Herbert Coleridge
{{short description|English philologist (1830–1861)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| image = Herbert Coleridge.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Coleridge at the age of 17
| birth_date = {{birth date|1830|10|7|df=y}}
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| death_date = {{death date and age|1861|4|23|1830|10|7|df=y}}
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| parents = {{unbulleted list|Henry Nelson Coleridge|Sara Coleridge}}
| relatives = {{unbulleted list|Edith Coleridge (sister)|Samuel Taylor Coleridge (maternal grandfather)}}
}}
Herbert "Herbie" Coleridge (7 October 1830 – 23 April 1861) was an English philologist, technically the first editor of what ultimately became the Oxford English Dictionary. He was a grandson of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Biography
He was the son of Sara and Henry Nelson Coleridge. He earned a double first in Classics and Mathematics at Balliol College, Oxford. After graduation, he became a barrister, but, living off a small annuity, devoted most of his time and energy to linguistic studies. At age 27, as a member of the Philological Society, he formed a committee with Richard Chenevix Trench and Frederick Furnivall to identify and research words unlisted and undefined in English dictionaries of the period. The efforts of this committee eventually led to the development of the Oxford English Dictionary. A dedicated editor, he died of tuberculosis at age 30 after completing some fundamental work for the project.
He died on 23 April 1861 at Chester Place, Regents Park and is buried, with his parents and grandparents, in the crypt of St Michael's, Highgate.The Monumental Inscriptions of Middlesex Vol III - Cansick 1875. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuc.3465163_001&seq=75&q1=coleridge The coffins were moved in 1961 from the Highgate School Chapel.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/12/samuel-taylor-coleridge-poet-remains-rediscovered-wine-cellar|title=Samuel Taylor Coleridge's remains rediscovered in wine cellar|last=Kennedy|first=Maev|date=12 April 2018|journal=The Guardian|access-date=23 June 2023}}
Works
- A Glossarial Index to the Printed English Literature of the Thirteenth Century. London: Trubner & Co., 1859.
- A Dictionary of the First, or Oldest Words in the English Language: from the Semi Saxon Period of A.D. 1250 to 1300. Consisting of An Alphabetical Inventory of Every Word Found in the Printed English Literature of the 13TH Century. London: John Camden Hotten, 1863.
References
{{Reflist}}
- Simon Winchester (2003). The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-860702-4}}. pp. 50–58.
External links
- {{Gutenberg author | id=41463| name=Herbert Coleridge}}
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Herbert Herbie Coleridge}}
- {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029032931/http://geocities.com/Athens/4017/index.html |date=29 October 2009 |title=The Genealogy of Coleridge Family and Coleridge links }}
- {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Coleridge, Sara |volume=6}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coleridge family tree}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleridge, Herbert}}
Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Category:Place of death missing
Category:Tuberculosis deaths in the United Kingdom
Category:19th-century philologists
Category:Chief editors of the Oxford English Dictionary