Floyer Sydenham (17101 April 1787) was an English scholar of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

Origins

He was a younger son of Humphrey IV Sydenham (1672-1710) of

Combe, Dulverton Combe is a historic estate in Somerset, England, situated between the town of Dulverton and the village of Brushford. Descent Taunton Priory Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the estate was one of the possessions ...

in Somerset, by his second wife and first cousin Katherine Floyer, daughter of William Floyer of Berne in Dorset, descended from the ancient family of Floyer of

Floyer Hayes Floyer Hayes was an historic manor in the parish of St Thomas on the southern side of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, from which city it is separated by the River Exe.Risdon, 1811 Additions, p.374 It took its name from the ancient fam ...

near Exeter. Humphrey IV Sydenham and his wife Katherine Floyer were both grandchildren of Sir William Pole (1614-1649), Knight, eldest son of

Sir John Pole, 1st Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

(d.1658) of Shute in Devon.

Career

On 31 May 1727 at the age of 16 Sydenham matriculated at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

. s:Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Sydenham, Floyer In 1613 his great-grandfather Rev. Humphry II Sydenham (1591–1650), "Silver-Tongue Sydenham", of Combe, Dulverton, had become a Fellow of the newly founded Wadham College, founded posthumously by his fellow Somerset resident Nicholas II Wadham (1531–1609) and his wife. Humphry II Sydenham was the first to graduate as

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from that foundation on 3 December 1613. Floyer Sydenham gained his B.A. at Wadham College in 1731 and M.A. in 1734. In 1735 he was a

barrister-at-law A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

. He was a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

and sometime Moderator of Philosophy at Wadham College, and was later

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Ar ...

until 1744.

Literary works

He translated some of the

Dialogues of Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

into English, and wrote a dissertation on

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote ...

, which failed to win appreciation. He published ''Notes on Plato'', edited the Greater and Lesser Hippias; also a Dissertation on the Doctrine of Heraclitus, and ''Onomasticon Theologicum''. The translator Thomas Taylor wrote a widely published

panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc, ...

to Sydenham, and completed his work on the ''Dialogues''.

Death

He was so small a gainer in money by his works that he died in great poverty. He was imprisoned for a trifling debt, and died in prison on 1 April 1787. His sad fate is said to have led to the foundation of the

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

, due to "the sympathy aroused for poor authors by his death".

References

External links

Brief biography at uslegacies.org

Royal Literary Fund
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sydenham, Floyer British classical scholars 1710 births 1787 deaths People imprisoned for debt