Sir Humphrey Sumner Milford (8 February 1877 – 6 September 1952) was an English publisher and editor who from 1913 to 1945 was publisher to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and head of the London operations of

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(OUP).

Overview

In this work, he made OUP a major worldwide publisher of noteworthy books, music, and educational material for the general public, complementing the scholarly work of the

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in Oxford. Milford himself edited volumes of works of

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

William Cowper William Cowper ( ; 26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scen ...

, and

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centr ...

; and was principal editor of ''The Oxford Book of Regency Verse'' (later ''The Oxford Book of Romantic Verse'') and a moving force behind the ''

Oxford Dictionary of Quotations ''The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations'', first published by the Oxford University Press in 1941, is an 1,100-page book listing short quotations that are common in English language and culture. The 8th edition was published for print and online ...

.'' Upon publication of the final volume of the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'' in 1928, he was among those awarded an honorary D.Litt. by the University. He was knighted in 1936. His elder son by his first marriage was the composer

Robin Milford Robin Humphrey Milford (22 January 1903 – 29 December 1959) was an English composer and music teacher. Biography Milford was born in Oxford, son of Sir Humphrey Milford, publisher with Oxford University Press. He attended Rugby School ...

(1903–1959); his younger son was the racket and hockey player David Milford (1905–1984). His sister Violet Alice Milford was the mother of the poet and scholar

Anne Ridler Anne Barbara Ridler OBE (née Bradby) (30 July 1912 – 15 October 2001) was a British poet and Faber and Faber editor, selecting the Faber ''A Little Book of Modern Verse'' with T. S. Eliot (1941). Her ''Collected Poems'' (Carcanet Press ...

(1912–2001). In summing up his work, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' of London cited his “unfailing catholicity”, “nose for a good book”, and “rare sense of the practicable”."Sir Humphrey Milford" bituary/ref>

References

Sources

* Chatterjee, Rimi B. ''Empires of the Mind: A History of the Oxford University Press in India under the Raj.'' New Delhi: OUP (), 2006. * Maw, Martin. "Milford, Sir Humphrey Sumner". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.'' Volume 38. Oxford: OUP (), 2004. * Norrington, A. L. P. “Milford, Sir Humphrey Sumner”. ''Dictionary of National Biography.'' Seventh Supplement. London: OUP, 1971. * "Sir Humphrey Milford" bituary ''The Times ondon'. No. 52,411 (September 8, 1952), p. 6. * Sutcliffe, Peter. ''The Oxford University Press: An Informal History.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press (), 1978. 1877 births 1952 deaths Oxford University Press people English editors Publishers (people) from London {{editor-stub