Reverend Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (26 March 1829 – 18 December 1913) was an
Irish scholar and educator.
Abbott was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
and was educated at
Trinity College. He was elected a scholar in 1848, graduated in 1851 as a senior moderator in mathematics and was made a fellow of the college in 1854.
He obtained an M.A. and a D.Litt. (1891) from Trinity, and was ordained a minister in the
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second l ...
.
In 1852 he solved a geometrical problem posed by
J. J. Sylvester.
He occupied the
chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vari ...
of moral philosophy (1867–72), of biblical Greek (1875–88), and of Hebrew (1879–1900). In 1887 he was elected librarian in Trinity and, in 1900, completed catalogues of the library's manuscript holdings. He became a senior fellow in 1897. He was one of a group of Irish scholars, including
J. P. Mahaffy
Sir John Pentland Mahaffy (26 February 183930 April 1919) was an Irish classicist and polymathic scholar.
Education and Academic career
He was born near Vevey in Switzerland on 26 February 1839 to Irish parents, Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy and ...
, who made significant contributions to the dissemination and study of the works of
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aes ...
. His translation of Kant's "Critique of Practical Reason" remained the standard English version of the text well into the 20th century.
In June 1901, he received an honorary
doctorate in Divinity from the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
.
In 1859 he married Caroline Kingsmill, eldest daughter of the
penologist Rev. Joseph Kingsmill.
He died in
Killiney in Dublin on 18 December 1913.
Select bibliography
''On a Greek Biblical Fragment'' Hermathena vol. XVII 1891, pp. 233–235.
''A collation of four important manuscripts of the Gospels : with a view to prove their common origin, and to restore the text of their archetype''(Dublin: 1877)
* Kant's ''Introduction to Logic'' (fifth edition, 1878)
''Evangeliorum versio antihieronymiana ex codice Usseriano'' 2 vols., 1884.
''Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and Other Works on the Theory of Ethics''(London 1889)
''Essays chiefly on the original texts of the Old and New Testaments''(1891)
* ed., ''The Book of Trinity College, Dublin, 1591–1891'', 1892.
* ''The Elements of Logic'' (third edition, 1895)
''Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics''(London 1895)
''A Critical and exegetical commentary on the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians''(1897)
''Catalogue of the manuscripts in Trinity College'' Dublin, 7, 1900.
''Elementary Theory of the Tides''(second edition, 1901)
''Catalogue of Fifteenth Century Books in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, etc.''(1905)
* A translation of ''
Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...
's Ethics'', with a memoir (sixth edition, 1909)
''Catalogue of the Irish manuscripts in the library of Trinity College'' Dublin (1921)
References
Sources
*
External links
*
*
*
*
Dr. T. K. Abbott Deadat the New York Times, December 19, 1913
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill
Irish mathematicians
1829 births
1913 deaths
Irish translators
Irish philosophers
Christian clergy from Dublin (city)
Academics of Trinity College Dublin
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Fellows of Trinity College Dublin
Scholars of Trinity College Dublin
19th-century translators
19th-century Irish philosophers
19th-century Irish writers
19th-century Irish mathematicians
Translators of Immanuel Kant