Charles James Billson (1858–1932) was a translator, lawyer, and collector of folklore.
Billson was born in
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, graduated from
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a 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 second-oldest continuously operating u ...
, and died in Heathfield in Sussex. He is buried in
All Saints Church yard.
His works include a translation of Virgil's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...
'', and a noted paper on the
Easter Hare. He began a correspondence with
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...
, after requesting a reading list from the author, and introduced him to works by the then obscure poet
James Thomson. Billson forwarded his correspondence to Melville's biographers.
Charles J. Billson was President (1893–94) of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society.
"Presidents: Charles James Billson"
Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society
His publications included:-
* (1895) ''County Folk-Lore - Leicestershire and Rutland'', London, Folk Lore Society
* (1920) '' Mediaeval Leicester'', Edgar Backus, Leicester
* (1924) ''Leicester Memoirs'', Edgar Backus, Leicester
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billson, Charles J.
1858 births
1932 deaths
English male writers
Translators of Virgil