Leonhard Schmitz

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1807 – May 1890) was a Prussian-born

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and educational author, mainly active in the United Kingdom. He is sometimes referred to in the Anglicised version of his name Leonard Schmitz.

Biography

Schmitz was born in

Eupen Eupen (, , ; ; ; former ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian Liège Province, province of Liège, from the Germany, German border (Aachen ...

in what was then the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

(now in Belgium). He attended gymnasium in Aix-la-Chappelle to the east (now called

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

and within modern day Germany). He lost his right arm in an accident at the age of 10, but nonetheless excelled academically. He studied at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

, where he earned a PhD, and was in particular influenced by

Barthold Georg Niebuhr Barthold Georg Niebuhr (27 August 1776 – 2 January 1831) was a Danish–German statesman, banker, and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. By 1810 Niebuhr wa ...

; Schmitz later published in England a collection of notes taken from Niebuhr's lectures as ''Lectures on Roman History'' (1844). He became associated with a number of scholars there, writing many of the mythological entries for classicist William Smith's ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'', and serving as "a key figure in the transmission of German classical scholarship to Victorian Britain". Schmitz moved to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1846 to serve as rector of the Royal High School in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

from that year until 1866. He lived at 11 Carlton Terrace on

Calton Hill Calton Hill (; ) is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and f ...

very close to the school. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1846 his proposer being James Pillans. In his induction speech he expressed the hope that his appointment would be "the means of strengthening and increasing the intellectual sympathy which has so long existed between this country and Germany". In that office in 1859 he also tutored

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

Roman history The history of Rome includes the history of the Rome, city of Rome as well as the Ancient Rome, civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman la ...

. Schmitz moved back to England in 1866, serving as Principal of London International College from 1866 to 1874, and Classical Examiner at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

from 1874 to 1884. He was granted a

civil list pension Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions – state, occupational and personal pensions. The state pension is based o ...

of £50 in 1881, doubled in 1886.

Family

He married an English woman, Eliza Mary Machell, and moved to England in 1837; around 1840 they had a daughter, Leonora Schmitz, who would become a noted music critic.

Works

*
A Grammar of the Latin Language
' (1845) with Karl Gottlob Zumpt. *
Grammar of the Latin language
' (1849) * ''The History of Rome'' (1851) co-author * ''Lectures on Ancient History'' (1852) * ''Lectures on the History of Rome'' (1852) *
Elementary Latin Grammar and Exercise
' (1852) * ''Lectures on Ancient Ethnography and Geography'' (1854) * ''A Manual of Ancient Geography'' (1857) * ''The Ancient History of

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

'' (1859) * ''Biographies of Eminent Soldiers of the Last Four Centuries'' (1865) *
A grammar of the Latin language for middle and higher Class Schools
' (1876) * ''A History of England for Junior Classes'' (1877) * ''A History of Latin Literature'' (1877) * ''A Practical Grammar of the German Language'' (1876) * Putnam's Short School Histories (1876): ''England'' + ''Germany'' + ''Greece'' + ''Rome'' *
Introductory grammar of the Latin language
' (1880)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Leonhard 1807 births 1890 deaths People from Eupen German classical scholars Heads of schools in Scotland Heads of schools in England Scholars from the Kingdom of Prussia Emigrants from the Kingdom of Prussia to the United Kingdom German amputees