Arthur Augustus Tilley
Encyclopedia
Arthur Augustus Tilley was an academic of the University of Cambridge
. An Old Etonian
, his first subject at Cambridge was Classics
, after which he began a career as a barrister
. He returned to his old college to teach Classics, going on to specialize in French literature
and becoming both a literary critic
and a historian
.
Tilley is remembered at Cambridge for resisting the breakdown in behaviour and dress which he observed, describing the new elements in his college as 'bounders'.
, Secretary to the General Post Office
, by his marriage to Mary Ann Partington, who was his second wife. Tilley's father had been married firstly, in 1839, to Cecilia Trollope, a favourite sister of the novelist Anthony Trollope
, who sometimes stayed with the Tilleys in Cumberland
. Cecilia Tilley had died in 1849, having had five children, of whom four died soon after her. In 1861 Tilley's father married thirdly Susannah Anderson Montgomerie, with whom he had one daughter and two further sons, Tilley's half brothers: William George Tilley, born in 1863, and John Anthony Cecil Tilley
, later a British ambassador, born in 1869.
The young Tilley was educated at Eton
, where he was celebrated as "Scholar of the Year" for 1871, winning both the Newcastle scholarship for Classics and the Tomline scholarship for Mathematics
. He went on to King's College, Cambridge
, where in 1875 he came second in the Classical Tripos
. He was then admitted to the Inner Temple
, studied for a career in the law, and was called to the Bar.
of his old college, King's, in 1876 and later was also a lecturer there. He did not turn his back on the law until 1882, when Anthony Trollope wrote to his wife Rose "Arthur has given up the bar for good & all: – is to live at Cambridge." In 1883, he became Junior Tutor of King's. Although not a reactionary
, he was very keen on good form and correct dress and was critical of the behaviour of the growing number of members of the college who failed to respect them. As Junior Tutor he invited all sorts to dinner, as he felt he should do, but after one such occasion said to Arthur Benson
"Thank God my bounders' dinner is over!"
In 1884, Tilley was still a tutor and lecturer for the Classical Tripos
, and in that year he penned a valedictory:
In 1890, Tilley resigned as Junior Tutor of King's College after being held responsible for the throwing into the college fountain of the "long-haired bounder" Robbie Ross. Ross developed pneumonia
as a result of the incident and subsequently left Cambridge without graduating.
Apart from a number of important literary studies, Tilley was editor of the academic journal
s Medieval France and Modern France. In 1903 he published a history of the Reformation
in France
, as part of the Cambridge Modern History
.
His later work included two chapters for the Cambridge Mediaeval History, one entitled The Early Renaissance (in volume 7, 1932) and the other The Renaissance in Europe (in volume 8, 1936). Denys Hay
later commented that "Looking back on this presentation of the Renaissance
the most striking feature is its desultory character... an amalgam of assertions of broad principles with antiquarian observation of detail, in which the structure of society and politics was all but ignored... In short, the Renaissance is neither explained nor interpreted".
Tilley married Margaret, daughter of J. A. Clutton-Brock, and they had one son and three daughters. He died on 4 December 1942, three days after his 91st birthday, and at the time of his death was living at number 2, Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge.
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. An Old Etonian
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, his first subject at Cambridge was Classics
Classical Tripos
The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the University of Cambridge, equivalent to Literae Humaniores at Oxford. It is traditionally a three year degree, but for those who have not studied Latin and Greek at school a four year course has been introduced...
, after which he began a career as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
. He returned to his old college to teach Classics, going on to specialize in French literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
and becoming both a literary critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
and a historian
Modern history
Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...
.
Tilley is remembered at Cambridge for resisting the breakdown in behaviour and dress which he observed, describing the new elements in his college as 'bounders'.
Early life
Tilley was the only child of Sir John TilleyJohn Tilley (KCB)
Sir John Tilley KCB was Secretary to the General Post Office of the United Kingdom.-Early life and family:Tilley was the posthumous youngest son of John Tilley, a merchant of Peckham, who had died before he was born...
