John Hamilton Maxwell Staniforth

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(23 June 1893 – 26 December 1985), known to his family as Max, was a British soldier, railwayman, radio presenter, clergyman and scholar.

Early life and education

Staniforth born in

Hinderwell Hinderwell is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough (borough), Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England which lies within the North York Moors National Park, about a mile from the coast on the A174 road between the towns of Loft ...

, Yorkshire, on 23 June 1893 to John William Staniforth and Mary Jane Dobbin Maxwell. He was named after his maternal great-grandfather, the writer

William Hamilton Maxwell William Hamilton Maxwell (30 June 1792 in Newry, County Down, Ireland – 29 December 1850 in Musselburgh, Scotland) was an Irish novelist. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He claimed to have entered the British Army and seen servic ...

. He was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, where he held a classical scholarship. His intended academic career was foiled by the onset of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Military service

Staniforth served as an infantry officer with the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) of the 16th Irish Division on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

from 1914-1918. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the

British War Medal The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in si ...

, and the British Victory Medal. Following his service, he married Ruby Di Stephens in 1922.

Railways

Staniforth became a railwayman on the British railways in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, rising to the rank of Assistant Traffic Manager. During his time in Argentina he had a daughter, Rosamund Ann Staniforth, on 4 April 1928; she would go on to marry Charles Edward Byron Du Cane, son of Charles Henry Copley Du Cane, and grandson of Charles Du Cane.

Radio presenter

Staniforth returned from Argentina, and became the first full-time presenter for Radio Normandy (a commercial English-language service) in 1931. In November 1932 he transferred to Radio Toulouse before taking up a position at the International Broadcasting Company headquarters in London. He then left radio to enter the church.

Clerical life

Staniforth took Holy Orders, and spent twenty five years as a parish priest. He was vicar of the Dorset villages of Pentridge and

Sixpenny Handley Sixpenny Handley or Handley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in north east Dorset, England, situated on Cranborne Chase ten miles (16 km) north east of Blandford Forum. In the 2 ...

from 1952 to 1963. He retired as

Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective. ...

of Blandford, in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

Translation

Staniforth translated

Marcus Aurelieus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good E ...

' ''

Meditations ''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' in Koine ...

'' for Penguin Classics,Reviewed by "K. G." in ''The Classical Outlook'', vol 43 n6 (1 February 1966) p. 69 and Elizabeth E. Seittelman in ''The Classical World'', vol 59 n3 (1 November 1965) page 88 and later worked on their ''Early Christian Writings''.