Alan S. C. Ross


Alan Strode Campbell Ross was a British academic specialising in linguistics. He is best remembered as the ultimate source and inspiration for author Nancy Mitford's "U and non-U" forms of behaviour and language usage as class indicators.

Lineage and early life

A patrilineal descendant of Robert the Bruce, he was the elder son of Archibald Campbell Carne Ross of Penzance and Brecon, and Millicent Strode Cobham. His paternal grandfather was Charles Campbell Ross. He was educated at Lindisfarne in Blackheath, Naish House in Burnham-on-Sea, Malvern College and Christ College, Brecon. He also attended Balliol College, University of Oxford after winning a Henry Skynner Scholarship in Astronomy in 1925, however he transferred to the School of English Language and Literature and graduated with first class honours in 1929. He also possessed a master's degree from the University of Birmingham.

Career

He was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in English Language at the University of Leeds in 1929, becoming a full lecturer in 1936. During the Second World War from 1940 he worked for the Foreign Office, before returning to academic life in 1946 as a Lecturer in English Language at Birmingham University, becoming Reader the following year. He was Professor of English Language there from 1948 to 1951 and Professor of Linguistics 1951-74.
In an article published in 1954, he coined the terms "U" and "non-U", on the differences that social class makes in English language usage.

Personal life

In 1933 Ross married Elizabeth Stefanyja Olszewska ; they had one son, Alan Wacław Padmint Ross ; the marriage ended with her death in 1973. His grandson is the diplomat and author Carne Ross.