James Strachan-Davidson

James Leigh Strachan-Davidson (Template:Ne; 22 October 1843 – 28 March 1916) was an English classical scholar, academic administrator, translator, and author of books on Roman history. He was Master of Balliol College, Oxford, from 1907 until his death in 1916.

Early life

James Leigh Strachan was born in Byfleet, Surrey, southern England, to James Strachan, a Scottish merchant, and Mary Anne Richardson. He was the eldest among three brothers and had a half-sister from his father's first marriage. His mother died while they were still children and his father remarried.Template:Sfn In 1861, he and his father took the surname of DavidsonTemplate:Sfn when the family inherited a small estate in Ardgaith, Perthshire.Template:Sfn

Education and career

Strachan-Davidson was enrolled at Leamington College at the age of eleven as day-boy.Template:Sfn Though not considered to be a robust boy, he played cricket well enough to be a part of the college team.Template:Sfn In 1862, he enrolled as a Warner Exhibitioner in Balliol College, Oxford,Template:Sfn where he studied the classics.Template:Sfn He won the Jenkyns Exhibition in the college in 1864 and was appointed as a fellow of the college in 1866 after his finals.Template:Sfn He graduated from Oxford with first-class honours in both Classical Moderations (1864)Template:Sfn and Literae Humaniores (1866).Template:Sfn He actively participated in the Oxford Union, held the posts of secretary and librarian, and was appointed as the president of the society in 1867.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

He was appointed as the Classical tutor at Balliol College in 1872 and mainly lectured in the field of Roman history.Template:Sfn He became the senior dean of the college in 1875, who was also the president of the college's Common Room, and acting head in the master's absence.Template:Sfn He was elected to the chairmanship of the board of Faculty of Arts in 1893.Template:Sfn He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) from the University of Oxford for his contributions to the study of Roman criminal law.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Upon Edward Caird's resignation due to poor health, he was unanimously elected as the master of Balliol College,Template:Sfn in 1907; a position he held until his death in 1916.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 1899, he was appointed by the colonial secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, to a committee considering the position of students holding UK scholarships granted by colonial governments. Lord Cromer consulted him about teaching Arabic to men appointed to the Egyptian and Sudanese civil service in 1903–04.Template:Sfn

Political views

Over the course of his many debates as part of the Oxford Union, he spoke in favour of the Confederate States in the American Civil War,Template:Sfn Bismarck's policies, and the end of Turkish rule in Europe.Template:Sfn He also consistently supported women's suffrage, and advocated that "international morality demanded that England relinquish India."Template:Sfn He also spoke against Lord Palmerston's policy of non-intervention in the Schleswig-Holstein question.Template:Sfn He was firmly liberal on the matter of education and University reform and espoused the importance of character and attainments over party adherence for University representatives.Template:Sfn

He was consulted extensively by the Civil Service Commissioners during the reformation of the entrance examination of the Indian Civil Service.Template:Sfn He believed that the mental and moral discipline, wide view and grasp of fundamentals granted by the study of Literae Humaniores was crucial to the Service and drew up a memorandum to that effect, for its Royal Commission in June 1913.Template:Sfn

Personal life

Strachan-Davidson was devoted to his work at Balliol College and never married. He believed that the college should be as "wife and children" to a fellow of the college.Template:Sfn He was a friend of the English author Paul Ferdinand WillertTemplate:Sfn and was godfather to his daughter, Dorothy.Template:Sfn He was also close to his family doctor Robert Slack whose daughter Mary was his godchild.Template:Sfn He had another goddaughter, Margaret Bowlby, daughter of Henry Bowlby, headmaster of Lancing College.Template:Sfn His closest friend was his contemporary, the English classical scholar Evelyn Abbott, with whom he spent most of his vacations.Template:Sfn

Death and legacy

Strachan-Davidson died on 28 March 1916 due to cerebral hemorrhage caused by atherosclerosis and was buried in Holywell Cemetery in Oxford. A bronze tablet was placed in Balliol Chapel in his commemoration.Template:Sfn

He had acquired around 1500 to 1600 Greek and Roman coins during his many visits to Egypt, Italy, and Sicily. They mainly dated to the Macedonian, Ptolemaic, and Imperial Roman periods. This collection was bequeathed to Balliol College upon his death, and then given to Ashmolean Museum as per his wishes.Template:Sfn

Selected works

Books

• Selections from Polybius (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888)
• Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Republic (New York: Putnam, 1894)
• Appian's Civil Wars, Book I (Oxford: Clarendon, 1902)
• Problems of the Roman Criminal Law, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912)

Articles

• "The Growth of Plebeian Privilege at Rome", The English Historical Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1886)
• "The Decrees of the Roman Plebs", The English Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 19 (1890)
• "Mommsen's Roman Criminal Law", The English Historical Review, Vol. 16, No. 62 (1901)
• "Ancient Imperialism – II. Roman Republic", The Classical Review, Vol. 24, No. 4 (1910)

References

Sources

• Template:Link note