A celebration of the life and work of Professor Jon Stallworthy

Published on
Wednesday 21 January 2015
Category
College & Community
In Memoriam

Over 200 friends, alumni, staff, and students joined together in the Hall on the evening of Friday 16 January to celebrate the life of the renowned poet, editor, biographer and literary scholar Professor Jon Stallworthy. Professor Stallworthy was a leading figure in the English Faculty at Oxford and a much loved member of Wolfson College before his death on 19 November 2014 at the age of 79.

The evening was a moving celebration with poems, music and recordings, read and performed by colleagues and friends. The College President, Professor Dame Hermione Lee, opened the celebration with a tribute to Jon Stallworthy before a video was screened of Professor Stallworthy reading ‘This Morning' at Wolfson College in 2013.

Many of Professor Stallworthy's poems were read during the celebration, including ‘Resurrection', ‘Windfalls' and ‘Goodbye to Wilfred Owen'. There were also readings of poems and prose by Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Louis MacNeice, Les Murray, Anthony Hecht, and Keats.

The College's creative Arts Fellow, the composer and singer John Duggan and the JD Singers, performed his setting of Ivor Gurney's ‘Requiem' as the evening's first piece of music. As testament to the reach of Jon Stallworthy's work, poems by Anna Akhmatova and Aleksandr Blok were read in both Russian and English by Julie Curtis and Anastasia Tolstoy.

Professor Stallworthy had a long association with Wolfson College, having  been elected as a Governing Body Fellow in 1986. He contributed greatly to the College in various roles, including Senior Research Fellow, Extraordinary Fellow, Vicegerent and, twice, as Acting President. In her opening address, Hermione Lee noted that it was Jon Stallworthy who initially encouraged her to apply for the Presidency.

An exhibition of Professor Stallworthy's work and of his involvement with Oxford and Wolfson College was featured in the Marble Hall. The College Archivist, Liz Baird, with help from Jane Potter, Ellen Rice and Jim Kennedy, prepared books, newspaper clippings, photos and obituaries to feature in the exhibition.

Jon Stallworthy's life and work is featured in the latest issue of the Oxford Magazine.