Sir Archibald Duncan Wilson GCMG (12 August 1911 – 20 September 1983) was a British diplomat and Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Background
editWilson 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
editAfter 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
editWilson 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
editWilson 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