Frederic James Edward Raby, CB, FSA, FBA (11 December 1888 – 30 October 1966) was an English Latinist, historian and government official. While working as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, he authored two seminal books on medieval Latin poetry which established his international reputation. After retiring from government work, he was a fellow of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

(1948–55).

Early life and education

Born in

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

, Raby was the son of Edward, a

grocer A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food preservation, packaged ...

with a classical education; the family moved to

Hoole Hoole is a suburb in the east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area is contiguous with Newton to the north and Vicars Cross to the south. The A41 road marks ...

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and Raby attended the King's School in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. He studied history at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, from 1907 to 1910, graduating with a double first.

Career

Civil service

He passed the entry examinations for HM Civil Service in 1911 and was appointed to HM Office of Works; there, his tasks included organising the protection of

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s. Taking an interest in

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excavations, he wrote pamphlets ang guidebooks on several sites of national importance. In 1927, he was promoted to Assistant Secretary, at which rank he remained until retirement in 1948. In recognition of his work, he had been appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

in 1934.

Scholarship and academia

Alongside his government work, Raby began his own researches; a project on the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

turned into an even larger one on Christian-Latin poetry. This became ''A History of Christian-Latin Poetry from the Beginnings to the Close of the Middle Ages'' (1927). He followed this up with the two-volume book ''A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages'' in 1934. He edited the poems of

John of Howden John of Howden OFM ( fl. 1268/9–1275), also known as John of Hoveden, was a 13th-century English Franciscan friar from the north of England, and for a time was chaplain to Queen Eleanor of Provence, wife of King Henry III of England. Works Jo ...

(published in 1939). As the classical scholar

Michael Lapidge Michael Lapidge, FBA (born 8 February 1942) is a scholar in the field of Medieval Latin literature, particularly that composed in Anglo-Saxon England during the period 600–1100 AD; he is an emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a Fellow of ...

has written, Raby "achieved an international reputation for his scholarship in the field of medieval Latin literature", which was "based principally" on his first two books. Having in 1941 been appointed to an honorary

fellowship 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 ...

, the Latinist Frederick Brittain (a fellow there) saw that after Raby retired from the civil service he was elected to a full fellowship at the college in 1948, which he held until 1955. During that time, he worked on revising ''Christian-Latin Poetry'' and ''Secular Latin Poetry''. In his last retirement, he authored ''The Oxford Book of Medieval Latin Verse'' in 1959. Raby was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1923 (serving as one of its vice-president from 1940 to 1946) and a fellow of the British Academy in 1941. He was awarded the DLitt by the University of Cambridge in 1942. As Lapidge also wrote, Raby "put the study of medieval Latin poetry on a professional level" for the first time in England. He died in 1966; his wife Joyce (''née'' Mason), with whom he had two children, had died 24 years earlier."Raby, Frederic James Edward"
''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'' (online ed.,

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, 2007). Retrieved 9 March 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raby, Frederic James Edward 1888 births 1966 deaths British Latinists Literary historians Scholars of Latin literature British civil servants Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the British Academy