Harry Willetts

Harry Taylor Willetts (1922 – 7 April 2005) was an English scholar of Russian, and English language translator of Russian literatures.

Early life

In 1922, Willetts was born. Willetts' father was Albert Willetts. Willetts' mother was Alice Taylor.^[1]

From 1940 to 1947, Willetts studied at The Queen's College, Oxford.

Willetts was professor of Russian history at Oxford University. Willetts was director of the Russian and East European Centre at St Antony's College, Oxford, where his colleagues included the noted Russian scholars Max Hayward, Harry Shukman and William Deakin. A prolific translator of Russian literature, Willetts is best known for his translations of the works of the Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn. As a translator, he is often credited as H.T. Willetts.

After 1947, Willetts joined the Foreign Office in the Moscow embassy.^[2] Willetts joined St Antony's College in 1960.

In 1957 Willetts married Halina Szenbaum, a Polish Jew, in London, England.^[3]

Willetts had three children: Sam, Cathy and Isobel.

Willetts was preceded in death by his wife Halina.^[4] Their son Sam Willetts became a poet.

^ "Harry Willetts". geni.com. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
^ "Destruction and Creation (Sam Willetts)". oxfordtimes.co.uk. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
^ "Halina Willetts (Szenbaum)". geni.com. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
^ St Antony's obit Archived 2011-09-06 at the Wayback Machine^{[dead link]}