Buchan Memories: A Commemoration of Dorothy and Alan Buchan, and a Celebration of the First Twenty-three Buchan Memorial Lectures at the University of Leicester, 2001–23

For almost a quarter of a century, we have celebrated an annual Dorothy Buchan Memorial Lecture in Ancient History, often focusing on women in ancient society. Now, with the passing of Alan, it has been renamed after both Dorothy and Alan, with a Fund supporting not just a lecture but increasingly other needs of faculty and students in the School of Archaeology & Ancient History at the University. As a family, we wish to continue to support the lecture series and hope to extend this to additional celebrations of the work of the School and ULAS (University of Leicester Archaeological Services) centred on Richard III and Leicester Cathedral, which adjoins the Richard III Centre at Grey Friars, where Fiona works weekends as a volunteer.

Dorothy and Alan were important contributors to life in Leicester in the later part of the 20th century. They witnessed first-hand the power of education and healthcare to deliver the transformation that was needed after the war. They were doubly blessed: initially in Newcastle, seeing a university devolved from its parent university, Durham, and a transformation of education and healthcare. This experience was repeated with the emergence of the University of Leicester and the investment in a brand-new medical school, exemplifying how that delivers improvements for health-care delivery to the community. Alexander the Great used to say about his teacher Aristotle, ‘To my parents I owe my life, but to my teachers the quality of life’.

Alan and Dorothy witnessed the effects of economic depression, world war, and the associated aftermath. They lived through the transformation of society following local events such as the arrival of the Ugandan Asians in the 1970s, the miners’ strikes in the 1980s, and serial disruption, and realized that the one thing they cannot take away from you is your education. They would both have been immensely proud to see this publication documenting the Dorothy & Alan Buchan Memorial Lectures in Ancient History. Our family is immensely grateful to a large number of people at the University, but in particular to Professor Graham Shipley, the School, and its academic and administrative staff who have curated the Lectures for the last twenty four years.