Phillimore, John Swinnerton

(1873-1926)

   Born at Boconnoc, Cornwall, the son of ViceAdmiral Sir Augustus Phillimore, he was educated at Westminster School, London, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he won several distinguished literary prizes. He became a lecturer and tutor at Christ Church and in 1899 was appointed professor of Greek at Glasgow University, and later professor of humanities. For several years he took an active part in liberal politics in the west of Scotland. He published rhymed translation of Sophocles, Propertius, Statius, Philostratus, and from 1912, he published many learned works on Greek and Roman literature. He received honorary degrees from St. Andrews University and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1902, he published Poems and in 1918, another collection, Things New and Old. He became a Catholic in 1906 and in 1926 published The Hundred Best Latin Hymns. He died at Shedfield, Hampshire. Some of his poems: "A Cathedral Voluntary," "Desiderium," "Elegy in Lanarkshire," "Mortalia," "Night in the Desert," "Rain at Naples," "The Funeral March," "Trieste to Alexandria," "Virgil's Statue at Pietole," "Zephyrus Vernus."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Poems of John Swinnerton Phillimore. James MacLehose and Sons, 1902. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).