William Edward Buckley (1817 – 18 March 1892) was a

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clergyman, an academic who taught both classical languages and Old English, and also a journalist. He was Rawlinsonian Professor of Anglo-Saxon 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 ...

from 1844 to 1849.

Early life

Buckley was the fourth son of Joseph Buckley (died 1858), of the Crescent,

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, and later of Ordsall Hill, by his marriage to Jean, a daughter of Frazer Smith of Stromness, Orkney, and was the grandson of John Buckley. He was one of eight children, who all survived to adulthood and were still living in 1874. In 1817 Joseph Buckley was boroughreeve, and in 1825 he moved his family to Devon. Another of his sons, Joseph Buckley, also went into the church and became Rector of

Sopworth Sopworth is a small village and civil parish in northwest Wiltshire, England, on the county's border with Gloucestershire. The village lies about west of Sherston, Wiltshire, Sherston and west of Malmesbury. The parish is within the Cotswolds ...

, Wiltshire.Jeremiah Finch Smith, ''The Admission Register of the Manchester School'', vol. 3, pp. 57-58 Buckley was educated at

Tiverton Grammar School Tiverton most often refers to: *Tiverton, Devon, a town in England __NOTOC__ Tiverton may also refer to: Canada *Tiverton, Ontario, a village *Tiverton, Nova Scotia, a village known for its "Balancing Rock" United Kingdom *Tiverton, Cheshire, a vi ...

Exeter School Exeter School is an independent co-educational day school for pupils between the ages of 7 and 18 in Exeter, Devon, England. In 2019, there were around 200 pupils in the Junior School and 700 in the Senior School. History The School traces it ...

, and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was admitted on 10 June 1835. In 1839 he graduated BA and in the

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of the same year was President of the

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. In 1842 his degree was promoted to MA. Joseph Foster, ''Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886'' (1887) vol. 1, p. 185

Career

In 1842 Buckley became a

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of Brasenose College and from 1844 to 1849 was also Rawlinsonian Professor of Anglo-Saxon, succeeding Henry Bristow Wilson. In 1853 he was appointed as Rector of

Middleton Cheney Middleton Cheney is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. The village is about east of Banbury in Oxfordshire and about west-northwest of Brackley. The A422 road between Banbury and Brackley used to pass through Middle ...

and became a

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. He was also Professor of Classics at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

until it was closed by the

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in January 1858. For some years he was on the staff of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' newspaper and was also a contributor to ''

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''. He edited some of the publications of the

Roxburghe Club The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 day ...

''The Athenæum: a Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama'', issue no. 3361 dated March 26, 1892, p. 406 and in 1884 was elected as its vice-president. He died at Middleton Cheney on 18 March 1892, leaving a library of some 25,000 books.Frederic Boase, ''Modern English Biography'', vol. 4 (Netherton and Worth, 1906), p. 2,007 One obituary said of him "A man of many friends, he was an excellent talker, full of geniality and good stories". His books were sold in two sales at

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, in February 1893 and April 1894, for a total of £9,420.

Selected publications

*''The Old English Version of Partonope of Blois'' (Roxburghe Club, 1862) *''Cephalus and Procris: Narcissus'' (London: Nichols & Sons, 1882) *''The Kings Prophecie: or, Weeping joy. Expressed in a poem, to the honor of Englands too great solemnities'' (London: Nichols & Sons, 1882) *''The Brasenose Calendar: A List of Members of the King's Hall and College of Brasenose in Oxford (1509-1888)'' (University Press, Oxford, 1888)

Notes

External links

Online books by William Edward Buckley
at upenn.edu {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, William Edward 1817 births 1892 deaths Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford People educated at Blundell's School People educated at Exeter School People from Salford Presidents of the Oxford Union Rawlinsonian Professors of Anglo-Saxon The Times people Clergy from Manchester