Educated at
Colfe's (1912–1919)[2] and at
Rugby, Lucas won a scholarship in 1924 to
King's College, Cambridge, to read for the
Classical Tripos. A prizeman there, he took a double
first in 1926 and 1927. Elected
Apostle in 1925, he later became Secretary of the Society, delivering eleven papers.[3] In 1929 he was elected to a Fellowship at King's College.[4] A descriptive sketch of Lucas at this time appears in the first volume of
John Lehmann's autobiography, The Whispering Gallery (London, 1955).[note 1] He was appointed College Lecturer in 1930, was University Lecturer from 1933 to 1969, and University Director of Studies in Classics from 1935 to 1965. He was co-editor of The Classical Quarterly from 1953 to 1959.[5][6] His successor as Perceval Maitland Laurence Reader in Classics in 1969, the fourth and last person to hold the post, was
John Chadwick, who retired in 1984.
From 1939 to October 1944, Lucas served in the Mansion, Hut 5, and Block B(N) at
Bletchley Park, till late 1943 as senior Cryptanalyst in the Italian sub-section of the Naval Section, and from late 1943 in Naval Section V, as Head of Japanese naval crypto-intelligence.[14]
Personal life
In 1933 Lucas married Mary Cohen. They lived in
Grantchester, Cambridgeshire. D. W. Lucas was the brother of
F. L. Lucas.
Works
'The Bacchae' of Euripides. The Greek text as performed at Cambridge at the New Theatre, 4–8 March 1930, by members of the University, together with an English prose translation by D. W. Lucas; Prefatory Note by
J. T. Sheppard (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1930)
'The Frogs' of Aristophanes. The Greek text as arranged for performance at Cambridge, March 1936. With an English translation by D. W. Lucas & F. J. A. [Francis Julian Alford] Cruso (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1936; reprinted 1947)
'The Medea' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes (Cohen & West, London, 1949)
'The Ion' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes (Cohen & West, London, 1949)
'The Electra' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes (Cohen & West, London, 1951)
'The Alcestis' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes (Cohen & West, London, 1951)
'The Agamemnon' of Aeschylus. The Greek text, performed at Cambridge by the members of the University in February 1953. With a Verse Translation by Sir John Sheppard and an Introduction by D. W. Lucas (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1952)[15]
'The Bacchae' of Euripides. The Greek text performed at Cambridge at the Arts Theatre, 20–24 February 1956, by members of the University, with an English prose translation by D. W. Lucas (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1955)
The Greek Tragic Poets (Cohen & West, London, 1950; 2nd edn., substantially revised and rewritten, 1959); a study, with notes and chronological tables
'Euripides' in The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970)
Aristotle, 'Poetics' : Greek text, Latin apparatus, with introduction, commentary, appendices in English, & bibliography (Oxford, 1968; revised 1972; paperback 1980)
Notes
^There are briefer references to him in Lydia and Maynard: The Letters of John Maynard Keynes and Lydia Lopokova (eds. Polly Hill and Richard Keynes, New York, 1989), p. 251, and in The Letters of T. S. Eliot (Eliot, Valerie; Haughton, Hugh; Haffenden, John: eds., London 2012), vol. 3
References
^Sheppard, J. T., 'Prefatory Note' to 'The Bacchae' of Euripides: the Greek text as performed at Cambridge at the New Theatre, 4–8 March 1930, by members of the University, together with an English prose translation by D. W. Lucas (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1930)
^Reference to D. W . Lucas in 'Frank Laurence Lucas, Colfe's Archive', colfesarchive.daisy.websds.net
^Deacon, Richard, The Cambridge Apostles (London, 1985), p. 101
^D. W. Lucas, biographical information, The Times (London, 18 March 1929), p. 6 [d]
^Wilkinson, L. P., Kingsmen of a Century, 1873–1972 (King's College, Cambridge, 1980)
^Wilkinson, L. P., A Century of King's, 1873–1972 (King's College, Cambridge 1980)
^Mason, P. G., review in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 74, 1954, p. 196, journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage= Online & aid = 8672880 & fileId = S0075426900079441 (online)
Photo portrait of D. W. Lucas by Ramsey and Muspratt, Cambridge: loftyimages.co.uk
[1]; reproduced in Richard Deacon, The Cambridge Apostles (London, 1985), opp. p. 54