Walter Headlam
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Walter George Headlam (15 February 1866 – 20 June 1908) was a British classical scholar and poet, perhaps best remembered for his work on the ''
Mimes A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium o ...
'' of
Herodas The first column of the Herodas papyrus, showing ''Mimiamb'' 1. 1–15. Herodas, or Herondas ( or – the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned), was a Greek poet and the author of short humorous dramatic scenes ...
. He was described as "one of the leading Greek scholars of his time."


Early years

Headlam was born at 24 Norfolk Square, Hyde Park, London in 1866, the second son of Edward Headlam (1824–1882), a
fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of
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 ...
, a
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
and the Director of Examinations in the Civil Service Commission, and his wife, Mary Anne Johnson Headlam (née Sowerby) (born 1837). Through his mother he was descended from the classical scholar
Richard Bentley Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellenis ...
, Master of
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 ...
.N. G. Wilson, 'Headlam, Walter George (1866–1908)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 13 June 2013
/ref> He attended
Elstree School Elstree School is an English preparatory school for children aged 3–13 at Woolhampton House in Woolhampton, near Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. The school is co-educational. History 1848–1938 in Elstree, Hertfordshire The s ...
in Hertfordshire and
Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...
, where the headmaster was Dr H. M. Butler, later Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. On leaving Harrow Headlam studied at
King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...
from 1884 to 1887 where he gained a
First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
in the
Classical Tripos The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to '' Literae Humaniores'' at Oxford University. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previ ...
, as well as receiving a number of other academic awards including seven Browne medals for Greek and Latin odes and epigrams and the
Porson Prize The Porson Prize is an undergraduate award for Greek verse composition at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in honor of classical scholar Richard Porson and was first awarded in 1817. Winners are known as "Porson prizemen". Winners of ...
.Headlam, Walter George in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958 At Cambridge he became a member of a small society of friends known as the Twice a Fortnight Club, often abbreviated to TAF; this was made up of students from King's College and
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
who would meet every Sunday evening for supper. Fellow members included
James Kenneth Stephen James Kenneth Stephen (25 February 1859 – 3 February 1892) was an English poet, and tutor to Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). Early life James Kenneth Stephen was the second son of ...
, Stanley Mordaunt Leathes,
M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English medievalist scholar and author who served as provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as well as Vice-Chancellor of the Univers ...
and
Henry Babington Smith Sir Henry Babington Smith (29 January 1863 – 29 September 1923) was a senior British civil servant, who served in a wide range of posts overseas, mostly financial, before becoming a director of the Bank of England. He was related to the B ...
. King's College appointed him a fellow in 1890 after which he took up a teaching post within the college.''Dr Walter Headlam, 1866–1908'' The Classical Review/Volume 22/Issue 05 /August 1908, pp 163–164
/ref> Despite his eccentricity and scholarship he was extremely popular with his students, possibly because of their common interest in cricket, music, and hunting.


