Sir Charles William Willink, 2nd Baronet (September 10, 1929 – March 10, 2009) was an English classical scholar, teacher and baronet. He succeeded his father Sir Henry Willink as Baronet Willink

Willink Baronets

The Willink Baronetcy, of Dingle Bank in the City of Liverpool, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 July 1957 for the Conservative politician and public servant Henry Willink. He served as Minister of Health from 1943 to 1945...

 on his death in 1973, and was himself succeeded on his death by his son Sir Edward Daniel Willink.

Life

Sir Henry's eldest son, Charles won a King's Scholarship to Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 (where he was a friend and contemporary of Douglas Hurd

Douglas Hurd

Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....

) before reading an MA and PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Classics

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 at Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. He married the artist Elizabeth Andrewes in 1954 and they had two children, Edward and Penelope.

He then entered teaching, first at Marlborough College

Marlborough College

Marlborough College is a British co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire.Founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, the school now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800...

 and then (from 1954 to 1984) at Eton, where he rose to housemaster. He was a specialist in ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 metre and tragedy

Theatre of Ancient Greece

The theatre of Ancient Greece, or ancient Greek drama, is a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece between c. 550 and c. 220 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political and military power during this period, was its centre, where it was...

. His publications include an Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 edition of Orestes

Orestes (play)

Orestes is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.-Background:...

by Euripides

Euripides

Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

 with commentary, and numerous journal articles and reviews. From 1982 he also cooperated with his Cambridge tutor John Morrison

John Sinclair Morrison

John Sinclair Morrison , who wrote under the name of J. S. Morrison, was an English classicist whose work led to the reconstruction of an Athenian Trireme, an ancient oared warship....

, the banker Frank Welsh and the naval architect John Coates to produce a full-size replica of a Greek trireme

Trireme

A trireme was a type of galley, a Hellenistic-era warship that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar...

, founding the Trireme Trust with them and culminating in the launch of the Olympias

Olympias (trireme)

Olympias is a reconstruction of an ancient Athenian trireme and an important example of experimental archaeology.She was constructed from 1985 to 1987 by a shipbuilder in Piraeus. Finance came from the Hellenic Navy and donors such as Frank Welsh . The building was advised by the historians J. S....

in 1987. After his retirement he became an expert amateur botanist, specialising in flowers on Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...

 and chairing Highgate cemetery

Highgate Cemetery

Highgate Cemetery is a cemetery located in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery....

.

Sources