G. E. M. de Ste. Croix

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He left school at the age of 15 and became an articled clerk in Worthing, West Sussex, England. This allowed him to train for a legal career without a degree in law, and he was admitted as a solicitor in 1932. He practised in Worthing and then in London, until he was called up for war service in 1940.

During this time Ste. Croix became interested in politics. Though he had had, according to himself, received a "thoroughly right-wing upbringing", he was drawn to the left. He visited Russia in 1935 or 1936, but moved away from Stalinism in 1938. He would later join the Labour Party.

In 1940, Ste. Croix was called up for military service in the Second World War. On 18 July 1941, he was commissioned in the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an acting pilot officer (on probation) with seniority from 12 June 1941. He was regraded as a pilot officer (on probation) on 18 September 1941. His commission was confirmed on 18 July 1942, and he was promoted to flying officer on 18 September 1942 with seniority in that rank from 12 August 1942. He job in the RAF was to interpret enemy radar signals to ascertain the location and destination of their aircraft. He served most of the War in the Middle East, stationed at Ismailia, Alexandria, and Cyrenaica: in Egypt he had the opportunity to expand his knowledge of ancient languages. An atheist, he fought for, and was eventually allowed, exemption from the required Sunday services.

In 1946, having been demobbed from the RAF, Ste. Croix matriculated into University College, London (UCL) to study ancient history: he preferred London over Oxbridge, because it offered a history course covering c. 3000BC to the death of Heraclius in AD641, not classics (with its focus on language and philosophy). His main tutor was A. H. M. Jones, the college's new chair of the Ancient History, who remained an influencing figure on Ste. Croix's work beyond his graduation. He graduated from University College, London with a first-class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1949. He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree by the University of Oxford in 1978.

In 1950, Ste. Croix was appointed assistant lecturer in ancient economic history at the London School of Economics. He also taught at Birkbeck College and UCL. He struggled to attract students to his courses and was embarrassed to be a lecturer in "a subject which no one was required or wished to study". In 1953, he was elected fellow and tutor in ancient history at New College, Oxford: he lived at Oxford for the rest of his life. Due to a long-standing agreement with his opposite number, C. E. Stevens, he led tutorials in Greek history for classicists from New College and Magdalen College, Oxford: Stevens, in return, taught Roman history. In 1964, he attempted to convince his college to become the first of Oxford's all-male colleges to accept women: he failed, but helped change attitudes through the university. Turning his hand to college administration, he served as Senior Tutor for a number of years. He also held a university lectureship, and gave lecture series in Greek History and topics such as slavery, finance, and food supply. He gave the J. H. Gray lectures at the University of Cambridge for the 1972/73 academic year: these lectures developed into The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World (1981). He retired from full-time academia in 1977 and was appointed Emeritus Fellow: he college elected him an Honorary Fellow in 1985.

In 1972, Ste. Croix was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. He was awarded the Deutscher Memorial Prize for 1982.

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