Sir Kenneth Dover

Professor Sir Kenneth Dover FRSE FBA
Dover (with kind permission of KNAW)
Chancellor of the University of St Andrews
In office 1981–2005
Preceded by	Bernard Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae
Succeeded by	Menzies Campbell
President of the British Academy
In office 1978–1981
Preceded by	Sir Randolph Quirk
Succeeded by	Sir Keith Thomas
President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
In office 1976–1986
Preceded by	George Derek Gordon Hall
Succeeded by	Sir Keith Thomas
Personal details
Born	Kenneth James Dover (1920-03-11)11 March 1920 London, England
Died	7 March 2010(2010-03-07) (aged 89)
Nationality	British
Education	St Paul's School, London
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Civilian awards	Knight Bachelor
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Unit	Royal Artillery
Battles/wars	Second World War
Military awards	Mentioned in Despatches

Sir Kenneth James Dover, FRSE, FBA (11 March 1920 – 7 March 2010) was a distinguished British Classical scholar and academic. He was President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford from 1976 to 1986. In addition, he was President of the British Academy from 1978 to 1981, and Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1981 to 2005. He was the author of Greek Homosexuality (1978), a key text on the subject.

Kenneth Dover was born in London, the only child of Percy Dover and Dorothy Healey. He was educated at St Paul's School and Balliol College, Oxford. He served with the Royal Artillery during the Second World War and was mentioned in dispatches for his service in Italy.

After military service, Dover returned to Oxford and became Fellow and tutor at his old college in 1948. In 1955, Dover was appointed Professor of Greek at the University of St Andrews, and was twice Dean of the university's Faculty of Arts during his twenty-one years there.

He was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1975. Dover received a knighthood two years later for services to Greek scholarship. In 1976, Dover became President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, a post he held for ten years. During this tenure Dover was engaged in a protracted dispute with the college Librarian and a Fellow in History, Trevor Henry Aston (1925–1985), who suffered from manic depression. Aston's erratic behaviour exasperated Dover and in Marginal Comment, his autobiography, he admitted: "it was clear to me by now that Trevor and the college must somehow be separated. My problem was one which I feel compelled to define with brutal candour: how to kill him without getting into trouble...I had no qualms about causing the death of a fellow from whose nonexistence the college would benefit, but I balked at the prospect of misleading a coroner's jury...consulting a lawyer to see if [I] would be legally at risk if [I] ignored a suicide call." Dover willingly put pressure on Aston and consorted with his doctor to ignore colleagues' expressions of concern. Aston was found dead in his rooms on 17 October 1985 after an overdose.