Gaisford Prize

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Gaisford Prize is a prize in the University of Oxford, founded in 1855 in memory of Dr Thomas Gaisford (1779–1855). For most of its history, the prize was awarded for Classical Greek Verse and Prose. The prizes now include the Gaisford Essay Prize and the Gaisford Dissertation Prize.

History

Dr Thomas Gaisford,

Dean of Christ Church, Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford for more than forty years (1811–1855), died on 2 June 1855. Ten days later, at a meeting held in Christ Church on 12 June, it was resolved to establish a prize in his honour, to be called the Gaisford Prize, and to raise for that purpose £1,000 by public subscription, the interest to be applied "to reward a successful prizeman or prizemen, under such regulations as shall be approved by Convocation".[1] The prizes were first awarded in 1857.[2]

There have been four categories of Gaisford Prize. The two original categories were:

By 2003 the Schedule to the University's Statutes and Regulations[5] provided for a different two prizes, which remained in the Schedule as of 2024:[6]

  • Gaisford Essay Prize for Greek Language and Literature, available to undergraduates
  • Gaisford Dissertation Prize for Greek or Latin Language and Literature, available to graduates

The 1857–1876 winners of the Greek Prose Prize were listed alongside winners of the Newdigate Prize on the wrapper of Oscar Wilde's published Newdigate-winning poem Ravenna (1878).[7]

Winners of the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse

Winners of the Gaisford Prize for Greek Prose

Winners of the Gaisford Essay Prize

  • 1996: Ben Rowland (Balliol).[38]
  • 1997: Nicholas Larkin (Brasenose).
  • 1998: No prize awarded (but honourably mentioned: David Hodgkinson, Balliol).[39]
  • 2007: Sarah Cullinan (Oriel).
  • 2008: Robert Colborn (New College).
  • 2009: Scott Liddle (New College).
  • 2014: Supratik Baralay (Wadham College).

Winners of the Gaisford Dissertation Prize

  • 1987:
    Richard Maxwell Gaskin (St Edmund Hall), Tragedy and Subjectivity in Virgil’s Aeneid.[64]
  • 1998: No prize awarded.[39]
  • 1999: Letizia Poli-Palladini (Balliol) and Tobias Reinhardt (Corpus Christi) jointly.[40]
  • 2002: Wolfgang David Cirilo de Melo (jointly), for work on the Latin verb system.[65]
  • 2008: Oliver Thomas (New College and Balliol).[66]
  • 2014: Thomas Nelson (University)
  • 2015: Ella Grunberger-Kirsh (Exeter)
  • 2017: Timothy Foot (Merton) and Elinor Garnett (Christ Church) jointly.[67]
  • 2021: Charles Baker (New College).[68]

Notable winning entries

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls it "an enchanting work".[69]

Bronze Medal. In a ceremony after the Games, Robertson recited an ode to athletic prowess which he had composed in Greek.[70]

Between 1953 and 1956, C. G. R. Leach won all four University prizes for composition in classical languages – the Gaisford Greek Verse and Prose prizes, and the Chancellor's Prizes for Latin Verse and Prose – while his brother J. H. C. Leach won three and was runner-up for a fourth.[3]

In fiction

In Max Beerbohm's satirical tragedy of undergraduate life at Oxford, Zuleika Dobson (1911), the hero, called the Duke of Dorset,[71] has won one of the Prizes:

At Eton he had been called "Peacock", and this nick-name had followed him up to Oxford. It was not wholly apposite, however. For, whereas the peacock is a fool even among birds, the Duke had already taken (besides a particularly brilliant First in Mods) the Stanhope, the Newdigate, the Lothian, and the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse.[72]

