Catherine Hughes

Catherine Eva Hughes (née Pestell; 24 September 1933 – 10 December 2014) was a British diplomat and academic administrator. She was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, from 1989 to 1996.

Early life and education Hughes was born on 24 September 1933 in County Durham, England, to Edmund Pestell and his wife Isabelle Pestell (née Sangster). Having won a scholarship, she was educated at Leeds Girls' High School, a selective private school in Leeds.

Diplomatic career Two of her history tutors recognised her academic excellence, encouraged her to apply for St Hilda's, Oxford, a women-only college, in 1952. She passed the civil service with flying colours, and was asked to enter the diplomatic corps. The Foreign Office mandarins were entirely male during her first posting in London. Hughes was sent to The Hague. From there she spent three and a half years in Bangkok, as Second Secretary, during decolonisation and a rising tide of communism in south-east Asia. After another stint in London, this time for five years, she was made First Secretary for the prestigious Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

She was asked in 1975 to take the tough role of negotiator in East Berlin missions in a divided city during the Cold War détente, having as a visiting fellow to St Anthony's already established an international reputation. Colleagues apparently recalled her good sense of humour, as absurdist. In an existential world of hardship and political paranoia she remained "cantankerous". During the 1980s she had a three-year posting to Bonn (West Germany) speaking several foreign languages. In 2014 she established the Rhabanus Maurus Travel Grant.

Hughes died on 10 December 2014.

Dr Alice Prochaska, who was then Somerville College Principal, and one of her successors, paid a tribute

This is a very sad time for the whole College. Catherine Hughes was an insightful, effective and much respected Principal. She was kind and considerate to all her colleagues, and much concerned with the intellectual development and well-being of the students. She and her husband, Trevor Hughes's wonderfully generosity to Somerville on behalf of students and Fellows has made a significant difference. At this time, we remember above all a much-loved and very distinguished Principal, who held Somerville close to her heart.