Cyril Bailey,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, FBA (13 April 1871 – 5 December 1957) was an English classicist. He was a fellow and tutor at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, from 1902 to 1939.

Early life

He was born on 13 April 1871 to Alfred Bailey, a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and legal scholar, and his wife Fanny Margaret, ''née'' Coles, a merchant's daughter. His godfather (and cousin) was the banker and classical scholar Sir

Walter Leaf Sir Walter Leaf (26 November 1852, Upper Norwood – 8 March 1927, Torquay) was an English banker, classical scholar, and psychical researcher. He published a benchmark edition of Homer's Iliad and was a director of Westminster Bank for many ...

. Cyril attended St Paul's School in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, before studying

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

(1890–94); he won the Craven and

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

Jasper Griffin Jasper Griffin (29 May 1937 – 22 November 2019) was a British classicist and academic. He was Public Orator and Professor of Classical Literature in the University of Oxford from 1992 until 2004. Early life Griffin was born on 29 May 1937. He ...

"Bailey, Cyril"
''

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

'' (online ed.,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2013). Retrieved 10 February 2021.

Academic career and honours

After graduating with a

first-class degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

, Bailey was elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

and tutor at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

, in 1894. He left there in 1902, when he returned to Balliol as a fellow. He remained there for thirty seven years before retiring in 1939. A popular classics tutor and highly regarded lecturer, Bailey was a prominent figure in the life of his college. He epitomised a type of scholar, "of first-rate ability and international reputation who preferred not to seek promotion, titles, or even relief from the duties of teaching, and who were content with the position of tutor at an Oxford college, lavishing much of their time and energy on their pupils." Bailey also served as the

Public Orator The Public Orator is a traditional official post at universities, especially in the United Kingdom. The holder of this office acts as the voice of the university on public occasions. The position at Oxford University dates from 1564. The Public O ...

for the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

between 1932 and 1939, chairman of the council of

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The ...

, from 1921 to 1939, and as a delegate of

from 1921 to 1946, in the latter role being involved in the production of the ''

Oxford Latin Dictionary The ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'' (or ''OLD'') is the standard English lexicon of Classical Latin, compiled from sources written before AD 200. Begun in 1933, it was published in fascicles between 1968 and 1982; a lightly revised second edition ...

'' which was published in 1968. His own research focused on the classical philosophers

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( ; ; – October 15, 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, which usually is t ...

and

Epicurus Epicurus (, ; ; 341–270 BC) was an Greek philosophy, ancient Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy that asserted that philosophy's purpose is to attain as well as to help others attain tranqui ...

. Alongside receiving five

honorary doctorates An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

, Bailey gave the Sather Lectures at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

in 1932 and was elected a

fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

the next year. He was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1939 for his work as chairman of the Oxford Youth Advisory Committee. He died on 5 December 1957 and was survived by his wife, Gemma (daughter of the historian and bishop

Mandell Creighton Mandell Creighton (; 5 July 1843 – 14 January 1901) was a British historian, Anglican priest and bishop. The son of a successful carpenter in north-west England, Creighton studied at the University of Oxford, focusing his scholarship on ...

), who had attended the University of Oxford herself, and produced a history of Lady Margaret Hall in 1923. They had four children. Their eldest daughter was

Mary Creighton Bailey Mary Creighton Bailey (19 September 1913 – 16 August 2008) was an English classics scholar and teacher, and headmistress of Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School, Canterbury, for fourteen years. After the World War II, Second World War, and ...

. Their third child, Rachel Moss (with her husband the Very Rev.

Basil Moss Basil David Moss (25 May 1935 – 28 November 2020) was a British character actor, who featured regularly on television in the 1960s and on radio in the 1970s. Early life He was educated at St Paul's School, which he followed with actor's tra ...

), played an important role in liberalising

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

views on sexuality; she edited ''God's Yes to Sexuality'' (1981).

Selected works

* ''Lvcreti de Rervm Natvra Libri Sex'',

Oxford Classical Texts Oxford Classical Texts (OCT), or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's ''Odyssey'' and Virgil's ''Aeneid'' ...

(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900; 2nd ed., 1922).

Leofranc Holford-Strevens Leofranc Holford-Strevens (born 19 May 1946) is an English classical scholar, an authority on the works of Aulus Gellius, and a former reader for the Oxford University Press. He is married to the American musicologist Bonnie J. Blackburn. C ...

and Martin Ferguson Smith
"The Dates of Cyril Bailey's Oxford Classical Texts of Lucretius"
''

The Classical Quarterly ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', vol. 50, no. 1 (2000), pp. 306–307. * ''The Religion of Ancient Rome'' (London: A. Constable & Co, 1907). * ''Lucretius on the Nature of Things'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910). * ''P. Ovidi Nasonis Fastorum Liber III'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921). * ''The Clouds of Aristophanes'', Clarendon Series of Latin and Greek Authors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921). * ''The Legacy of Rome'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923). * ''Epicurus: The Extant Remains'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926). * (editor) ''Mind of Rome'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926). * '' The Greek Atomists and Epicurus'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928). * ''Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1932). * ''Religion in Virgil'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1935). * ''Francis Fortescue Urquhart: A Memoir'' (London: Macmillan and Co., 1936). * ''De Rerum Natura Libri Sex'', 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1947). * ''Hugh Percy Allen'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1948). * ''Lucretius'' (London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, 1949). * ''A Short History of the Balliol Boys' Club, 1907–1950'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1950).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Cyril 1871 births 1957 deaths English classical scholars Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford Public Orators of the University of Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the British Academy People educated at St Paul's School, London Presidents of the Classical Association

Early life

Academic career and honours

Selected works

Further reading

Notes

References