References

  1. Urban, Sylvanus, The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XLIV (July to December 1855) page 100
    online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 14 August 2008
  2. .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ a b c Oxford University Gazette, 23 June 1995 Archived 27 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine at ox.ac.uk, accessed 19 March 2024
  5. ^ "Schedule". University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 22 April 2003. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Part 18: Gaisford Fund". Schedule. University of Oxford. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  7. ) p. 241
  8. ^ Warner, J. H., Gaisford Prize: Greek Hexameters Recited in the Theatre, Oxford, June 24, MDCCCLVII (Oxford: T. and G. Shrimpton, 1857), online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 14 August 2008
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  10. ^ Luke, George R., Morte D'Arthur, The Gaisford Prize Poem: Recited in the Sheldonian Theatre, July 6, A. D. MDCCCLIX (Oxford: T. and G. Shrimpton, 1859), online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 14 August 2008
  11. ^ Chute, Chaloner W., Gaisford Prize: Greek Iambics Recited in the Theatre, Oxford, June 20, MDCCCLX (Oxford: T. and G. Shrimpton, 1860), online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 14 August 2008
  12. ^ Bryce, James, The May queen : a Greek idyll: Gaisford prize, Greek verse (Oxford: T. and G. Shrimpton, 1861, 7 pp.)
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  15. ^ Selected Poetry of Ernest Myers (1844–1921) Archived 2007-11-11 at the Wayback Machine at rpo.library.utoronto.ca, accessed 16 August 2008
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  24. ^ a b Foster, op. cit: "Russell, Cecil Henry St. Leger, born at Trinidad, West Indies, 18 April 1862 ; is. Richard, arm. TRINITY, matric. 15 Oct., 81, aged 19 (from Lancing coll.), scholar 81–5, B.A. 86, M.A. 88 (HONOURS: 2 classical mods. 82, Latin verse 82, Greek verse 83, Greek prose 84, 2 classics 85); a master at Clifton coll."
  25. ^ House, Harry Hammond, Gaisford Prize: Greek iambics (Oxford: B. H. Blackwell, 1884, 11 pp.)
  26. ^ Du Pontet, René L. A., Gaisford prize, 1889. Hexameter verse (Oxford: B. H. Blackwell, 1889, 15 pp.)
  27. ^ Foster, Joseph, Oxford men, 1880–1892, with a record of their schools, honours and degrees (1893) online at us.archive.org, accessed 18 August 2008: "Du-Pontet, Rene Louis Alphonse, born in London 27 Aug., 1868; is. Marc Jules Henri, cler. TRINITY, matric. 15 Oct., 87, aged 19 (from St. Paul's school), scholar 86, B.A. 91 (HONOURS : i classical mods. 89, 2 classics 91, Hertford scholarship 88, Greek verse 89, Taylorian (French) scholarship 89, Latin verse 90, Craven scholarship 90, Latin essay 92, Derby scholarship 92) ; a master at Winchester"
  28. ^ Cole, Edward L. D., Gaisford prize, 1896. Greek hexameters (Oxford, B. H. Blackwell, 1896, 13 pp.)
  29. ^ a b "University intelligence". The Times. No. 36771. London. 19 May 1902. p. 8.
  30. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, (online edition
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  31. ^ Hunter, Leslie Whitaker, Gaisford Prize for Greek elegiac verse, translation from Tennyson's Lotos-eaters (Oxford: Blackwell, 1906)
  32. ^ a b J. A. Emerton, 'Driver, Sir Godfrey Rolles (1892–1975)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
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  34. ^ Page, Denys Lionel, Tragic iambics: A translation of Masefield's Pompey the Great, Act 2, Scene I (Gaisford prize for Greek verse) (Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1928)
  35. ^ Lloyd-Jones, Hugh, 'Page, Sir Denys Lionel (1908–1978), classical scholar' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004)
  36. ^ Davidson, Brian, A translation of Addison's 'Cato', act IV, sc.iv, to act V, sc.1: Gaisford prize for Greek verse (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1930, 8 pp.)
  37. ^ 'BARRETT, (William) Spencer' in Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2007, online edition (subscription required) by Oxford University Press, December 2007: BARRETT, (William) Spencer, accessed 14 August 2008
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  42. ^ University, Oxford (2015). 2015-2016 - Vol 146. University of Oxford. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.25446/oxford.17298206.v1
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  44. ^ 'Exeter students win Classics prizes' at ox.ac.uk, accessed 12 October 2018
  45. ^ Exonian Wins Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse [1] at ox.ac.uk, accessed 18 May 2021
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  47. ^ a b Oxford University Gazette, 17 June 2021 at ox.ac.uk, accessed 17 June 2021
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  49. ^ Luke, George R., Nikais : a Greek dialogue on superstition, Gaisford prize, Greek prose (Oxford: T. and G. Shrimpton, 1858, 23 pp.)
  50. ^ Jones, Martin D. W., 'Bigg, Charles (1840–1908)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (online (subscription site), accessed 16 August 2008
  51. ^ Godley, John Arthur, Gaisford Prize: Phidias, or Concerning Sculpture: a Platonic dialogue (Oxford: T. and G. Shrimpton, 1870)
  52. ^ Jeans, George Edward, Gaisford Prize: Iceland: in Herodotean prose (Oxford: George Shrimpton, 1871, 19 pp. )
  53. ^ Bertie, David M., Scottish Episcopal Clergy, 1689–2000, p. 254: "FAUSSET, William Yorke, M.A. b. 1859... Gaisford Prize (Prose) 1880... D 1884, P 1887... Became headmaster of Ripon Grammar School, Yorks. in 1890"
  54. ^ Russell, Cecil Henry St Leger, Gaisford prize, Greek prose: The Athenian state: a platonic dialogue (Oxford & London: B. H. Blackwell, 1884)
  55. ^ Robertson, George Stuart, Herodotus in Britain, Gaisford prize for Greek prose (Oxford: Blackwell, 1895)
  56. ^ Powell, L. F., 'Chapman, Robert William (1881–1960)', rev. M. Clare Loughlin-Chow, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 online edn, May 2006 (subscription site), accessed 16 August 2008
  57. ^ Beazley, John Davidson, Herodotus at the Zoo (Oxford: Blackwell, reprinted 1911)
  58. ^ Known as Frank Hardie, later a Fellow of Magdalen and Corpus Christi and President of Corpus Christi from 1950 to 1969
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  61. ^ Griffith, John Godfrey, Tolstoy's 'Thou shalt not kill': Translated into Greek verse, Gaisford prize for Greek prose, 1936 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1936)
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  64. ^ "Richard Gaskin's CV" – via www.academia.edu.
  65. ^ de Melo, Wolfgang David Cirilo, The Early Latin Verb System, Preface, p. ix: "I should like to thank the anonymous committees that gave me the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse (jointly) and the Gaisford Dissertation Prize (jointly). The latter was for my 2002b article, which forms the basis of Ch. 6."
  66. ^ Oliver Thomas CV Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine at users.ox.ac.uk, accessed 16 August 2008
  67. ^ Oxford University Gazette, 6 July 2017 at ox.ac.uk, accessed 8 July 2017
  68. ^ Oxford University Gazette, 13 January 2022 accessed 21 July 2022
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  70. The Independent on Sunday
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  71. ^ Or in full, John Albert Edward Claude Orde Angus Tankerton Tanville-Tankerton, fourteenth Duke of Dorset, Marquis of Dorset, Earl of Grove, Earl of Chastermaine, Viscount Brewsby, Baron Grove, Baron Petstrap, and Baron Wolock
  72. ^ Beerbohm, Max, Zuleika Dobson online at fulltextarchive.com, accessed 10 August 2009

See also