Mary Warnock

Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, DBE, FBA, FMedSci (née Wilson; born 14 April 1924) is an English philosopher of morality, education and mind, and writer on existentialism. From 1984 to 1991, she was Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge.

Early life

Warnock was born Mary Wilson on 14 April 1924 in Winchester, England, and was the youngest of seven children. Her mother was the daughter of the successful banker and financier Felix Schuster. Her father Archie Wilson, a Scotsman, was a housemaster and taught German at Winchester College. He caught diphtheria in 1923 and consequently died of heart failure. Warnock was brought up by her mother and a nanny. She never knew her eldest sibling, Malcolm, who had autism and was cared for in a nursing home, spending his last days in a Dorset hospital. Her brother Sandy died when very young. Her other brother, Duncan, was a British diplomat who became Ambassador to the Soviet Union before taking up an appointment as master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.