William John Courthope

William John Courthope, CB, FBA (17 July 1842 – 10 April 1917) was an English writer and historian of poetry, whose father was rector of South Malling, Sussex.

Life

From Harrow School he went to New College, Oxford; took first-classes in classical moderations and greats; and won the Newdigate prize for poetry (1864) and the Chancellors English essay (1868). He seemed destined for distinction as a poet, his volume of Ludibria Lunae (1869) being followed in 1870 by the remarkably fine Paradise of Birds. But a certain academic quality of mind seemed to check his output in verse and divert it into the field of criticism.^[1]

Apart from many contributions to the higher journalism, his literary career is associated mainly with his continuation of the edition of Pope's works, begun by Whitwell Elwin, which appeared in ten volumes from 1871 to 1889; his life of Addison (Men of Letters series, 1882); his Liberal Movement in English Literature (1885); and his tenure of the professorship of Poetry at Oxford (1895–1901), which resulted in his elaborate History of English Poetry (the first volume appearing in 1895), and his Life in Poetry (1901).^[1] He published a selection from Martial's Epigrams in 1914, and a volume of verse, The Country Town and other Poems, appeared in 1920.^[2]

He dealt with the history of English poetry as a whole, and in its unity as a result of the national spirit and thought in succeeding ages, and attempted to bring the great poets into relation with this. In 1887 he was appointed a civil service commissioner, being first commissioner in 1892, and being made a CB. He was made an honorary fellow of his old college at Oxford in 1896, and was given the honorary degrees of D.Litt. by Durham in 1895 and of LL.D. by Edinburgh University in 1898.^[1]

His daughter, Katharine Courthope, married Reverend Charles Fiennes Cholmondeley (born 26 Nov 1863, d. Dec 1959).^[3]

References

1. Chisholm 1911.
2. Chisholm 1922.
3. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Courthope, William John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 327.
•  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Courthope, William John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 770.

External links

• Works by William John Courthope at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about William John Courthope at the Internet Archive

Government offices
Preceded by Sir George Webbe Dasent	First Civil Service Commissioner 1892–1907	Succeeded by Lord Francis Hervey