Henry Octavius Coxe

Henry Octavius Coxe was an English librarian and scholar.

The eighth son of Rev. Richard Coxe & Susan Smith, he was educated at Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

 and Worcester College, Oxford

Worcester College, Oxford

Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in the eighteenth century, but its predecessor on the same site had been an institution of learning since the late thirteenth century...

. Immediately on taking his degree in 1833, he began work in the manuscript department of the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, became in 1838 sub-librarian of the Bodleian, at Oxford, and in 1860 succeeded Dr. Bulkeley Bandinel

Bulkeley Bandinel

Rev. Dr. Bulkeley Bandinel was a British scholar, ecclesiastic and librarian.He was born in the parish of St Peter-in-the-East, Oxford, firstborn son of Rev. Dr. James Bandinel of Netherbury by his wife, Margaret . Educated at Reading under Richard Valpy and then at Winchester College, Bandinel...

 as head librarian, an office he held until his death in 1881.

Having proved himself an able palaeographer, he was sent out by the British government under Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston to inspect the libraries in the monasteries

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 of the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

 in 1857. He discovered some valuable manuscripts, but the monks were too wise to part with their treasures. One valuable result of his travels was the detection of the forgery attempted by Constantine Simonides

Constantine Simonides

Constantine Simonides , palaeographer, dealer of icons, man with extensive learning, knowledge of manuscripts, miraculous calligraphy...

. He was the author of various catalogues, and under his direction that of the Bodleian

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...

, in more than 720 volumes, was completed. He published Rogri de Wendover Chronica, 5 vols. (1841-1844); the Black Prince, an historical poem written in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 by Chandos Herald

Chandos Herald

Chandos Herald is the name used to refer to the author of a poem about the life of The Black Prince. He is so-called because he was the herald of the English warlord John Chandos, the Black Prince's closest friend....

 (1842); and Report on the Greek Manuscripts yet remaining in the Libraries of the Levant (1858).

He was not only an accurate librarian but an active and hardworking clergyman, and was for the last twenty-five years of his life in charge of the parish of Wytham

Wytham

Wytham is a village and civil parish on Seacourt Stream, a branch of the River Thames, about northwest of Oxford. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the Oxford Ring Road ....

, near Oxford. He was likewise honorary fellow of Worcester and Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...

.

In 1839 he married Charlotte Esther, daughter of Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner

Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner

General Sir Hilgrove Turner GCH is best known as the officer who escorted the Rosetta Stone from Egypt to England.-Military career:...

, and fathered five children, of which Susan Esther (1842-1894) who married John Wordsworth

John Wordsworth

The Right Reverend John Wordsworth was an English prelate. He was born at Harrow on the Hill, to the Reverend Christopher Wordsworth, nephew of the poet William Wordsworth...

, future Bishop of Salisbury

Bishop of Salisbury

The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...

.

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