Funeral of SOAS Persian scholar Professor Ann Lambton
22 July 2008
The funeral of Professor Ann Lambton will take place on Thursday 24th July at St Gregory's Church, Kirknewton, Wooler, Northumberland at 2pm.
The family have requested floral tributes only from the family.
Professor Lambton died aged 96 on 19th July.
There will be a memorial service for her later in the year in London.
Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton, OBE FBA, was a leading Persian scholar, who came to SOAS first as a student and later as a teacher.
Lambton’s interest in the Arab world was sparked in her teens – according to a friend, when she read T. E. Lawrence’s Revolt in the Desert.
She enrolled at SOAS in 1932 after meeting Denison Ross, the orientalist and director of the then still called School of Oriental Studies.
When Ross then persuaded her to concentrate on the Persian world, she registered for an honours degree course in Persian with subsidiary Arabic.
After several visits in Iran, Lambton returned to SOAS after World War II – first as senior lecturer in Persian, later as reader and in 1953 as professor until her retirement in 1979.
Professor Lambton wrote extensively on the politics, history, administration and religion of Iran, and her expertise was recognised by SOAS and many other institutions.
Lambton was made an honorary Fellow of the School. She also became a DLitt of London University; a fellow of the British Academy; and an honorary doctor of Durham and Cambridge.
An obituary was published in The Times this week - please see Obituary: Prof Ann Lambton (The Times, 23 July)
