Victor Gustave Plarr (21 June 1863 – 28 January 1929) was an English poet; he is probably best known for the poem ''Epitaphium Citharistriae''.

Life

He was born near

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France, of a French father from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, Gustave Plarr, and an English mother, Mary Jane Tomkins, third daughter of the banker Samuel Tomkins. He was brought up in Scotland and England after his family moved at the time of the Franco-Prussian War. He was educated at

Madras College Madras College, often referred to as Madras, is a Scottish comprehensive secondary school located in St Andrews, Fife. It educates over 1,400 pupils aged between 11 and 18 and was founded in 1833 by the Rev. Dr Andrew Bell. History Madras ...

, St Andrews and

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

. He matriculated at the University of Oxford in 1882. He went on to read history at

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, graduating B.A. in 1886. Plarr worked as a librarian, first (from 1890) at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, then at the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. The ...

from 1897 until his death. The following year, the first two volumes of ''Lives of the

Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellows may refer to Fellow, in plural form. Fellows or Fellowes may also refer to: Places *Fellows, California, USA *Fellows, Wisconsin, ghost town, USA Other uses *Fellows Auctioneers, established in 1876. *Fellowes, Inc., manufacturer of works ...

'' were published under the editorship of

D'Arcy Power Sir D'Arcy Power, (11 November 1855 in Pimlico, London - 18 May 1941) was a British surgeon, medical historian, and contributor of some 200 articles on famous surgeons and other related figures to the ''Dictionary of National Biography''. Med ...

. Often known as ''

Plarr's Lives of the Fellows ''Plarr's Lives of the Fellows'' is a biographical register of the fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England that contains over 9,000 obituaries.' The first printed volumes of the work were produced by Victor Plarr (1863-1929), who was t ...

'', the biographies of the original 300 fellows are considered an early social history of English medicine. In 1891 Plarr edited the 13th edition of ''Men of the Time'', changing its title to ''Men and Women of the Time''.Alison Booth (2004) ''How to Make it as a Woman'', page 331,

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

Plarr was a founding member of the

Rhymers' Club The Rhymers' Club was a group of London-based male poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys. Originally not much more than a dining club, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894.''The Oxford Companion to English Literature' ...

. A generally uncongenial figure, he was befriended in 1909 by

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

, who enjoyed Plarr's tales of the "decadent nineties".

Works

*''In the Dorian Mood'' (1896) *''A School History of Middlesex including London'' (1905) (with Francis W. Walton) *''The Tragedy of Asgard'' (1905) *''Ernest Dowson 1888-1897'' (1914)
''Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons''
(1930)

External links

* Archive material a
Leeds University Library

References

1863 births 1929 deaths English librarians Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford English male poets People educated at Madras College {{UK-poet-stub