Emma Dench Emma Dench Emma Dench is an English ancient historian, classicist, and academic. She has been McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University since 2014, and Dean of its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences since 2018. She was previously Professor of Ancient History at Birkbeck College, University of London, and then Professor of Classics and of History at Harvard. Dench was born in York, Yorkshire, England, and grew up near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. Her father was Jeffery Dench, a Shakespearean actor, and her mother, Betty, was a speech therapist. Her paternal aunt is Judi Dench, an award-winning film
Knight the surname. So, Elton John may be called "Sir Elton" or "Sir Elton John", but never "Sir John". Similarly, actress Judi Dench DBE may be addressed as "Dame Judi" or "Dame Judi Dench", but never "Dame Dench". Wives of knights, however, are entitled to the honorific pre-nominal "Lady" before their husband's surname. Thus Sir Paul McCartney's ex-wife was formally styled "Lady McCartney" (rather than "Lady Paul McCartney" or "Lady Heather McCartney"). The style "Dame Heather McCartney" could be used for the wife of a knight; however, this style is largely archaic and is only used in the most formal of