William Walter Merry (1835–1918) was an English classical scholar, clergyman, and educator.

Life

William Merry was born in

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...

, Worcestershire, and was educated at Cheltenham College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained the Chancellor's Prize for a Latin essay in 1858. He was fellow and lecturer of

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, from 1859 and

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

(head) of the College from 1884. He was select preacher to the University in 1878–79 and in 1889–90, and Whitehall preacher in 1883–84; public orator at Oxford from 1880 to 1910; a member of the Hebdomadal Council (1896–1908); and Vice-Chancellor (1904–06).

Works

For many years he was engaged in the preparation of editions of the classical authors, published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford. These included Homer's '' Odyssey'' (books i to xii, with James Riddell; second edition, 1886); a school edition of the same books and another of books xiii to xxiv;of the former 66,000 copies were sold, of the latter 16,000 and a series of editions of the plays of Aristophanes, begun in 1879. (Some of these have gone through several editions). His other works in classical literature are ''The Greek Dialects'' (1875) and ''Selected Fragments of Roman Poetry'' (second edition, 1901).

References and notes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merry, William Walter 1835 births 1918 deaths People from Evesham People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford Vice-Chancellors of the University of Oxford English classical scholars 19th-century English Anglican priests Rectors of Lincoln College, Oxford Translators of Homer