability in 1952.Hollis, Adrian, Spencer Barrett, Oxford don devoted to classics and his college, obituary in The Guardian, October 17 2001, online at guardian.co.uk, accessed 14 August 2008

His edition of Hippolytus appeared in 1964 and was recognised as one of the most important works on Greek tragedy.

At his death, Barrett left a major work on Pindar unpublished. When an Inland Revenue tax inspector once challenged his tax return, questioning whether a computer was an allowable expense for a classicist, Barrett was able to show that for an understanding of the text of Pindar it was essential to know how Mount Etna had appeared to a sailor passing the mountain in a ship.

The distinction of his scholarship was recognized by a fellowship of the British Academy.

War service

During the Second World War, he served as a Temporary Civilian Officer in the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Division, from 1942 to 1945.

Selected publications

• (ed.) Euripides, Hippolytos, edited with Introduction and Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964)
• 'Sophocles, Niobe' in Carden, R. (ed.) Papyrus Fragments of Sophocles (1974)

Family

In 1939, Barrett married Georgina Margaret Elizabeth, elder daughter of William and Alma Georgina Annie Hill, and they had one son and one daughter.

References

2

Category: 1914 births Category: 2001 deaths Category: Academics of the University of Oxford Category: Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Category: Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Category: Fellows of the British Academy Category: Old Derbeians Category: People from Derbyshire