Academic work

From 1890 Headlam concentrated much of his work on the ancient Greek tragedian
Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...
, publishing translations and papers on his plays. Headlam gained his MA in 1891, and was awarded the degree of DLitt in 1903. In 1906 he applied for the post of Regius Chair of Greek, one of the oldest
Professorships 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 ...
at 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 ...
, the chair having been founded by
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
in 1540. Shy by nature, to his discomfort his application required that he should deliver a public lecture, which he gave on the second chorus of
Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...
' ''
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 ...
''. Although Headlam did not gain the post he admired the successful candidate, the
Classicist 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 ...
Henry Jackson. Headlam's lecture was greatly admired and his name became known in Classical circles. Deeply interested in
textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...
, "in order to elucidate difficult passages he read exceptionally widely in Greek texts of the classical and post-classical periods". A series of newly discovered
papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...
containing Greek texts such as the
Oxyrhynchus Papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrology, papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient Landfill, rubbish dump near Oxyrhync ...
led to possibly his best-known work, an edition of the ''
Mimes A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium o ...
'' of
Herodas The first column of the Herodas papyrus, showing ''Mimiamb'' 1. 1–15. Herodas, or Herondas ( or – the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned), was a Greek poet and the author of short humorous dramatic scenes ...
, completed after his death by A. D. Knox and published in 1922. This continues to be an important source of information for specialists and has been described as "remain ngthe most detailed scholarly commentary in existence". Apart from his translations from Greek into English Headlam also wrote English verse. Many of these were collected by his brother
Cecil Headlam Cecil Headlam (19 September 1872 – 12 August 1934) was an English first-class cricketer active in 1895–1908, who played for Middlesex and Oxford University. He was born in Paddington; died in Charing. He was also a cricket historian. He ...
and published in 1910. In addition, Walter Headlam wrote articles for the 1911 ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'', signing his work "W. G. H." A friend was
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
, with whom he had a "brief flirtation". Just before his death he gave a course of lectures in London, and was preparing a series to be given in Cambridge on ''Greek Ideas''. The classical scholar
John Edwin Sandys Sir John Edwin Sandys ( "Sands"; 19 May 1844 – 6 July 1922) was an English classical scholar. Life Born in Leicester, England on 19 May 1844, Sandys was the 4th son of Rev. Timothy Sandys (1803–1871) and Rebecca Swain (1800–1853). Livin ...
, in his ''A History of Classical Scholarship'' (1908), wrote of Headlam, "Only nine days before his death, he had the pleasure of meeting
Wilamowitz Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literatur ...
, who, in the course of his brief visit to Cambridge, said of some of Walter Headlam's Greek verses that, if they had been discovered in an Egyptian papyrus, they would immediately have been recognised by all scholars as true Greek poetry". Walter George Headlam died suddenly in
St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It shares its main hospital site i ...
in London in June 1908 from 'an accidental twist of an intestine' after having been taken ill in a hotel. He was buried at Wycliffe in Yorkshire, the home of his mother's family. He planned to publish a full edition of the plays of Aeschylus but his death prevented its completion. However, he left
annotated An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For anno ...
copies of the text which have been used since by scholars. Headlam's notes were transcribed by
George Thomson George Thomson may refer to: Government and politics * George Thomson (MP for Southwark) (c. 1607–1691), English merchant and Parliamentarian soldier, official and politician * George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth (1921–2008), Scottish p ...
, who included them in his edition of Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', ''The Oresteia of Aeschylus'' (1938).
Martin Litchfield West Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2014. West wrote on ancient Greek music ...
wrote of Headlam, "Many of his conjectures were injudicious, but at their best they have a profundity and elegance that
Wilamowitz Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literatur ...
seldom if ever achieved".M. L. West, ''Studies in Aeschylus'' (1990) pg 369


Published works

*''Fifty Poems of Meleager'', London: Macmillan and Co. (1890) *''On Editing Aeschylus: A Criticism'', London: David Nutt (1891) *''The Suppliants of Aeschylus. Translated by Walter Headlam, M.A.'', George Bell & Sons (Bell's Classical Translations) (1900) *''A Book of Greek Verse'', Cambridge University Press (1907) *''Herodas: The Mimes and Fragments. With notes by Walter Headlam ... Edited by A.D. Knox.'', Cambridge University Press (1922)


References


External links


Ebooks of the works of Walter George HeadlamEcopy of ''Walter Headlam, his letters and poems''; with a memoir by Cecil Headlam, and a bibliography by L. Haward (1910)Ecopy of ''On Editing Aeschylus; A Criticism'' (1891)Catalogue entries for 'Headlam, Walter George (1866–1908) poet and classical scholar' – Janus Cambridge Library website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Headlam, Walter George 1866 births 1908 deaths People educated at Elstree School People educated at Harrow School Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge British classical scholars Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics Scholars of ancient Greek literature