Jim William Fitton (QM 1943-50)

Died 24th April 1969

Obituary by Amanda Fitton, Jim’s daughter:

Jim Fitton was born in Aldridge on 16th April 1933 and joined the Grammar School in 1943. After sitting for an Open Scholarship in Classics at Oriel College, he was awarded a place at Jesus College, Oxford, in 1950. He went on to be a research student from 1954 to 1956, working (as the first person to do so) for a B.Phil in Greek and Latin Language by thesis and examination.

After national service from 1956 to 1958 Jim married Molly Rogers, who had exchanged glances with him from the QM Girls’ High School, and they went to live in Oxford where Jim was an academic tutor at Magdalen and St Catherine’s Colleges. He then worked at Bedford College, London University, moving in 1961 to Exeter University.

In Feb 1969 he had been appointed to an International Research Fellowship at the Harvard Centre for Hellenic Studies in the US, but two weeks later he suddenly died, apparently of a pulmonary oedema.

His wife, Molly, remarried and still lives near Exeter. He left two daughters, Amanda and Belinda.