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Henry Watson Fowler (10 March 1858 – 26 December 1933) was an English
schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...
,
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...
and commentator on the
usage The usage of a language is the ways in which its written and spoken variations are routinely employed by its speakers; that is, it refers to "the collective habits of a language's native speakers", as opposed to idealized models of how a languag ...
of the English language. He is notable for both ''
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like word ...
'' and his work on the ''
Concise Oxford Dictionary The ''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'' (officially titled ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary'' until 2002, and widely abbreviated ''COD'' or ''COED'') is probably the best-known of the 'smaller' Oxford dictionaries. The latest edition contains ...
'', and was described by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' as "a lexicographical genius". After an
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
education, Fowler was a schoolmaster until his middle age and then worked in London as a freelance writer and journalist, but was not very successful. In partnership with his brother
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...
, beginning in 1906, he began publishing seminal grammar, style and lexicography books. After his brother's death in 1918, he completed the works on which they had collaborated and edited additional works.


Biography


Youth and studies

Fowler was born on 10 March 1858 in
Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...
, Kent. His parents, the Rev. Robert Fowler and his wife Caroline, ''née'' Watson, were originally from
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
. Robert Fowler was a
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
graduate, clergyman and schoolmaster. At the time of Henry's birth he was teaching mathematics at
Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...
, but the family soon moved to nearby
Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...
. Henry was the eldest child of eight, and his father's early death in 1879 left him to assume a leading role in caring for his younger brothers and sister (Charles, Alexander, dwardSeymour, Edith, Arthur,
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...
and erbertSamuel). Henry Fowler spent some time at a boarding school in Germany before enrolling at
Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...
in 1871. He concentrated on
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
and
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, winning a school prize for his translation into Greek verse of part of
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achi ...
's play '' Prometheus Unbound''. He also took part in drama and debating and in his final year served as head of his house, School House. He was greatly inspired by one of his classics teachers, Robert Whitelaw, with whom he kept up a correspondence later in life. In 1877 Fowler began attending
Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. He did not excel at Oxford as he had at Rugby, earning only
second-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
in both
Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ' ...
and Literae Humaniores. Although he participated little in Oxford sport, he did begin a practice that he was to continue for the rest of his life: a daily morning run followed by a swim in the nearest body of water. He left Oxford in 1881, but was not awarded a degree until 1886, because he failed to pass his Divinity examination.


Teaching

Trusting in the judgment of the Balliol College master that he had "a natural aptitude for the profession of Schoolmaster", Fowler took up a temporary teaching position at Fettes College in Edinburgh. After spending two terms there, he moved south again to
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
(present-day
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...
) to begin a mastership at
Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. ...
in 1882. There he taught Latin, Greek and English, starting with the first form, but soon switching to the
sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for ...
. He was a respected but uninspiring teacher, earning the nickname "Joey Stinker" owing to his propensity for tobacco smoking. Several of the Fowler brothers were reunited at Sedbergh. Charles Fowler taught temporarily at the school during the illness of one of the house masters. Arthur Fowler had transferred from Rugby to Sedbergh for his last eighteen months at school and later became a master there. Samuel, the troublesome youngest brother, was sent to Sedbergh, probably to be taken care of by Henry and Arthur, but he stayed only a year before leaving the school, and of him nothing further is known. Henry Fowler made several lifelong friends at Sedbergh, who often accompanied him on holiday to the Alps. These included Ralph St John Ainslie, a music teacher and caricaturist; E. P. Lemarchand, whose sister eventually married Arthur Fowler; Bernard Tower, who went on to become headmaster at Lancing; and George Coulton, who was to write the first biography of Henry Fowler. Despite being the son of a clergyman, Fowler had been an atheist for quite some time, though he rarely spoke of his beliefs in public. He had the chance of becoming a housemaster at Sedbergh on three occasions. The third offer was accompanied by a long discussion with the headmaster, Henry Hart, about the religious requirements for the post, which included preparing the boys for
confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
. This was against Fowler's principles, and when it became clear that no compromise on this matter was possible, he resigned.


London

In the summer of 1899 Fowler moved to a house at 14 Paultons Square, Chelsea, London (where there is now a
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term ...
in his honour), and sought work as a freelance writer and journalist, surviving on his meagre writer's earnings and a small inheritance from his father. In his first published article, "Books We Think We Have Read" (1900), he first discusses the habit among Englishmen of pretending a familiarity with certain books—such as the works of
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
or books considered "juvenile"—then proceeds to recommend that the savouring of these books should be "no tossing off of ardent spirits, but the connoisseur's deliberate rolling in the mouth of some old vintage". In "Outdoor London", published a year later in the short-lived '' Anglo-Saxon Review'', Fowler describes the sights and sounds of his new home, praising its plants, its Cockney inhabitants, and its magical night scenes.


