Frederick Sefton Delmer (24 October 1864 – 7 April 1931) was an Australian linguistics

university lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

and journalist.

Life

Delmer was born in

Battery Point, Tasmania Battery Point (; ) is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is immediately south of the central business district. It is in the Local Government Areas of Tasmania, local government area of City of Hobart. Battery Point is name ...

, to James Delmer (1837–1914), a Master mariner, and Margaret Sefton Burgess (1837–1886). He studied at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

of the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, graduating M. A., and continued his studies in Europe, where he made the acquaintance of

Herman Grimm Herman Grimm (6 January 1828 in Kassel16 June 1901 in Berlin) was a German academic and writer. Family and education Grimm's father was Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), and his uncle Jakob Grimm (1785–1863), the philologist compilers of indigenou ...

, son of

Wilhelm Grimm Wilhelm Carl Grimm (also Karl; 24 February 178616 December 1859) was a German author, philologist and anthropologist. He was the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, of the literary duo the Brothers Grimm. Life and work Wilhelm was born in February 1 ...

. After his return to Australia, he was a teacher in 1896, but also wrote travel reports. He soon returned to Europe where he became a lecturer at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

in 1900 and, from 1901 to 1914, he was a lecturer at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin. He became a friend of

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

. He married Isabella Mabel Hook (1879–1938) in 1901. They had a son,

Sefton Delmer Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904 – 4 September 1979) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government during the Second World War. Born in Berlin and fluent in German, he became friendly with Erns ...

, and a daughter, Margaret Mabel Sefton Delmer (1905–1990). In 1910, he published the book ''English Literature from Beowulf to Bernard Shaw'', which was, for decades, a standard work for English lessons in German schools. At the beginning of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was held in the

Ruhleben internment camp Ruhleben internment camp was a civilian detention camp in Germany during World War I. It was located in Ruhleben, a former ''Folwark, Vorwerk'' manor to the west of Berlin. This area is now split between the districts of Spandau and Charlotten ...

, with his family, because he refused to accept German citizenship and was suspected of being a spy. In 1917, he was deported to England as part of a prisoner exchange program. He was later active in Germany and Italy as a journalist, translator and interpreter.Delmer family further papers

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

He died in

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in the Italy, Italian region of Liguria. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and ...

, Italy, on 7 April 1931.

Works

* ''English debating exercises and spoken essays: an aid for English conversational courses'', 1912 * ''English Literature from Beowulf to Bernard Shaw'', Berlin 1910 (with many re-editions until at least 1984. In 1951, the 22nd edition was published under the title ''From Beowulf to TS Eliot, for the Use of Schools, Universities and private students'', with alterations, new chapters, and sections by H.S. Harvey, B. Litt.

Literature

* John Fletcher, ''Frederick Sefton Delmer'', Sydney, 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delmer, Frederick Sefton People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) Linguists from Australia 1864 births 1931 deaths People from Hobart