Arthur Woollgar Verrall (5 February 1851 – 18 June 1912) was an English writer and scholar. He was associated with

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, and the first occupant of the King Edward VII Chair of English. He was noted for his translations and for his challenging, unorthodox interpretations of the Greek dramatists, such as his commentary on ''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

''; his detractors found his readings contorted and too ingenious, too often overlooking obvious explanations in favour of the convoluted, and his published work is nowadays not highly regarded. After his death, admirers M. A. Bayfield and J. D. Duff edited Verrall's ''Collected Literary Essays. Classical and Modern'' and ''Collected Essays in Greek and Latin Scholarship'' 1914. Among his publications, ''

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

the Rationalist'' (1895) was highly influential. He was a member of the

Cambridge Apostles The Cambridge Apostles (also known as the Conversazione Society) is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar. History Student ...

, a secret society, from 1871.

Life

Arthur Woollgar Verrall was the son of a solicitor. He was educated at

Twyford School Twyford School is a co-educational, private, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford, Hampshire, England. History Twyford states itself to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom. It moved to its ...

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: New Zealand * Wellington College, Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington College of Education, now the Faculty of Education of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington Girls' College, Wellington, N ...

, and

, where he graduated BA as 2nd Classic in 1872. Elected a fellow of Trinity in 1874, he was a College Lecturer from 1877 to 1911. In February 1911, he was appointed to fill the new King Edward VII professorship of literature at Cambridge, which had been endowed by

Harold Harmsworth Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (26 April 1868 – 26 November 1940), was a leading British newspaper proprietor who owned Associated Newspapers Ltd. He is best known, like his brother Alfred Harmsworth, later Viscount Northcli ...

. A Trinity Tutor from 1889 to 1899; he was tutor to

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

. He married Margaret De Gaudrion Merrifield, (born 21 December 1857, died 2 July 1916) in 1882. His wife, a lecturer in classics at

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, gained more fame through her psychic researches — an interest Arthur shared — and as a

medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

. She was a member of a Cambridge group who were early explorers of

Spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...

and

automatic writing Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged sp ...

. Their daughter Helen married William Henry Salter, who was later President of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

(1947–48). Mother and daughter were among mediums involved in the Palm Sunday Case, in which messages from Mary Catherine Lyttleton (who died on 21 March 1875) were supposedly transmitted by automatic writing to her lover

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...

. He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife and daughter, Phoebe Margaret De Gaudrion Verrall (1888-1890). His wife was a member of the

Ladies Dining Society The Ladies Dining Society was a private women's dining and discussion club, based at University of Cambridge, Cambridge University. It was founded in 1890 by the author Louise Creighton and the women's activist Kathleen Lyttelton. Its members, ...

. A portrait of Verrall by

Frederic Yates Frederic Yates (1854–1919) was an English painter. He painted landscapes and portraits including President Woodrow Wilson and Sanford Ballard Dole, the only president of Hawaii. He settled in the Lake District. Life Frederic Keeping was ...

is in the collection of

. He was an uncle of

Joan Riviere Joan Hodgson Riviere ( Verrall; 28 June 1883 – 20 May 1962) was a British psychoanalyst, who was both an early translator of Freud into English and an influential writer on her own account. Life and career Riviere was born Joan Hodgson Verral ...

, psychoanalyst et member of the

British Psychoanalytic Society The British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by Ernest Jones as the London Psychoanalytical Society on 30 October 1913. It is one of several organisations in Britain training psychoanalysts. The society has been home to a number of psych ...

.F. Robert Rodman, Winnicott, life and work, Da Capo Press, 2004.

References

External links

* *
''Vita'' of Mrs. A. W. Verrall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verrall, A. W. British classical scholars 1851 births 1912 deaths British parapsychologists Burials in Cambridgeshire People educated at Twyford School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Classical scholars of the University of Cambridge Scholars of ancient Greek literature King Edward VII Professors of English Literature Presidents of the Philological Society