Obituary: Tony Morphet, academic and activist

Born in the small town of Kokstad, Mr Morphet was the youngest child of William and Mary (nee Chapman) Morphet, of Nether Lodge Farm, Ribblehead. William had taken over the sheep business run by his parents, James and Annie Morphet, but had sailed to Africa because Mary told him she did not want to be a Yorkshre farmer’s wife.

Tony’s studies took him to the University of Natal, and at 17, he joined South Africa’s short-lived Liberal Party. After graduating, he moved to England with his first wife, Catherine Shallis, and they had a daughter, Alexandra.

He spent time as a literature teacher at Cranleigh School, in Surrey, and gained a degree from the University of London – also visiting his family’s old farm in the Dales – before returning in 1963 to South Africa to take up a position at Natal University. He was one of the young lecturers whose teaching challenged the country’s political status quo and energised the students, and in a landmark move, he persuaded the department to add JM Coetzee’s explosive anti-colonial novel Dusklands to the curriculum. He soon became a sought-after reviewer and commentator on the changing South African landscape.

In 1968 he married Fionna Dodds Miller and they had two children, Medina and Bruno. He is survived by his partner, his children and a brother.