Katherine Duncan-Jones


Katherine Dorothea Duncan-Jones, is an English literature and Shakespeare scholar. She was a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge and then Somerville College, Oxford. She was also Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford from 1998 to 2001.

Personal life

Duncan-Jones was born on 13 May 1941 to the philosopher Austin Duncan-Jones and the literary scholar Elsie Duncan-Jones. Her brother is the historian Richard Duncan-Jones. She was educated at King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham, an all-girls independent school. She studied at St Hilda's College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Letters degree: as per tradition, her BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts degree.
Duncan-Jones married the writer A.N. Wilson in 1971. Together they had two daughters: Emily, a classicist, and Bee Wilson, a food writer. They divorced in 1990.

Academic career

Duncan-Jones was Mary Ewart Residential Fellow at Somerville College, Oxford from 1963 to 1965. She was then a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge from 1965 to 1966. She then returned to Somerville College and was Fellow and Tutor in English Literature between 1966 and her retirement in 2001. She was also Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford from 1998 to 2001. She has been a senior research fellow of Somerville College since 2001.
In 1991, Duncan-Jones was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Selected works