Joseph Bosworth facts for kids
Joseph Bosworth (1788 – 27 May 1876) was an English scholar who wrote the first big dictionary for the Anglo-Saxon language. He was also a priest and a professor.
His Life Story
Joseph Bosworth was born in Derbyshire, England, in 1788. He went to Repton School as a 'Poor Scholar', which meant he got help to pay for his education. However, he left school when he was still a teenager and did not go to university.
Even without a university degree, Joseph became a priest in the Church of England. In 1814, he started as a curate (a type of assistant priest) in Bunny, Nottinghamshire. Three years later, he became the vicar (a parish priest) of Little Horwood, Buckinghamshire.
Joseph was very good at many European languages. He especially loved studying Anglo-Saxon, which is an old form of English. This suggests that during the years between leaving school and becoming a priest, someone helped him learn a lot about languages. We don't know for sure who this person was.
In 1822, the University of Aberdeen gave him a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree. The next year, in 1823, he published a book called Elements of Anglo-Saxon Grammar. He also started studying at Trinity College, Cambridge, as an older student, which was called a 'ten-year man'.
Joseph became a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1825. In 1829, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a very important group for scientists and scholars.
From 1829 to 1840, Joseph lived in the Netherlands, working as a chaplain (a priest for a specific group of people). He lived first in Amsterdam and then in Rotterdam. In 1831, he received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Leyden. Trinity College, Cambridge, also gave him more degrees in 1834 and 1839.
While in the Netherlands, he worked on his most famous book, A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language, which was published in 1838. Later, another scholar named Thomas Northcote Toller updated and added to Bosworth's dictionary.
In 1858, Joseph became the Rector of Water Stratford, Buckinghamshire. He also became a special professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford. In 1867, he gave £10,000 to the University of Cambridge to help create a new professorship for Anglo-Saxon studies.
Joseph Bosworth died on 27 May 1876. He was buried in Water Stratford churchyard. He left behind many notes about old Anglo-Saxon documents.
His Lasting Impact
After Joseph Bosworth, other scholars continued his work. John Earle and Arthur Sampson Napier held the Anglo-Saxon professorship after him.
In 1916, the professorship at Oxford was renamed the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon. This was done to honor Joseph Bosworth and the money he gave to support the study of Anglo-Saxon.
One of the most famous people to hold this professorship was J. R. R. Tolkien. He was the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien held the post from 1925 to 1945.
