Thomas Bertram Wallace Reid (10 July 1901 – 30 August 1981), more commonly referred to as T. B. W. Reid, was a British Romance philologist from Armagh,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

who spent most of his life in England. He was a professor at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

and was

Professor of the Romance Languages The Professorship of the Romance Languages is a statutory chair at the University of Oxford. The first courses in Romance languages were offered by Max Müller in the 1850s and the Selbourne Commission proposed the establishment of a Professorship ...

at 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 ...

between 1958 and 1968. Reid coined the term "

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

" in 1956 to describe how people use language differently in different social situations.

Life

Thomas Bertram Wallace Reid was born in Armagh,

in 1901. His parents, Thomas Ebeneezer Reid (1869–1948) and Annie M. Reid (1876–1941), were Presbyterian Christians, and his father worked for

Armagh County Council Armagh County Council was the authority responsible for local government in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. History Armagh County Council was formed under orders issued in accordance with the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 which came into e ...

. Reid taught at the University of Manchester for much of his early career before moving to

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 ...

, where he was the Professor of the Romance Languages between 1958 and 1968. Reid was the president of the

Anglo-Norman Text Society The Anglo-Norman Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1937 by Professor Mildred K. Pope. The founding aim of the society was to promote the study of Anglo-Norman language and Anglo-Norman literature by facilitating the publicat ...

(ANTS), a society founded by fellow Romance philologist Mildred K. Pope to promote the study of

Anglo-Norman literature Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language ** Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1 ...

. Reid's edition of ''The Romance of Horn'' was published through the society. After retiring from academic duties in 1968, Reid remained involved with ANTS, primarily by editing texts for publication. During the 1970s, he helped to edit the Anglo-Norman Dictionary, and he completed a study of ''The Tristan of

Béroul Béroul was a Norman or Breton poet of the 12th century. He wrote ''Tristan'', a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult of which a certain number of fragments (approximately 3000 verses) have been preserved; it is the earlies ...

'', which was published in 1972. Reid died from cancer on 30 August 1981, aged 80. One obituary described Reid as "one of the outstanding philologists of istime". After Reid's death, ANTS published a memorial volume in his honour.

Selected works

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, T. B. W. 1901 births 1981 deaths British academics Romance philologists Academics of the University of Manchester Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford