Thomas Gaisford (22 December 17792 June 1855) was an English classical scholar and clergyman. He served as Dean of Christ Church from 1831 until his death.

Early life

Gaisford was born at

Iford Manor Iford Manor () is a manor house in Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building sitting on the steep, south-facing slope of the Frome valley, in Westwood parish, about southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon. Its Grade I register ...

, Wiltshire, and educated at Hyde Abbey School, Winchester before entering the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

in 1797,

Academic career

At Oxford, he became successively student and tutor of Christ Church. In 1811, he was appointed Regius Professor of Greek in the University. Taking orders, he held (1815–1847) the college living of Westwell, Oxfordshire, and other ecclesiastical preferments simultaneously with his professorship. In 1829, he was offered the position of

Bishop of Oxford The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his elect ...

, but he turned it down. From 1831 until his death, he was Dean of Christ Church. As curator of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

and principal delegate of the

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 book ...

, Gaisford was instrumental in securing the co-operation of distinguished European scholars as collators, notably Bekker and Dindorf. Among his numerous contributions to Greek literature may be mentioned,

Hephaestion Hephaestion ( grc, Ἡφαιστίων ''Hephaistíon''; c. 356 BC – October 324 BC), son of Amyntor, was an ancient Macedonian nobleman and a general in the army of Alexander the Great. He was "by far the dearest of all the ...

's ''Encheiridion'' (1810); ''Poëtae minores Graeci'' (1814–1820); Stobaeus' ''Florilegium'' (1822);

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

, with variorum notes (1824); Suidas's '' Lexicon'' (1834); ''

Etymologicum Magnum ''Etymologicum Magnum'' ( grc, Ἐτυμολογικὸν Μέγα, ) (standard abbreviation ''EM'', or ''Etym. M.'' in older literature) is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicograp ...

'' (1848).

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christ ...

's '' Praeparatio evangelica'' (1843) and ''Demonstratio evangelica'' (1852). Thomas Edward Brown "won a double first, however, and was elected a fellow of Oriel in April 1854, Dean homasGaisford having refused to promote him to a senior studentship of his own college, on the ground that no servitor had ever before attained to that honour. Although at that time an Oriel fellowship conferred a deserved distinction, Brown never took kindly to the life, but, after a few terms of private pupils, returned to the Isle of Man as vice-principal of his old school."

Personal life

On 11 May 1815 Gaisford married Helen Margaret Douglas (1791–1830) the daughter of the Rev. Robert Douglas. They had five children. After she died in 1830, he married Jane Catharine Jenkyns (1787–1863); she was the sister of Dr Richard Jenkyns, master of Balliol College and Dr Henry Jenkyns. On 23 June 1843, Gaisford's 21-year-old son, William Gaisford, drowned while swimming in the river Thames at

Sandford Lock Sandford Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, situated at Sandford-on-Thames which is just south of Oxford. The first pound lock was built in 1631 by the Oxford-Burcot Commission although this has since been rebuilt. The lock ...

, a notoriously dangerous spot. He got into difficulties and his friend, Richard Phillimore (the son of

Joseph Phillimore Joseph Phillimore (1775–1855) was an English civil lawyer and politician, Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford from 1809. Life The eldest son of Joseph Phillimore, vicar of Orton on the Hill, Leicestershire, by Mary, daughter of John Mac ...

), entered the water to save him. However, both men perished. They are buried in Christ Church Cathedral. They are commemorated by an obelisk at Sandford Lock and two memorial tablets in the north walk of the Cathedral cloisters.

Legacy

The

Gaisford Prize The Gaisford Prize is a prize in the University of Oxford, founded in 1855 in memory of Dr Thomas Gaisford (1779–1855). For most of its history, the prize was awarded for Classical Greek Verse and Prose. The prizes now include the Gaisford Ess ...

was founded in Gaisford's honour in 1856, shortly after his death. Gaisford Street in

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...

, north London, was named in his honour.

Works

*
Εὐριπιδου Ἀλκηστις. Euripidis Alcestis, ex optimis exemplaribus expressa...
', 1806 *
Hephæstionis Alexandrini Enchiridion
',1810 * ''Catalogus sive notitia manuscriptorum qui a cel. E. D. Clarke ...'', 181
Volume 1/2
*
Lectiones Platonicae e membranis Bodleianis
', 1820 * ''Poetae graeci minores'', 5 voll., 2ª ed., Lipsia, 1816-1823
vol.Ivol.IIvol.IIIvol. Ivol.IIvol. IIIvol.IV
* ''Iōannou Stobaiou Anthologion'', 182
vol.1vol. 2vol.3vol. 4
* ''Notes on Herodotus'', 182
Vol. 1
* ''Hērodotou Halikarnēssēos Historiōn logoi IX.: Lib. I-IV - Historiarum libri IX: codicem sancrofti manuscriptum denuo contulit reliquam lectionis varietatem commodius digessit'', 1824-183
vol.1vol. IIvol. IV
* ''Scholia in Sophoclis tragoedias septem. E codice MS. Laurentiano descripsit P. Elmsley, ...'', 1825 *
Ēphastiōnos encheiridion peri metrōn kai poiēmatōn
', 1832 * ''Suidae Lexicon'', 183
vol.1vol.3
* ''Paroemiographi graeci'', 1836 * ''Etymologicum magnum'', 1848* * ''Ioannis Stobaei Eclogarum physicarum et ethicarum libri duo ad mss ...'', 185
Volume 2
* ''Suidae Lexicon, Graece et Latine'', 185
vol.1vol.2

Quotations

* "Nor can I do better, in conclusion, than impress upon you the study of Greek literature, which not only elevates above the vulgar herd, but leads not infrequently to positions of considerable emolument." –Th. Gaisford, Christmas Day Sermon in the Cathedral, Oxford (Rev. W. Tuckwell, ''Reminiscences of Oxford'', 2nd ed., 1907, p. 124) * "It was said that Gaisford, on his visit to Germany, had some difficulty in escaping from the 'umarmung' ug, embraceof some of its scholars, exclaiming (in the apprehension of a 'kuss' isson both cheeks) 'Ohe ! jam satis, amice'." G.V. Cox, ''Recollections of Oxford'', London : Macmillan, 1870, p. 411, fn. 3. 'Ohe ! jam amsatis, amice' means idiomatically : 'Oh, that's quite enough, my friend.' The quotation derives with amendment from Abraham Cowley's ''Naufragium Joculare'' oculare('The Hilarious Shipwreck'.), 1638, Act 1, sc. 6. (Geoffrey Thomas, Birkbeck College, University of London.)

Notes

NB: ''The London Courier and Evening Gazette'' dated 13 July 1815 has the following marriage announcement:- On 'Tuesday last, at Oxford, the Rev. Thomas Gaisford, M.A. Regius Professor of Greek, and Rector of Westwell, Oxtordshire, Helen, second daughter of the late Rev. Robert Douglas {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaisford, Thomas 1779 births 1855 deaths English classical scholars 19th-century English Anglican priests People from Wiltshire Burials at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Deans of Christ Church, Oxford Oxford University Press people Regius Professors of Greek (University of Oxford)