Sir Mungo William MacCallum KCMG (26 February 1854 – 3 September 1942) was

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of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

from 1934 to 1936, and a noted

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

Early life

Mungo William MacCallum was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

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, the son of Mungo MacCallum, merchant, and his wife Isabella, ''née'' Renton. He studied at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. In Germany MacCallum concentrated on medieval literature, he published several articles in the ''Cornhill Magazine'' in 1879-80. In 1884 he published ''Studies in Low German and High German literature''.

Academic career

MacCallum became Professor of Literature at the

University of Wales, Aberystwyth Aberystwyth University () is a public research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 students studying across three academic facul ...

in 1879, but moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1887 to take up the post of Foundation Professor of Modern Language and Literature at the University of Sydney, MacCallum was chosen over 44 other candidates. He set about increasing the status of English, French and German in the curriculum and to that end instituted a tradition of prizes, personally funded by him, for undergraduates demonstrating proficiency in English (the prize would from 1920 be known as The MacCallum Prize). In 1897, MacCallum became president of the Sydney University Union. In 1898, he was made Dean of the Faculty of Arts. In April 1928, MacCallum was elected deputy chancellor and became Chancellor of the university in 1934. The Mungo MacCallum Building at the

was named in his honour. He wrote a number of works of literary criticism on English and German literature, and is most notable for his work on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 natio ...

. In 1894, MacCallum published a book ''Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Arthurian Story from the 16th century'' in which he traced the Arthurian story from its 'Brythonic' origins through

Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'A ...

and up to its final phase in

Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

. During the first world war he was in favour of Australia's involvement but he objected strongly to the anti-German discrimination. In 1928, he became the deputy chancellor of the university and from 1934 to 1936 he was the chancellor.

Personal life

MacCallum married Dorette Margaretha Peters in 1882 at in Lower Saxony and they had three children. Lady MacCallum was a founder of the National Council of Women of New South Wales and president in 1919-28. She also worked for

The Infants' Home Child and Family Services The Infants' Home Child and Family Services was established in Sydney, Australia in 1874 as a refuge for unwed mothers and their babies and evolving over time to a current provider of early childhood education and health services. Background ...

the Sydney Day Nursery and Nursery Schools' Association, the

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, the New Settlers' League of Australia, the Royal Society for the Welfare of Mothers and Babies and the Sydney University Women's Society (Settlement). They had a daughter, Isabella Renton MacCallum, and two sons:

Mungo Lorenz MacCallum Mungo may refer to: People * Mungo (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Mungo people, an ethnic group in Cameroon Places * Mungo, Angola, a town and municipality * Mungo National Park, Australia * Lake Mungo, Australia * ...

(1884–1934),

Rhodes scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

in 1906, who would go on to lecture in Roman Law at the University of Sydney; and Walter Paton MacCallum, who became a Brigadier general in the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

. His grandson

Mungo Ballardie MacCallum John Mungo Ballardie MacCallum (commonly known as Mungo Ballardie MacCallum, 11 December 1913 – 12 July 1999) was an Australian journalist, broadcaster and poet. Early life MacCallum was born in Point Piper, Sydney on 11 December 1913. His f ...

and great grandson

Mungo Wentworth MacCallum Mungo Wentworth MacCallum (21 December 1941 – 9 December 2020) was an Australian political journalist and commentator. MacCallum was once described by Gough Whitlam as a "tall, bearded descendant of lunatic aristocrats". His father, Mungo Ba ...

were both noted journalists.

Critical legacy

In his 1967 foreword to ''Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background'',

Terence Spencer Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six comedies based on Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. All six of Terence's plays su ...

of the

Shakespeare Institute The Shakespeare Institute is a centre for postgraduate study dedicated to the study of William Shakespeare and the literature of the English Renaissance. It is part of the University of Birmingham, and is located in Stratford-upon-Avon. The Ins ...

judged MacCallum's "indispensable" 1910 book as unusual in having "outlasted changes of fashion in criticism."

References

External links

National Library Search
- list of publications held by the NLA by Sir Mungo William MacCallum or his descendants
Sir Mungo William MacCallum (1854-1942)
- Sydney University History biography of Sir Mungo {{DEFAULTSORT:Maccallum, Mungo William 1854 births 1942 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Wales Academic staff of the University of Sydney Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Vice-chancellors of the University of Sydney Chancellors of the University of Sydney Australian monarchists