John Percy Vyvian Dacre Balsdon (born 4 November 1901 at Bideford

Bideford

Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...

 (Devon); died 18 September 1977) was an English ancient historian.

After attending Exeter School

Exeter School

Exeter School is a selective independent co-educational day school for pupils between the ages of 7 and 18 located in Exeter, Devon, England. In 2010 there were around 180 pupils in the Junior School and 670 in the Senior School...

, he studied at Exeter College

Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...

 in Oxford, where he taught Ancient History from 1927 to 1969. Since 1967, he was a member of the British Academy

British Academy

The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...

. His research was primarily in Roman History. He also wrote novels using the name Dacre Balsdon; his academic works gave his name as J. P. V. D. Balsdon.

Further reading

• P. A. Brunt
  Peter Brunt
  Peter Astbury Brunt FBA was an ancient historian at Oxford University....
  
  : John Percy Vyvian Dacre Balsdon, 1901-1977, in: Proceedings of the British Academy 65, 1981, pp. 573–586 (PDF).