Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Credits
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Part I Childhood
- Part II Oxford
- Part III The Patent Office
- Part IV Re-entry to the academic life
- Part V Pastures new
- Part VI Who am I?
- Part VII Paradoxical Housman
- Part VIII Cambridge – The glittering prize
- Part IX The Great War 1914–1918
- Part X After the war
- Part XI Last Poems A Requiem for Moses Jackson
- Part XII Last Things
- Part XIII Paris 1932
- Part XIV Academic apotheosis and swansong
- Part XV Last flights to France
- Posthumous publications published by Laurence Housman
- Epilogue
- References
- Bibliography
- Index
Part VIII - Cambridge – The glittering prize
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2018
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Credits
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Part I Childhood
- Part II Oxford
- Part III The Patent Office
- Part IV Re-entry to the academic life
- Part V Pastures new
- Part VI Who am I?
- Part VII Paradoxical Housman
- Part VIII Cambridge – The glittering prize
- Part IX The Great War 1914–1918
- Part X After the war
- Part XI Last Poems A Requiem for Moses Jackson
- Part XII Last Things
- Part XIII Paris 1932
- Part XIV Academic apotheosis and swansong
- Part XV Last flights to France
- Posthumous publications published by Laurence Housman
- Epilogue
- References
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Elected Professor of Latin at Cambridge and fellow of Trinity College
The notice of a vacancy at Cambridge was published over the name of the Vice-Chancellor, R.F. Scott, in the Cambridge University Reporter on 12 December 1910:
The Professorship of Latin is vacant by the death of Professor J.E.B. Mayor.
The Professorship is governed by the provisions of Statute B,
Chapter XI, and by the Ordinances already made or hereafter to be made by the University.
The Electors will meet for the purpose of electing a Professor on Wednesday 18 January 1911, at the University Offices at 2.30 PM.
Candidates are requested to send in their names to the Vice- Chancellor on or before, Monday 9 January 1911.
How different the process was from that of University College! This time no testimonials were called for; the University archive contains no list of applicants, no arguments between the electors on the merits of the various candidates, no final report. There is nothing other than a bald statement:
At a meeting of the Electors for the Latin Professorship held at the University Offices.
It was agreed to elect Alfred Edward Housman, Professor of Latin, University College, London, to the Professorship.
The statement was signed by each of the eleven Electors of whom the most eminent were the Vice-Chancellor R.F. Scott, the Regius Professor of Greek Henry Jackson, the Public Orator J.E. Sandys, the Professor of Sanskrit E.J. Rapson and The Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford Robinson Ellis.
What is immediately noticeable is that two of the electors, Jackson and Ellis, had supported Housman at the University College election and that he has another Cambridge supporter, Arthur Verrall, a senior fellow of Trinity.
It is a reasonable assumption that on this occasion Henry Jackson was the kingmaker, just as W.P. Ker and John Postgate had been the joint kingmakers at University College, London, and that Jackson and Verrall were chiefly instrumental in getting Housman elected as a fellow of Trinity. Henry Jackson was a leader, a forward looking man, gregarious and persuasive and had a powerful presence. R. St John Parry, his successor as Vice-Master at Trinity, wrote of him:
No account of Jackson's place in the College would be nearly complete which did not emphasise the unique position which he occupied in its social life. […]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A.E. HousmanHero of the Hidden Life, pp. 178 - 210Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2018