Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers, (16 March 1866 – 21 January 1954), usually known as E. K. Chambers, was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
literary critic and
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
an scholar. His four-volume work on ''The Elizabethan Stage'', published in 1923, remains a standard resource.
Life
Chambers was born in
West Ilsley,
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
. His father was a
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
there and his mother the daughter of a
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
theologian. He was educated at
Marlborough College
Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...
, before matriculating at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...
.
He won a number of prizes, including the chancellor's prize in English for an essay on literary
forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
in 1891. He took a job with the national education department, and married Eleanor Bowman in 1893.
In the newly created Board of Education, Chambers worked principally to oversee adult and continuing education.
He rose to be second secretary, but the work for which he is remembered took place outside the office, at least before he retired from the Board in 1926. He was the first president of the
Malone Society
The Malone Society is a British-based text publication and general scholarly society devoted to the study of 16th- and early 17th-century drama. It publishes editions of plays from manuscript, facsimile editions of printed and manuscript plays of ...
, serving from 1906 to 1939.
He edited collections of verse for Oxford University Press. He produced a work on
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
and a privately printed collection of poems.
However, Chambers's great work, begun even before he left Oxford and pursued for three decades, was an extensive examination of the history and conditions of English theatre in the medieval and Renaissance periods. It was published in three bursts. ''The Medieval Stage'', issued in 1903, offered a comprehensive survey of medieval theatre, covering not only the fairly well-known interludes, but also the then-obscure folk drama,
minstrelsy, and
liturgical drama
Liturgical drama refers to medieval forms of dramatic performance that use stories from the Bible or Christian hagiography.
The term was widely disseminated by well-known theater historians like Heinrich Alt (''Theater und Kirche'', 1846), E.K. C ...
. ''The Elizabethan Stage'' followed after two decades. The work, though it contained less original discovery than its predecessor, was often referenced to describe the material conditions of
English Renaissance theatre.
It is no longer considered reliable, since Chambers misrepresents the
royal household as an organizational entity in general, and the duties of the
Master of Revels
The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberlain. ...
, in particular. In 1930 came at last the two-volume work on Shakespeare, which collected and analysed the extant evidence of Shakespeare's work and life.
Current scholarship does not consider the relationship between "liturgical drama" and stage performance to have been as strong as Chambers claims.
In his retirement, Chambers produced works on
Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
(1938) and
Matthew Arnold (1947).
After moving to
Eynsham
Eynsham is an English village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, about north-west of Oxford and east of Witney. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 4,648. It was estimated at 5,0 ...
,
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 ...
, he returned to medieval history, producing a volume in the Oxford history and a local study of Eynsham. He died on 21 January 1954 at
Beer, Devon, at the age of 87.
Chambers was invested as a Companion of the
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...
in 1912,
KBE
KBE may refer to:
* Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters
* Knowledge-based engineering
Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...
in 1925.
In 1924, he was elected fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
and his biography ''Samuel Taylor Coleridge'' was awarded the 1938
James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
He was a member of the
Athenæum.
Works
''The History and Motives of Literary Forgeries''(1891)
*''Poems of John Donne'' (1896, editor)
*''The Tragedy of Coriolanus'' (1898, editor)
*''The Mediaeval Stage'' (2 volumes, 1903)
Vol. IVol. II
*''Early English Lyrics'' (1907, editor)
*''Carmina Argentea'' (1918, poems)
*''The Elizabethan Stage'' (4 volumes, 1923)
Vol. IVol. IIVol. IIIVol. IV
''Shakespeare: A Survey''
(1925)
*''Arthur of Britain'' (1927)
*''William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems'' (2 volumes; 1930)
Vol. I
*''The Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse'' (1932, editor)
*''The English Folk-play'' (1933)
*''Sir Henry Lee'' (1936)
*''Eynsham Under the Monks'' (1936)
*''Sir Thomas Wyatt and Some Collected Studies'' (1937)
*''Samuel Taylor Coleridge: a biographical study'' (1938)
*''Shakespearean Gleanings'' (1941)
*''English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages'' (1945)
*''Matthew Arnold'' (1947).
References
Further reading
*Wilson, John Dover. "Obituary of Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers 1866–1954." ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' 42 (1956).
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Edmund Kerchever
1866 births
1954 deaths
People from West Berkshire District
People educated at Marlborough College
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Historians of theatre
Shakespearean scholars
Companions of the Order of the Bath
People from Eynsham
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients
Arthurian scholars
Fellows of the British Academy
Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
British literary critics