Edward Craven Hawtrey was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 educationalist.

He was born at Burnham

The Norfolk Burnhams

The Norfolk Burnhams are a group of adjacent villages on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The villages are located at the sea near a large natural bay named Brancaster Bay and the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve....

 in Norfolk, the son of the vicar of the parish. He was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

, and in 1814 was appointed assistant master at Eton under Dr John Keate

John Keate

John Keate was an English schoolmaster, and headmaster of Eton College.He was born at Wells, Somerset, the son of Prebendary William Keate, D.D., rector of Laverton, Somerset, and brother of Robert Keate FRCS , Serjeant-Surgeon to King William IV and Queen Victoria.He was educated at Eton and...

. In 1834 he became headmaster of Eton, which role he performed until 1853, when he was elected Provost of Eton following the death of Francis Hodgson

Francis Hodgson

Francis Hodgson , was a reforming Provost of Eton, educator, cleric, writer of verse, and friend of Byron....

. Under his administration, new buildings were erected, including the school library and the sanatorium, the college chapel was restored, the Old Christopher Inn was closed, and the custom of Montem

Eton Montem

Eton Montem was a custom observed by Eton College from at least 1561 until it was finally suppressed in 1847, at the Montem Mound in Chalvey, Slough, Buckinghamshire The mound is situated some 2 miles from the college near the London to Bath coach road, now the A4.Montem is first reported in...

, the collection by street begging of funds for the university expenses of the captain of the school, was suppressed.

Hawtrey is supposed to have suggested the modern language prizes given by Prince Albert, and himself founded the prize for English essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

. In 1852 he became provost of Eton, and in 1854 vicar of Mapledurham. He was buried in the Eton College chapel.

On account of his command of languages, he was known in London as the English Mezzofanti, and he was a book collector of the finest taste. Among his own books are some excellent translations from the English into Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

. He had a considerable reputation as a writer of English hexameter

Hexameter

Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...

s and as a judge of Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

ic translation: his translation of a brief passage from the Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

was described by Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...

, in On Translating Homer

On Translating Homer

On Translating Homer, published in January 1861, was a printed version of the series of public lectures given by Matthew Arnold as Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 3 November 1860 to 18 December 1860....

, as "the most successful attempt hitherto made at rendering Homer into English".

External links