, Secretary to the General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
, by his marriage to Mary Ann Partington, who was his second wife. Tilley's father had been married firstly, in 1839, to Cecilia Trollope, a favourite sister of the novelist Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
, who sometimes stayed with the Tilleys in Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
. Cecilia Tilley had died in 1849, having had five children, of whom four died soon after her. In 1861 Tilley's father married thirdly Susannah Anderson Montgomerie, with whom he had one daughter and two further sons, Tilley's half brothers: William George Tilley, born in 1863, and John Anthony Cecil Tilley
John Tilley (diplomat)
Sir John Anthony Cecil Tilley PC, GCMG, GCVO, CB was a British diplomat. He was British Ambassador to Brazil from 1921 to 1925, and Ambassador to Japan from 1926 to 1931.-Early life:...
, later a British ambassador, born in 1869.
The young Tilley was educated at Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, where he was celebrated as "Scholar of the Year" for 1871, winning both the Newcastle scholarship for Classics and the Tomline scholarship for Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. He went on to King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
, where in 1875 he came second in the Classical Tripos
Classical Tripos
The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the University of Cambridge, equivalent to Literae Humaniores at Oxford. It is traditionally a three year degree, but for those who have not studied Latin and Greek at school a four year course has been introduced...
. He was then admitted to the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
, studied for a career in the law, and was called to the Bar.
Career
Tilley was elected a FellowFellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of his old college, King's, in 1876 and later was also a lecturer there. He did not turn his back on the law until 1882, when Anthony Trollope wrote to his wife Rose "Arthur has given up the bar for good & all: – is to live at Cambridge." In 1883, he became Junior Tutor of King's. Although not a reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
, he was very keen on good form and correct dress and was critical of the behaviour of the growing number of members of the college who failed to respect them. As Junior Tutor he invited all sorts to dinner, as he felt he should do, but after one such occasion said to Arthur Benson
A. C. Benson
Arthur Christopher Benson was an English essayist, poet, and author and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge....
"Thank God my bounders' dinner is over!"
In 1884, Tilley was still a tutor and lecturer for the Classical Tripos
Classical Tripos
The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the University of Cambridge, equivalent to Literae Humaniores at Oxford. It is traditionally a three year degree, but for those who have not studied Latin and Greek at school a four year course has been introduced...
, and in that year he penned a valedictory:
In 1890, Tilley resigned as Junior Tutor of King's College after being held responsible for the throwing into the college fountain of the "long-haired bounder" Robbie Ross. Ross developed pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
as a result of the incident and subsequently left Cambridge without graduating.
Apart from a number of important literary studies, Tilley was editor of the academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
s Medieval France and Modern France. In 1903 he published a history of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, as part of the Cambridge Modern History
Cambridge Modern History
The Cambridge Modern History is a comprehensive modern history of the world, beginning with the 15th century age of Discovery, published by the Cambridge University Press in the United Kingdom and also in the United States....
.
His later work included two chapters for the Cambridge Mediaeval History, one entitled The Early Renaissance (in volume 7, 1932) and the other The Renaissance in Europe (in volume 8, 1936). Denys Hay
Denys Hay
Denys Hay was a historian specializing in medieval and Renaissance Europe, and notable for demonstrating the influence of Italy on events in the rest of the continent....
later commented that "Looking back on this presentation of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
the most striking feature is its desultory character... an amalgam of assertions of broad principles with antiquarian observation of detail, in which the structure of society and politics was all but ignored... In short, the Renaissance is neither explained nor interpreted".
Tilley married Margaret, daughter of J. A. Clutton-Brock, and they had one son and three daughters. He died on 4 December 1942, three days after his 91st birthday, and at the time of his death was living at number 2, Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge.
Major publications
- The Literature of the French Renaissance
- François Rabelais (1907)
- From Montaigne to Molière
- The Dawn of the French Renaissance
- Cambridge Readings in French Literature
- Molière
- Studies in the French Renaissance
- The decline of the age of Louis XIV: or, French literature, 1687-1715
- Three French Dramatists: Racine, Marivaux, Musset
- Madame de Sévigné: some aspects of her life and character
- Medieval France: a companion to French studies, vol. 5
- The Reformation in France in Cambridge Modern HistoryCambridge Modern HistoryThe Cambridge Modern History is a comprehensive modern history of the world, beginning with the 15th century age of Discovery, published by the Cambridge University Press in the United Kingdom and also in the United States....
vol. II The Reformation: The end of the Middle Ages (1903) - The Early Renaissance in Cambridge Mediaeval History, vol. 7 (1932)
- The Renaissance in Europe in Cambridge Mediaeval History, vol. 8 (1936)
External links
- A. A. Tilley, The Reformation in France (1903), text online at uni-mannheim.de