Writing partnership

In 1903, he moved to the island of
Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
, where he worked with his brother Francis George Fowler. Their first joint project was a translation of the works of
Lucian of Samosata Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstiti ...
. The translation, described by ''The Times'' as of "remarkable quality", was taken up by the
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
and published in four volumes in 1905. Their next work was ''
The King's English ''The King's English'' is a book on English usage and grammar. It was written by the brothers Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler and published in 1906; it thus predates by twenty years '' Modern English Usage'', which was written by ...
'' (1906), a book meant to encourage writers to be stylistically simple and direct and not to misuse words. This book "took the world by storm".''The Times'' obituary, 28 December 1933, p. 12 Fowler collected some of his journalistic articles into volumes and published them pseudonymously, including ''More Popular Fallacies'' (1904) by "Quillet", and ''Si mihi —!'' (1907) by "Egomet". In 1908, on his fiftieth birthday, he married Jessie Marian Wills (1862–1930). It was an exceptionally happy, but childless, marriage. The Oxford University Press commissioned from the Fowler brothers a single-volume abridgement of the
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...
(OED), which was published as the ''
Concise Oxford Dictionary The ''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'' (officially titled ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary'' until 2002, and widely abbreviated ''COD'' or ''COED'') is probably the best-known of the 'smaller' Oxford dictionaries. The latest edition contains ...
'' in 1911. The Concise Oxford has remained in print ever since, being regularly revised. The next commission for the brothers was a much smaller, pocket-sized abridgement of the OED at the same time they were working on '' Modern English Usage''; work on both began in 1911, with Henry Fowler concentrating on ''Modern English Usage'' and Francis on the pocket dictionary. Neither work was complete at the start of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. In 1914, Fowler and his younger brother volunteered for service in the British army. To gain acceptance, the 56-year-old Henry lied about his age.Gowers, p. v Both he and Francis were invalided out of the army in 1916 and resumed work on ''Modern English Usage''. In 1918, Francis died aged 47 of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
, contracted during service with the BEF. After his brother's death, Henry Fowler and his wife moved to Hinton St George in Somerset, where he worked on the Pocket Oxford Dictionary and ''Modern English Usage'', which he dedicated to his brother.


Later years

''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'', published in 1926, considered by many to be the definitive style guide to the English language, "made the name of Fowler a household word in all English-speaking countries".Gowers, p. iii ''The Times'' described it as a "fascinating, formidable book".
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
directed his officials to read it. The success of the book was such that the publishers had to reprint it three times in the first year of publication, and there were twelve further reprints before a second edition was finally commissioned in the 1960s. On the death of its original editor in 1922, Fowler helped complete the first edition of the ''
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary The ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'' (''SOED'') is an English language dictionary published by the Oxford University Press. The SOED is a two-volume abridgement of the twenty-volume ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''). Print editions ...
'', under the editorship of C.T. Onions. In 1929 Fowler republished ''Si mihi—!'' under his own name as ''If Wishes were Horses'', and another volume of old journalistic articles under the title ''Some Comparative Values.'' On 26 December 1933, Fowler died at his home, "Sunnyside", Hinton St George, England, aged 75.


Legacy

Currently, ''The King's English'' and ''Modern English Usage'' remain in print. The latter was updated by
Sir Ernest Gowers Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers (2 June 1880 – 16 April 1966) is best remembered for his book '' Plain Words,'' first published in 1948, and his revision of Fowler's classic ''Modern English Usage''. Before making his name as an author, he had a long ...
for the second edition (1965) and largely rewritten by
Robert Burchfield Robert William Burchfield CNZM, CBE (27 January 1923 – 5 July 2004) was a lexicographer, scholar, and writer, who edited the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' for thirty years to 1986, and was chief editor from 1971. Education and career Born in ...
for the third (1996). A ''Pocket edition'' () edited by Robert Allen, based on Burchfield's edition, is available online to subscribers of the Oxford Reference On-line Premium collection. A biography of Fowler was published in 2001 called ''The Warden of English.'' The author was Jenny McMorris (1946–2002), archivist to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' at the Oxford University Press. ''The Times'' described the book as "an acclaimed and meticulously researched biography". ''The Word Man'', a play about Fowler's life and career by the writer Chris Harrald, was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
's ''
Afternoon Play ''Drama'' (formerly ''Afternoon Theatre'', ''Afternoon Drama,'' ''Afternoon Play'') is a BBC Radio 4 radio drama, broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm. Generally each play is 45 minutes in duration and approximately 190 new plays are broadcast each ...
'' on 17 January 2008.


