John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor (28 January 1825 – 1 December 1910) was an English classical scholar, writer and

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

activist.

Biography

Early life and education

Mayor was born at Baddegama,

British Ceylon British Ceylon (; ), officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Cey ...

(now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

) the son of Rev. Robert Mayor and Charlotte Bickersteth. His mother came from the prominent Bickersteth family and was the sister of Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale and Rev. Edward Bickersteth. He was sent to England to be educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

. Joseph Bickersteth Mayor was his younger brother.

Career

From 1863 to 1867, Mayor was librarian of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and in 1872 succeeded H. A. J. Munro in the

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, which he held for 28 years. His best-known work, an edition of the thirteen

Satires of Juvenal The ''Satires'' () are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written between the end of the first and the early second centuries A.D. Juvenal is credited with sixteen poems divided among five books; all are in the Roman g ...

, is notable for an extraordinary wealth of illustrative quotations. His ''Bibliographical Clue to Latin Literature'' (1875), based on Emil Hübner's ''Grundriss zu Vorlesungen über die römische Litteraturgeschichte'', was a valuable aid to students, and his edition of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's ''

Second Philippic The "Second Philippic" is an oration that was delivered by the Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes between 344–343 BC. The speech constitutes the second of the four philippics the orator is said to have delivered. Historical background I ...

'' became widely used. Mayor also edited the English works of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (1876); Thomas Baker's ''History of St John's College, Cambridge'' (1869); Richard of Cirencester's ''Speculum historiale de gestis regum Angliae 447–1066'' (1863–69); Roger Ascham's ''Schoolmaster'' (new ed., 1883); the ''Latin Heptateuch'' (1889); and the '' Journal of Philology''. According to the '' Enciklopedio de Esperanto'', Mayor learned

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

in 1907, and gave a historic speech against Esperanto reformists at the

World Congress of Esperanto The World Esperanto Congress (, UK) is an annual Esperanto convention. It has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run for 119 years. The congresses have been held since August 5, 1905, every ye ...

held at Cambridge.

Vegetarianism

Mayor succeeded Francis William Newman as president of the

Vegetarian Society The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (VSUK) is a British Registered charity in England, registered charity. It campaigns for dietary changes, licenses Vegetarian Society Approved trademarks for Vegetarianism, vegetarian and Veganism, v ...

in 1884 and remained in that position till his death. He was a strict

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and teetotaller but it was noted that "he never sought to impose his rule of abstinence on others." Mayor authored '' What is Vegetarianism?'', in 1886. His vegetarian writings were published in the book, ''Plain Living and High Thinking'' in 1897. In October 1905, a meeting was held at Congregational Memorial Hall, London, for octogenarian vegetarians. Speakers in attendance included Mayor (then aged 84), Joseph Wallace, T. A. Hanson, C. P. Newcombe, Samuel Saunders, and Samuel Pitman, brother of Isaac Pitman. Mayor ate a strict vegetarian diet and lived off twopence a day. His diet consisted of bread, fruit, porridge and vegetables with lemonade as his only drink.

Death

Mayor died on 1 December 1910 in Cambridge. He is buried in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground in Cambridge.

Legacy

Mayor's life and work are idiosyncratically and somewhat unsympathetically described in ''

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...

's Mayor: The Professor Who Lived on 2d. a Day'' by J. G. W. Henderson.

Selected publications

''Nicholas Ferrar: Two Lives''
(1855)
''Early statutes of the College of St. John at Cambridge in the University of Cambridge''
(1859) *''Advent Warnings: a Sermon'' (1863)
''History of the College of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge''
(with Thomas Baker, 1869) *''Affiliation of Local Colleges to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge'' (1874)
''Bibliographical Clue to Latin Literature''
(1875)
''Modicus Cibi Medicus Sibi, Or, Nature Her Own Physician''
(1880) *'' What is Vegetarianism?'' (1886)
''The Church and the Life of the Poor''
(1889)
''The Latin Heptateuch''
(1889)
''Thirteen Satires of Juvenal''
(1889) *''Spain, Portugal: the Bible'' (1892) *''Plain Living and High Thinking'' (1897)
''Mercy, Not Curiosity, the Mother of Medicine''
(1898)
''Cambridge Under Queen Anne''
(1911)
''Twelve Cambridge Sermons''
(1911)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayor, John Eyton Bickersteth 1825 births 1910 deaths 19th-century English male writers 20th-century English male writers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Bickersteth family Burials in Cambridgeshire Cambridge University Librarians English book editors English classical scholars English Esperantists English magazine editors English temperance activists English vegetarianism activists Fellows of the British Academy Kennedy Professors of Latin People associated with the Vegetarian Society People educated at Shrewsbury School Scholars of Latin literature Vegetarianism writers