John Percival Postgate, FBA (24 October 1853 – 15 July 1926) was an English classicist and professor of Latin at the University of Liverpool from 1909 to 1920. He was a member of the

Postgate family The Postgate family is an English family that has been notable in a variety of different fields. It originated in the North York Moors and records go back to land held by Postgates in 1200. Fields and a farm bearing the name still exist. The nam ...

. Born in Birmingham, the son of John Postgate, he was educated at King Edward's School where he became head boy. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read classics, being elected a Fellow in 1878. He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1886. He established himself as a creative editor of Latin poetry with published editions of

Propertius Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium and died shortly after 15 BC. Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of ''Elegies'' ('). He was a friend of the poets Gallus a ...

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

, Tibullus and

Phaedrus Phaedrus may refer to: People * Phaedrus (Athenian) (c. 444 BC – 393 BC), an Athenian aristocrat depicted in Plato's dialogues * Phaedrus (fabulist) (c. 15 BC – c. AD 50), a Roman fabulist * Phaedrus the Epicurean (138 BC – c. 70 BC), an Epic ...

. His major work was the two-volume ''Corpus Poetarum Latinorum'', a triumph of editorial organisation. An influential work was his often reprinted "The New Latin Primer", 1888, much used in British schools over subsequent decades. While at Cambridge, he edited the ''

Classical Review The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, aimed at developing classical study and promoting its importance in education. Constitution The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are de ...

'' and the ''

Classical Quarterly The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, aimed at developing classical study and promoting its importance in education. Constitution The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are de ...

'' while holding the chair of comparative philology at University College, London. In 1909, reconciled that the Cambridge Chair would go to

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

, as it did in 1911, Postgate opted to become Professor of Latin at Liverpool. He retired to Cambridge in 1920. On 14 July 1926 he was injured in a cycling accident and died of his injuries the following day.

Family

He married his graduate student Edith Allen and they had six children among whom were Raymond Postgate (a journalist, historian, novelist and food writer), and Margaret Cole (a Fabian politician); he was grandfather to the

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

and

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

Oliver Postgate, and the

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

John Postgate FRS (1922–2014),

Published works

* ''The New Latin Primer'' (London, 1888) * ''Sermo Latinus. A Short Guide to Latin Prose Composition'' (London, 1889; revised and enlarged ed. 1913) * (ed.) ''Corpus Poetarum Latinorum,'' 2 vols. (London, 1905–1920) * (ed.) ''Tibulli Aliorumque Carminum Libri Tres.'' Oxford Classical Texts (Oxford, 1905) * (1908) * (ed. and tr., with F.W. Cornish and J.W. Mackail) ''Catullus, Tibullus and Pervigilium Veneris.'' Loeb Classical Library (London, 1912) * (ed. with notes) ''M. Annaei Lucani De Bello Civili Liber VII'' (Cambridge, 1917; rev. ed. by O.A.W. Dilke, Bristol, 1978) * (ed. with notes) ''M. Annaei Lucani De Bello Civili Liber VIII'' (Cambridge, 1917) * ''Translation and Translations. Theory and Practice'' (London, 1922) * ''Prosodia Latina. An Introduction to Classical Latin Verse'' (Oxford, 1923) * ''A Short Guide to the Accentuation of Ancient Greek'' (Liverpool, 1924) * (ed.) ''Phaedri Fabulae Aesopiae.'' Oxford Classical Texts (Oxford, 1934)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Postgate, John Percival 1853 births 1926 deaths English classical scholars People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Classical scholars of the University of Cambridge Classical scholars of the University of Liverpool Scholars of Latin literature English male writers John Percival Fellows of the British Academy Members of the American Philosophical Society Presidents of the Classical Association

Family

Published works

References

Further reading

External links