Papers of Professor MM Gillies and of RC Seaton

Material comprises dissertation and lecture notes of MM Gillies, which contain a mixture of English, Ancient Greek and Latin, and cover aspects of Ancient Greek life, mythology and drama with a focus on The Argonautica. Many of the notes include a list of when and where the lecture was given. The notebooks written by RC Seaton are mainly in English, but also include some Greek and Latin, and are predominantly concerned with Ancient Greek mythology and culture but also include some notes on Virgil and Roman history in general.

Marshall McDonald Gillies (1901-1976) attended Eton College on a King's Scholarship (1913-1919) then King's College, Cambridge on an Entrance Scholarship from 1919. He left in 1922 with a First Class Honours in Classics, becoming a research student at Edinburgh University, New College, Oxford and in Vienna. In 1924 he became Doctor of Philosophy (Edinburgh) followed by Assistant Lecturer in Greek at Liverpool University (1924-1928). In 1928 his appointment as Lecturer in Classics meant he was one of the first lecturers to be appointed to Hull University College (later Hull University). He became Professor of Classics at Hull in 1946 until his retirement in 1968 when he was made Professor Emeritus. In 1962 he was made Pro-Vice-Chancellor and was an original member of the Library Committee. The 1969 University of Hull minutes show that he was Chair of a working party from which the original idea to build student houses arose. He died in 1976 at home in Hull.

It is not possible to ascertain definitively the connection between RC Seaton (Robert Cooper Seaton, 1853-1915) and MM Gillies, but it would appear that there is overlap in their areas of research. In 1912 RC Seaton published his translation of The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius. MM Gillies published his own edition of this work in 1928.

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

From the library of Prof. MM Gillies

File. Classics Department [U LIB/2/63]

Personnel file for Professor Marshall McDonald Gillies [U PHR/1/353]