Published works


Books

*''More Popular Fallacies''. London: Elliot Stock, 1904. *with F. G. Fowler, trans. ''The Works of
Lucian Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed supersti ...
''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. *with F. G. Fowler. ''
The King's English ''The King's English'' is a book on English usage and grammar. It was written by the brothers Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler and published in 1906; it thus predates by twenty years '' Modern English Usage'', which was written by ...
''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. *''Sentence Analysis''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. *''Si Mihi!'' London: Brown, Langham, 1907. **reissued as ''If Wishes Were Horses''. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1929. *''Between Boy and Man''. London: Watts, 1908. *with F. G. Fowler. ''
The King's English ''The King's English'' is a book on English usage and grammar. It was written by the brothers Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler and published in 1906; it thus predates by twenty years '' Modern English Usage'', which was written by ...
'', abridged edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908. *with F. G. Fowler. ''
Concise Oxford Dictionary The ''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'' (officially titled ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary'' until 2002, and widely abbreviated ''COD'' or ''COED'') is probably the best-known of the 'smaller' Oxford dictionaries. The latest edition contains ...
''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911 nd edition, 1929 *with F. G. Fowler. '' Pocket Oxford Dictionary''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. *''
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like word ...
''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926. ordsworth Edition reprint, 1994, .*''Some Comparative Values''. Oxford: Blackwell, 1929. *''Rhymes of Darby to Joan''. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1931. *with W. Little and J. Coulson. ''
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary The ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'' (''SOED'') is an English language dictionary published by the Oxford University Press. The SOED is a two-volume abridgement of the twenty-volume ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''). Print editions ...
''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933.


Articles

*"Books We Think We Have Read". '' Spectator'', 20 January 1900. *"Outdoor London". '' Anglo-Saxon Review'', June 1901. *"Irony and Some Synonyms". ''
Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine' ...
'', October 1901, 378. *"Quotation". ''Longman's Magazine'', January 1901, 241. *"On Hyphens, 'Shall' & 'Will', 'Should' 'Would' in the Newspapers of Today". Society for Pure English, Tract 6. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921. *"Note on 'as to'". Society for Pure English Tract 8. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922. *"Grammatical Inversions". Society for Pure English Tract 10. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. *"Preposition at End". Society for Pure English Tract 14. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. *"Split Infinitive, &c." Society for Pure English Tract 15. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923. *"Subjunctives". Society for Pure English Tract 18. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. *"Notes on ''fasci'', ''fascisti'', ''broadcast(ed)''". Society for Pure English Tract 19. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925. *"Italic, Fused Participles, &c." Society for Pure English Tract 22. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925. *"''Ing''". Society for Pure English Tract 26. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927. *''"Comprise''". Society for Pure English Tract 36. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925.McMorris, p. 229.


See also

*''
Popular Fallacies Charles Lamb wrote, as Elia, 16 popular fallacies.The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb ...
'',
Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...


Notes


Sources

*Burchfield, Robert, 3rd ed. ''Modern English Usage'', Oxford University Press, 1996, * Coulton, G. C. ''H. W. Fowler''. The Society for Pure English, Tract no. 43, 1935, a memoir by his friend and former colleague at Sedbergh School *Gowers, Sir Ernest., 2nd ed. ''Modern English Usage'', Oxford University Press, 1965 *McMorris, Jenny, ''The Warden of English: The Life of H.W. Fowler'', Oxford University Press, 2001. *Onions, C. T. (ed). ''Shorter Oxford Dictionary'', first edition, Oxford University Press, 1933 *Sheidlower, Jesse. "Elegant Variation and All That". Review of ''The New Fowler's Modern English Usage'', by H. W. Fowler and ed. R. W. Burchfield. ''Atlantic Monthly'', December 1996: 112–118, https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96dec/fowler/fowler.htm.


External links

* * *
The King's English
' at
Bartleby.com Bartleby.com was an electronic text archive, headquartered in Los Angeles (USA) and named for Herman Melville's story "Bartleby, the Scrivener". It was initiated with the name "Project Bartleby" in January 1993 as a collection of classic literatu ...
(archived 31 December 2009) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Henry Watson 1858 births 1933 deaths English lexicographers Schoolteachers from Kent English male journalists People from Tonbridge Guernsey people People educated at Rugby School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Writers of style guides Tuberculosis deaths in England