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Henry Francis Pelham

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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HENRY FRANCIS PELHAM (1846-1907), English scholar and historian, was born at Berg Apton, Norfolk, on the 19th of September 1846, son of the Hon. John Thomas Pelham (1811-1894), bishop of Norwich, third son of the 2nd earl of Chichester. He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he took a first class in literae humaniores in 1869. He was a tutor of Exeter College from 1869 to 1890. In 1887 he became university reader in ancient history, and two years later was elected to. the Camden professorship. He became curator of the Bodleian library in 1892, and in 1897 president of Trinity College. He was also a fellow of Brasenose College, honorary fellow of Exeter, a fellow of the British Academy and of other learned societies, and a governor of Harrow School. His chief contribution to ancient history was his article on Roman history in the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1886), which was republished with additions as the Outlines of Roman History (1890). His university lectures, though perhaps lacking in inspiration, were full of original research and learning. His death on the 13th of February 1907 not only prevented the publication in systematic form of his own important researches, but also delayed the appearance of much that had been left in MS. by H. Furneaux and A. H. J. Greenidge, and was at the time under his charge. Apart from the Outlines he published only The Imperial Domains and the Colonate (1890), The Roman Frontier System (1895), and articles in periodicals of which the most important was an article in the Quarterly Review on the early Caesars (April, 1905). He did much for the study of archaeology at Oxford, materially assisted the Hellenic Society and the British School at Athens, and was one of the founders of the British School at Rome. He married in 1873 Laura Priscilla, daughter of Sir Edward North Buxton.