Alison Duke

Alison Duke (22 July 1915 – 6 November 2005) was a British classicist, academic, and Girl Guide leader.

Early life and education Duke was born on 22 July 1915 in Cambridge, England. Her maternal grandfather, Robert von Lippe, managed a farm estate at Helfenberg as a tenant of the Saxon royal family. Alison's parents married in Frauenkirche, Dresden in January 1913 and subsequently moved to Cambridge.

Duke was educated at the Perse School for Girls, a private school in Cambridge. From 1934 to 1938, she studied classics at Girton College, Cambridge. Having achieved first class honours in Part II of the Classical Tripos, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1938. She was awarded the Charles Oldham Classical Scholarship in 1938, and so remained on at Cambridge to undertake research on the manuscripts of Books 31-40 of Livy's History of Rome.

In 1946, Duke returned to her alma mater, Girton College, Cambridge, where she had been appointed an assistant tutor. She officially became the college's first senior tutor in 1968, holding the post until 1974. She additionally taught palaeography within the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, where she was an assistant lecturer from 1952 and then a lecturer from 1957. In 1982, she retired from full-time academia and was made a life fellow by Girton.

Personal life Duke died on 6 November 2005, aged 90. Her funeral service was held on 21 November in the chapel of Girton College.