John Percival Postgate, FBA (24 October 1853 – 15 July 1926) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and professor of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

from 1909 to 1920. He was a member of the Postgate family. Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, the son of John Postgate, he was educated at King Edward's School where he became head boy. He won a scholarship to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where he read classics, being elected a Fellow in 1878. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1886. He established himself as a creative editor of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

with published editions of Propertius, Lucan,

Tibullus Albius Tibullus ( BC19 BC) was a Latin poet and writer of elegies. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to him are of questionable origins. Little is known about the life of Tibullus. There are only a f ...

and Phaedrus. His major work was the two-volume ''Corpus Poetarum Latinorum'', a triumph of editorial organisation. An influential work was his often reprinted "The New Latin Primer", 1888, much used in British schools over subsequent decades. While at Cambridge, he edited the '' Classical Review'' and the '' Classical Quarterly'' while holding the chair of comparative philology at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. In 1909, reconciled that the Cambridge Chair would go to

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

, as it did in 1911, Postgate opted to become Professor of Latin at Liverpool. He retired to Cambridge in 1920. On 14 July 1926 he was injured in a cycling accident and died of his injuries the following day.

Family

He married his graduate student Edith Allen and they had six children among whom were

Raymond Postgate Raymond William Postgate (6 November 1896 – 29 March 1971) was an English socialist, writer, journalist and editor, social historian, mystery novelist, and gourmet who founded the '' Good Food Guide''. He was a member of the Postgate fa ...

(a journalist, historian, novelist and food writer), and

Margaret Cole Dame Margaret Isabel Cole (née Postgate; 6 May 1893 – 7 May 1980) was an English socialist politician, writer and poet. She wrote several detective stories jointly with her husband, G. D. H. Cole. She went on to hold important posts in Lon ...

(a Fabian politician); he was grandfather to the animator and puppeteer

Oliver Postgate Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008), generally known as Oliver Postgate, was an English animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television progra ...

, and the microbiologist John Postgate FRS (1922–2014),

Published works

* ''The New Latin Primer'' (London, 1888) * ''Sermo Latinus. A Short Guide to Latin Prose Composition'' (London, 1889; revised and enlarged ed. 1913) * (ed.) ''Corpus Poetarum Latinorum,'' 2 vols. (London, 1905–1920) * (ed.) ''Tibulli Aliorumque Carminum Libri Tres.'' Oxford Classical Texts (Oxford, 1905) * (1908) * (ed. and tr., with F.W. Cornish and J.W. Mackail) ''Catullus, Tibullus and Pervigilium Veneris.'' Loeb Classical Library (London, 1912) * (ed. with notes) ''M. Annaei Lucani De Bello Civili Liber VII'' (Cambridge, 1917; rev. ed. by O.A.W. Dilke, Bristol, 1978) * (ed. with notes) ''M. Annaei Lucani De Bello Civili Liber VIII'' (Cambridge, 1917) * ''Translation and Translations. Theory and Practice'' (London, 1922) * ''Prosodia Latina. An Introduction to Classical Latin Verse'' (Oxford, 1923) * ''A Short Guide to the Accentuation of Ancient Greek'' (Liverpool, 1924) * (ed.) ''Phaedri Fabulae Aesopiae.'' Oxford Classical Texts (Oxford, 1934)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Postgate, John Percival 1853 births 1926 deaths English classical scholars People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Classical scholars of the University of Cambridge Classical scholars of the University of Liverpool Scholars of Latin literature English male writers

John Percival John Percival (3 April 1779 – 7 September 1862), known as Mad Jack Percival, was a celebrated officer in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France, the War of 1812, the campaign against West Indies pirates, and the Mexican–Amer ...

Fellows of the British Academy Members of the American Philosophical Society Presidents of the Classical Association

Family

Published works

References

Further reading

External links