Sir John Edwin Sandys ( "Sands"; 19 May 1844 – 6 July 1922) was an English
classical scholar
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
.
Life
Born in
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
, England on 19 May 1844, Sandys was the 4th son of Rev. Timothy Sandys (1803–1871) and Rebecca Swain (1800–1853). Living at first in India, Sandys returned to England at the age of eleven, and was educated at the
Church Missionary Society College, Islington
The Church Missionary Society Training College in Islington, north London was founded in 1820 to prepare Anglican missionaries of the Church Missionary Society for work overseas. Prior to the establishment of the College the CMS missionaries re ...
, then at
Repton School
Repton School is a 13–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, ...
. In 1863, he won a scholarship to
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...
.
On 17 August 1880, John married Mary Grainger Hall (1855–1937), daughter of Rev. Henry Hall (1820–1897),
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
of St Paul's Church in Cambridge. Mary was born in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, and she died in Vevey, Switzerland, where at the time of her death she was a resident of the Hotel du Lac. She made a bequest to the
Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge
The Museum of Classical Archaeology is a museum in Cambridge, run by the Faculty of Classics of the University of Cambridge, England. Since 1983, it has been located in a purpose-built gallery on the first floor of the Faculty of Classics on th ...
(founded in 1884) which was the basis of a fund known as the Museum of Classical Archaeology Endowment Fund. John and Mary had no children.
Sandys died on 6 July 1922 in Cambridge. He is buried in the
Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.
Works
Besides editing several Greek texts, Sandys published: ''An Easter Vacation in Greece'' (1886); a translation and enlargement (with
H. Nettleship) of
Oskar Seyffert's ''A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art'' (1891); and ''The Harvard Lectures on the Revival of Learning'' (1905). He is best known, however, for his ''A History of Classical Scholarship'' (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press) (3 vols.) (vol. 1, 1903; vols. 2 and 3, 1908). He was also supervising editor of ''A Companion to Latin Studies'' (1910; 2nd ed., 1913).
Recognition
Sandys obtained a Bell Scholarship and won several prizes for
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
prose. In 1867, he was elected Fellow at his college and was appointed to a lectureship, then later also a tutorship. He was elected
public orator in 1876, and was given the title ''orator emeritus'' when he retired in 1919. He was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
(1892),
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
(1909),
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
(1912) and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(1920). He was made a 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 ...
(1909)
British Academy Fellowship record
and a Commander in the Greek Order of the Saviour
The Order of the Redeemer ( el, Τάγμα του Σωτήρος, translit=Tágma tou Sotíros), also known as the Order of the Saviour, is an order of merit of Greece. The Order of the Redeemer is the oldest and highest decoration awarded by the ...
. He was knighted in 1911.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandys, John Edwin
1844 births
1922 deaths
People from Leicester
People educated at Repton School
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
Cambridge University Orators
Fellows of the British Academy
Knights Bachelor
English classical scholars
Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics
Alumni of the Church Missionary Society College, Islington
Latin epigraphers
English male writers