Richard Shilleto (25 November 1809 – 24 September 1876), English classical scholar, was born at

Ulleskelf Ulleskelf is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England, four miles from Tadcaster on the River Wharfe. Its name comes from the Scandinavian personal name ''Úlfr'', while ''skelf'' may be an Old English word meaning ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. He was educated at

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 census was 2,707, increasing to 2 ...

and

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

, then

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 ...

, where he graduated second classic in 1832. Though Shilleto did not become a fellow of Trinity, marrying Isabella S. H. Snelgar in 1834, he spent the rest of his life in Cambridge as a 'coach'(private tutor) in classics. His son

Arthur Richard Shilleto The Reverend Arthur Richard Shilleto (18 June 1848 – 19 January 1894) was a British clergyman and schoolmaster. He was the son of the classicist Richard Shilleto (1809–1876). Life Shilleto was educated at Harrow School, and graduated from T ...

was born in 1848. In 1867 he was elected a fellow of

Peterhouse Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

. Shilleto was one of the greatest

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

scholars that England has produced; in addition, he had an intimate acquaintance with the

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 ...

and English languages and literature. He published little, being obliged to devote the best years of his life to private tuition. He was the most famous classical coach of his day, and almost all the best men passed through his hands. His edition of the ''De falsa legatione'' of

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

will always remain a standard work, but his first two books of

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

(an instalment of a long-contemplated edition) hardly came up to expectation. His pamphlet ''Thucydides or Grote?'' excited a considerable amount of feeling. While it undoubtedly damaged Grote's reputation as a scholar, it was felt that it showed a want of appreciation of the special greatness of the historian. Shilleto's powers as a translator from English into Greek (especially prose) and Latin were unrivalled; a selection of his versions was published in 1901.

References

* BH Kennedy in ''Cambridge Journal of Philology'' (1877). * 1809 births 1876 deaths People educated at Repton School People educated at Shrewsbury School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge English classical scholars People from Selby District {{UK-academic-bio-stub