John Conington
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (February 2012) |
John Conington | |
---|---|
Born | 10 August 1825 |
Died | 23 October 1869 Classical scholar | (aged 44)
Sub-discipline | |
Institutions | University College, Oxford Corpus Christi College, Oxford |
John Conington (10 August 1825 – 23 October 1869) was an
Early life and education
Conington was born on 10 August 1825 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, to the Revd Richard Conington and Jane (née Thirkhill).[2] He is said to have learned the alphabet at fourteen months, and to have been reading well at three and a half.[1] He was educated at Beverley Grammar School, an all-boys grammar school in Beverley, Yorkshire, and at Rugby School, an all-boys independent boarding school in Rugby, Warwickshire.[2]
On 30 June 1843, Conington
Career
In February 1848, Conington elected a
During his brief residence in
In 1852, Conington was an unsuccessful candidate for the Professorship of Greek at the University of Edinburgh.[2] In 1854, he was elected the first Corpus Christi Professor of Latin, based Corpus Christi College, Oxford.[1] From this time he confined himself with characteristic conscientiousness almost exclusively to Latin literature. The only important exception was the translation of the last twelve books of the Iliad in the Spenserian stanza in completion of the work of P.S. Worsley, and this was undertaken in fulfilment of a promise made to his dying friend.[1]
Works
Conington's edition of Persius, with commentary and a prose translation was published posthumously in 1872. In the same year appeared his Miscellaneous Writings, edited by John Addington Symonds, with a memoir by Henry John Stephen Smith (see also Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro in Journal of Philology, ii., 1869).
In 1852 Conington began, in conjunction with Goldwin Smith, a complete edition of Virgil with a commentary, of which the first volume appeared in 1858, the second in 1864, and the third soon after his death. Goldwin Smith was compelled to withdraw from the work at an early stage, and in the last volume his place was taken by Henry Nettleship.
Conington's other editions are:
Views
Known to be sympathetic to Radical political causes such as
First came the invitation to breakfast; then if the undergraduate pleased him, an invitation to walk: then more breakfasts and more walks: then, if the young man had survived this ordeal … perhaps an invitation to join a reading party in the Long [Vacation]. The final stage of intimacy was the fixing of a particular day in the week to walk with a particular man. To this last both Green and I at length attained, Green’s day being Monday and mine Wednesday.
— The Politics of Conscience[3]
In 1854, he had a personal and spiritual crisis. He began to attend chapel assiduously, only read religious books on Sundays, and to espouse conservative political views. He also became a follower of
Personal life
Conington never married nor had any children.[2]
On 23 October 1869, Conington died in Boston, Lincolnshire, following an illness caused by "a malignant pustule on the lip". He was aged 44. He was buried at Fishtoft, Lincolnshire.[2]
The Conington Prize, an award for the best dissertation by an undergraduate in the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, was named in his honour.[2]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 942.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6079. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Quoted in M. Richter, The Politics of Conscience (1964), p. 76.
External links
- Works by John Conington at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about John Conington at Internet Archive
- Works by John Conington at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)