View source for Richard Dawes (classical scholar)

{{Short description|English classical scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
'''Richard Dawes''' (1708{{snd}}21 March 1766) was an English classical scholar.

==Life==

He was born in or near [[Market Bosworth]], [[Leicestershire]], England, and was educated at the town's [[grammar school]] under [[Anthony Blackwall]], and at [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]], of which he was elected fellow in 1731.<ref>{{acad|id=DWS725R|name=Dawes, Richard}}</ref> His eccentricities and frank speaking made him unpopular. His health broke down as a result of his sedentary life, and he took to [[bell-ringing]] at [[Great St Mary's]] as exercise.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hodgson |first=John |date=1832 |title=An Account of the Life and Writings of Richard Dawes, A. M., late Master of the Royal Grammar School, and of the Hospital of St. Mary, in the Westgate, in Newcastle upon Tyne |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3210367&recordType=Journal |journal=Archaeologia Aeliana |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=137–166 |via=Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne}}</ref> He was a bitter enemy of [[Richard Bentley]], who he declared knew nothing of [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] except from indexes.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Dawes, Richard|volume=7|page=873}} Endnotes:
*[[John Hodgson (antiquary)|John Hodgson]], ''An Account of the Life and Writings of Richard Dawes'' (1828)
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Dawes, Richard (1708-1766)|first=Henry Richards|last=Luard|authorlink=Henry Richards Luard}}
*[[John Edwin Sandys]], ''History of Classical Scholarship'', ii. 415.</ref>

In 1738, Dawes was appointed to the mastership of the [[Royal Grammar School, Newcastle|Royal Free Grammar School]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], combined with that of St Mary's Hospital. His mind seems to have become unhinged; his continual disputes with his governing body ruined the school, and in 1749, he resigned and retired to [[Heworth, Tyne and Wear|Heworth]], where he spent most of his time boating.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Works==

The book on which Dawes' fame rests is his ''Miscellanea critica'' (1745), which gained the commendation of [[L. C. Valckenaer]] and [[Johann Jakob Reiske]]. ''The Miscellanea'', which was re-edited by [[Thomas Burgess (bishop, born 1756)|Thomas Burgess]] (1781), [[Gottlieb Christoph Harless]] (1800) and [[Thomas Kidd (classical scholar)|Thomas Kidd]] (1817), for many years enjoyed a high reputation. Some of the "canons" proved untenable and few were accepted universally; but it remains a monument of English scholarship.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

{{Authority control}}

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawes, Richard}}
[[Category:English classical scholars]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Leicestershire]]
[[Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People from Market Bosworth]]
[[Category:Writers from Leicestershire]]
[[Category:1708 births]]
[[Category:1766 deaths]]