Dorothy Walbank was born on 31 May 1939 in Liverpool, the daughter of Professor Frank William Walbank and Mary Woodward Fox. She was educated at Birkenhead High School and came up to Girton to read Classics 1958-1961. After completing a PGCE in Bristol she returned to Girton in 1962 as a research student working on Hellenistic Egypt. She gained her MA in 1965 and her PhD in 1966. She was appointed the Eugenie Strong Research Fellow and a College Lecturer in Classics and History in 1965, and became an Official Fellow and Lecturer in Classics and History in 1968. She directed studies in Classics 1983 -2006. She was Graduate Tutor (Arts) 1971-1981 and Senior Tutor 1981-1982 and held various other College posts. She was a Newton Trust Lecturer in the Faculty of Classics, lecturing mainly in the field of ancient history. On her retirement in 2006 she was elected a Life Fellow of Girton. She was President of the Cambridge Classics Association, 1987-90; President of the International Association of Papyrologists, 2001-07; and is a Fellow of the British Academy. She was also actively involved in the development of the Lawrence Room, Girton College’s museum. She was awarded an Hon D.Litt by Liverpool University in July 2013.