Duncan Wilson
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Sir Archibald Duncan Wilson GCMG (12 August 1911 – 20 September 1983) was a British diplomat and Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Background
[edit]Wilson was born on 12 August 1911 in Winchester to Archibald Edward Wilson, German teacher at Winchester College, and Ethel Wilson, daughter of banker and financier Felix Schuster.[1] His father died during his childhood, in 1923.[1] Wilson's youngest sister was the philosopher Mary Warnock.[2] Another younger sister, Grizel, married his Balliol friend, the historian and civil servant Michael Balfour.[3][4]
Wilson was educated at Sandroyd School then Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied Classics.[5]
Career
[edit]After his studies in Oxford he applied for the Diplomatic Service but due to a chest ailment was not successful.[1] He then spent a year teaching in Westminster School and then joined the British Museum as assistant keeper in 1937.[1]
During World War II, in which he served in the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Economic Warfare, the opportunity arose to join the Foreign Office.[1] After the war, he served in Berlin for the Allied Control Commission for Germany.[1]
He then specialized in Communist affairs and held the following positions:
- Charge d'affaires in Peking 1957–59[1]
- Ambassador to Yugoslavia 1964–1968[6]
- Ambassador to the USSR 1968–1971[7]
He retired from the diplomatic service in 1971 and was appointed Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[1] While at Corpus he was also Chairman of the Appeal Committee of Cambridge University 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.[1]
Personal life and death
[edit]Wilson married Elizabeth Fleming in 1937 and had three children.[1] His daughter Elizabeth married Romanian pianist Radu Lupu. Wilson was a good friend of the composer Benjamin Britten and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.[1]
Wilson died on 20 September 1983, aged 72, from complications following two heart attacks.[1] At the time of his death, he had been working on a biography of Gilbert Murray, which his wife finished and published in 1988.[1]
Publications
[edit]Wilson wrote several books including:
- Life and Times of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1970)
- Tito's Yugoslavia (1979)
- Leonard Woolf: A political biography, ed. Powell, (1978), ISBN 0-312-48001-6
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wade-Gery, Robert; Wilkinson, Sarah (2004). "Wilson, Sir (Archibald) Duncan (1911–1983), diplomatist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64933. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Brown, Andrew (19 July 2003). "The practical philosopher". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- ^ "OBITUARY: Professor Michael Balfour". The Independent. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ "Mary Warnock (1924–2019 ) | The Embryo Project Encyclopedia". embryo.asu.edu. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ Archibald Duncan Wilson – holmesacourt.org
- ^ The London Gazette, 6 November 1964
- ^ The London Gazette, 26 November 1968
References
[edit]- 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
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