Bulkeley Bandinel (21 February 1781 – 6 February 1861) was a British scholar, ecclesiastic and
librarian
A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users.
The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...
.
Early life
He was born in the parish of
St Peter-in-the-East,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, first-born son of Rev. Dr.
James Bandinel of Netherbury
James Bandinel (1733 – 17 November 1804) was a British scholar and cleric.
Life
He was born in the parish of St Martin, on the Channel Island of Jersey, second son of George Bandinel by his second wife, Elizabeth Lempriere. Educated at Wi ...
by his wife, Margaret (née Dumaresq). His ancestors, originally from Italy, had moved to Jersey early in the seventeenth century. His father was the first of the family to settle in England.
[Clapinson, Mary (2004).]
Bandinel, Bulkeley (1781–1861)
. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biograph''y. Bulkeley was named after his father's friend,
Viscount Bulkeley of Cashel.
Educated at
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
under
Richard Valpy
Richard Valpy (7 December 1754 – 28 March 1836) was a British schoolmaster and priest of the Church of England.
Life and career
Valpy was born the eldest son of Richard and Catherine Valpy in Jersey. He was sent to schools in Normandy and ...
and then at
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...
, Bandinel entered
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...
, in 1800 (B.A. 1805, M.A. 1807, B.D. and D.D. 1823) and was a Fellow there until 1813. He was ordained as a priest in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
in 1805.
Career
During Admiral Sir
James Saumarez
Admiral of the Red James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez (or Sausmarez), GCB (11 March 1757 – 9 October 1836) was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, known for his victory at the Second Battle of Algeciras.
Early life
Saumarez was b ...
's Baltic campaign of 1808, Bandinel served a short while as chaplain on board . Returning, he settled in Oxford and rose within the university's ranks. From 1810 he was Sub-Librarian of the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
under his godfather
John Price, and rose to become
Bodley's Librarian
The head of the Bodleian Library, the main library at the University of Oxford, is known as Bodley's Librarian: Sir Thomas Bodley, as founder, gave his name to both the institution and the position. Although there had been a university library at ...
in 1813 upon Price's death. It was a position he held until his own death in 1861. Bandinel was Dean of New College and
Proctor
Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another.
The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts:
* In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...
of the university in 1814, and a Delegate of the
University Press
A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by scholars ...
from 1813.
In addition, his clerical posts included curacies at nearby
Wytham
Wytham ( ) is a village and civil parish on the Seacourt Stream, a branch of the River Thames, about northwest of the centre of Oxford. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the Oxford Ring Road ( A34). The nearest village is ...
from 1816, and at
Albury, Oxfordshire, from 1820. In 1822 he was promoted to the rectory of
St Andrew's Church,
Haughton-le-Skerne
Haughton-le-Skerne is a village in the borough of Darlington in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated in the north east of Darlington. The village lies to the west of the River Skerne.
At the centre of the village green, ...
formerly held by his brother-in-law,
Thomas Le Mesurier. But Bandinel, occupied with administering the Bodleian and paying from his own purse for bold acquisitions of rare books and manuscripts, rarely visited his living in the North and the parish was run by a curate in his place.
The Bodleian's collections increased greatly under his direction and his knowledge of literary circles was rarely seconded. His patience with both ill-informed library visitors and colleagues would often run thin, many a guest falling victim to his short temper, but it is said that his courtesy was guaranteed to anyone of note who wished to consult him. He was one of the three contributors to
Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica is an eight-volume miscellany of previously unpublished material related to genealogy collated by Sir Frederic Madden (1801–1873), Rev. Bulkeley Bandinel (1781–1861) and John Gough Nichols (1806–1873), ...
.
Macray in his ''Annals of the Bodleian Library''
[Macray's Annals of the Bodleian Library] recounts that Bandinel resigned his librarianship in 1860 "after forty-seven years of office as in the capacity of Head, and a total of fifty of work in the Library... At the age of seventy-nine the natural infirmities of age were felt by himself to incapacitate him for the duties which he had so long and so regularly discharged; while at the same time the continually increasing pressure of work and requirements of the Library made those duties much more onerous than they had been even a quarter of a century before." He gave way to his subordinate,
Henry Octavius Coxe
Henry Octavius Coxe (20 September 1811 in Bucklebury, Berkshire, England – 8 July 1881 in Oxford) was an English librarian and scholar.
The eighth son of Rev. Richard Coxe and Susan Smith, he was educated at Westminster School and Worcester ...
.
Personal life
Bandinel married Mary Phillips, daughter of John Phillips of
Culham
Culham is a village and civil parish in a bend of the River Thames, south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The parish includes Culham Science Centre and Europa School UK (formerly the European School, Culham, which was the only Accredited Europea ...
,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
in 1813. He died in 1861 at his home in Oxford.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandinel, Bulkeley
1781 births
1861 deaths
People from Oxford
People educated at Reading School
People educated at Winchester College
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Fellows of New College, Oxford
Bodley's Librarians
19th-century English Anglican priests
Burials at St Sepulchre's Cemetery