A love of literature and culture, and a passion for education and social justice, infused the life of my mother, Vi Hughes, who has died aged 91. From her childhood in working-class Edinburgh in the 1920s to her decades as tutor and then senior tutor in English literature at Ruskin College, Oxford, Mum was committed to education for all, to countering the inequalities that left too many unable to express or use their talents fully.
Born Violet Henderson, she won the prize for best honours student in English literature at Edinburgh University, and taught in schools in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, refusing ever to use corporal punishment and insisting the boys she taught did detentions instead.
She met John Hughes, the future principal of Ruskin, when they both travelled to Yugoslavia in 1948 to help rebuild the Sarajevo railway line. They married the following year and began a family. Their partnership continued at Ruskin, where they both taught from the late 1950s. Mum set up the literature course, teaching generations of Ruskin students that politics, social justice and the essence of our humanity could all be understood and engaged with through literature, poetry and arts. She brought a Scottish element to Ruskin too, with many Burns suppers down the years. She left the Communist party in 1956, and was a Labour party member for the rest of her life.
Mum never saw herself as having retired. When she left Ruskin, she turned to helping older people, advising on the Better Government for Older People project. Finding that insufficiently ambitious, she came up with the Ransackers project (from the Gaelic rannsachadh– to rummage, research, explore) to allow people over 55 years old to undertake a research project of their choice at Ruskin and at Plater College, Oxford. She was on the board of her regional arts council, and enjoyed one year being a judge for the Olivier theatre awards.
In the last 20 years, Mum and Dad split their life between Edinburgh and Oxford. The Edinburgh festival was a highlight of her annual calendar. She was always engaged with the world around her – in her last weeks she was insisting she must be registered to vote in the Scottish referendum.
John died two weeks after her. She is survived by her four daughters, Katherine, Stella, Nicola and me, her brother, Ian, four granddaughters and four great-grandchildren.