Alfred John Church (29 January 1829 – 27 April 1912) was an English

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Church was born in London and was educated at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

. He took holy orders and was an assistant-master at Merchant Taylors' School from 1857-70. He subsequently served as headmaster of

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

Royal Grammar School from 1870–73, and then of King Edward VI School, Retford from 1873-80. From 1880 until 1888 he was professor of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. While at University College in partnership with William Jackson Brodribb, he translated

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

and edited Pliny's Letters (''Epistulae''). Church also wrote a number of stories in English re-telling of classical tales and legends for young people (Stories from

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, Stories from

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, etc.). He also wrote much Latin and English verse, and in 1908 published his ''Memories of Men and Books''. Church died in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

Publications

* ''Stories from the Bible'' (1890) * ''The Bible Examiner: Containing Various Prophetic Expositions''
Select Letters of Pliny the Younger
(1871); translated and edited by A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb

(1879)
Stories of the East from Herodotus
(1881)
Callias
(1891)
Lords of the World
(1897)
Roman life in the days of Cicero
(1883)
Stories from Livy
(1883)

(1880)
The Count of the Saxon Shore
(1887)
The Hammer
(1890)
The burning of Rome: or, a story of the days of Nero
(1891)

by Tacitus, Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb * (1895)
The Story of the Odyssey
(1892)
The Story of the Persian War
(1881) * The Laureate's Country (1891) - with illustrations from drawings by Edward Hull. * Stories from Ancient History (1907) - with illustrations by H. R. Millar. * The Faery Queen and Her Knights (1909)

Notes

References

External links

* * * 1829 births 1912 deaths Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford English classical scholars Schoolteachers from Oxfordshire Academics of University College London Classical scholars of the University of London Schoolteachers from Nottinghamshire Heads of schools in England {{UK-academic-bio-stub