Barbara Craig

{{short description|British archaeologist, classicist, and academic}} {{For|the archivist, archival educator and scholar|Barbara L. Craig}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Barbara Craig | birth_name = Barbara Denise Chapman | birth_date = {{birth date|1915|10|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Calcutta, British India | death_date = {{death date and age|2005|1|25|1915|10|22|df=y}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | citizenship = | nationality = | education = Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls | alma_mater = Somerville College, Oxford | awards = | spouse = {{marriage|James Craig|1942|1989|reason=died}} | title = Principal of Somerville College, Oxford | term = 1967–1980 | predecessor = Dame Janet Vaughan | successor = Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth }} '''Barbara Denise Craig''' (née '''Chapman'''; 22 October 1915 – 25 January 2005) was a British archaeologist, classicist, and academic, specialising in classical pottery. From 1967 to 1980, she was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford.<ref name="obit - Guardian">{{cite news|last1=Dauphin|first1=Claudine|author-link1= Claudine Dauphin |title=Barbara Craig|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/19/guardianobituaries.highereducation|accessdate=8 April 2015|work=The Guardian|date=19 February 2005}}</ref><ref name="obit - Telegraph">{{cite news|title=Barbara Craig|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1482718/Barbara-Craig.html|accessdate=8 April 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=4 February 2005}}</ref><ref name="obit - Independent">{{cite news|last1=Adams|first1=Pauline|title=Barbara Craig: Archaeologist Principal of Somerville|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/barbara-craig-9836.html|accessdate=8 April 2015|work=The Independent|date=7 February 2005}}</ref>

==Early life== She was born on 22 October 1915 in Calcutta, British Raj.<ref name="obit - Guardian" /> Her father was librarian of the Imperial Library of Calcutta (now the National Library of India).<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /> In 1920, she moved to London, England, with her mother and siblings; her father remained in India.<ref name="obit - Independent" /> She was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, a private school in Acton, London.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" />

Having won a scholarship to the University of Oxford, and under the influence of her uncle R. W. Chapman, she matriculated into Somerville College, Oxford in 1934 to study classics. During her degree, she specialised in ancient history and classical archaeology.<ref name="obit - Guardian" /> One of her lecturers was H. T. Wade Gery, who encouraged her interest in ancient history rather than Latin or Greek.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /> She graduated in 1938 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, having gained first class honours in both ''Mods'' and ''Greats''.<ref name="obit - Independent" />

==Career== Craig's early career suggested a future in academia. After her double first, she was awarded the Craven fellowship and the Goldsmith's senior studentship to fund further study.<ref name="obit - Guardian" /> She then travelled to Italy to undertake research and further study at the British School in Rome. There, she studied the historical background to Greek lyric poetry and the ancient history of Sicily.<ref name="obit - Independent" /><ref name="obit - Times" /> She spent some time travelling alone in Sicily looking at ancient sites. Having moved away from the regular tourist sites, she found herself in the interior of the island where a large number of Italy's arms factories were based. Unable to convince a police officer that an attractive, young woman with binoculars was not spying in the factories, she was arrested. Luckily for her, the local police chief believed her account of being a tourist and scholar with a passion for birdwatching, and she was released.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /><ref name="obit - Independent" />

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, she had to return to the United Kingdom.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /> For a year, she worked as a temporary civil servant in the Ministry of Supply and the Ministry of Labour.<ref name="obit - Times" /> She then had the opportunity to return to academia. Between 1940 and 1942, she was the assistant to the Professor of Greek at the University of Aberdeen.<ref name="obit - Independent" /><ref name="obit - Times" /> She then once became a civil servant: she was assistant principal of the Ministry of Home Security and the Ministry of Production. By the end of the war, she held the position of principal.<ref name="obit - Independent" />

In 1945, her husband joined the British Council, an organisation that promotes British interests abroad through international education and other opportunities.<ref name="obit - Guardian" /> This was the beginning of two decades spent in various foreign countries, with Barbara acting as hostess at any official occasion.<ref name="obit - Independent" /> However, she did have time to continue her own interests, in addition to supporting her husband. From 1951 to 1956, while the couple were based in Iraq, she was involved in Max Mallowan's excavation at Nimrud.<ref name="obit - Guardian" /> In 1954, she was elected to the Katharine and Leonard Woolley Fellowship in Archaeology at Somerville College, Oxford, her alma mater. This gave her the funding to carry out research on the relations between Ancient Greece and the Ancient Near East.<ref name="obit - Independent" /> From 1956, she was involved in excavations at Mycenae under Sir Alan Wace, then under William Taylour.<ref name="obit - Guardian" /> As she was not a trained field archaeologist, her main contributions were the classification of pottery. She was greatly skilled at this and became an expert in Mycenaean pottery.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" />

In 1965, the couple finally returned to the United Kingdom and set up a permanent home in London.<ref name="obit - Times" /> She continued her involvement in archaeological excavations at Mycenae and in Laconia, Greece, during the summer months.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /> In February 1966, she was elected Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. She took up the appointment in October 1967, succeeding Dame Janet Vaughan.<ref>{{cite news|title=New Principal For Somerville|work=The Times|issue=56545|date=2 February 1966|page=14}}</ref> Under her leadership, the college doubled in size and rose to the top of the Norrington Table, the annual ranking of colleges by degree classification.<ref>{{cite web|title=From strength to strength |url=http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3351/From%20strength%20to%20strength.html |website=Somerville College |publisher=University of Oxford |accessdate=9 April 2015 |date=2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323102325/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3351/From%20strength%20to%20strength.html |archivedate=23 March 2013 }}</ref> The college celebrated its centenary in 1979, and she used the opportunity to fund raise.<ref name="obit - Times" /> She retired in 1980 and was appointed an honorary fellow of Somerville College.<ref>{{cite news|title=University news|work=The Times|issue=60789|date=29 November 1980|page=14}}</ref>

==Personal life== She met her future husband, James Craig, when they were both at the British School at Rome in 1938;<ref name="obit - Independent" /> she was studying and he was the BSR's secretary and librarian. They married in 1942.<ref name="obit - Guardian" /> A serious road accident in 1986 left her husband disabled and using a wheelchair. She cared for him until his death in 1989.<ref name="obit - Times">{{cite news|title=Barbara Craig|work=The Times|issue=68305|date=8 February 2005|page=52}}</ref> They did not have any children.<ref name="obit - Guardian" />

She was a Christian and a practising Anglican.<ref name="obit - Guardian" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{S-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box |title=Principal<br>Somerville College, Oxford |years = 1967 to 1980 |before=Janet Vaughan |after=Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth }} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Barbara}} Category:1915 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Principals of Somerville College, Oxford Category:People from the Bengal Presidency Category:British people in British India Category:People educated at Haberdashers' Girls' School Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Category:British women classical scholars Category:Classical scholars of the University of Oxford Category:British classical archaeologists Category:Academics of the University of Aberdeen Category:British Anglicans Category:British women archaeologists Category:Presidents of the Association of Canadian Archivists Category:20th-century British archaeologists Category:20th-century British women writers