Rev. Dr. Bulkeley Bandinel (21 February 1781 – 6 February 1861) was a British scholar, ecclesiastic and librarian

Librarian

A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...

.

He was born in the parish of St Peter-in-the-East

St Peter-in-the-East

St Peter-in-the-East is a 12th century church on Queen's Lane, north of the High Street in central Oxford, England. It forms part of St Edmund Hall, one of the Oxford University colleges. It is now deconsecrated and houses the college library for graduates and undergraduates...

, Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, firstborn son of Rev. Dr. James Bandinel of Netherbury by his wife, Margaret (née Dumaresq). Educated at Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 under Richard Valpy

Richard Valpy

-Biography:He was born the eldest son of Richard and Catherine Valpy in Jersey. He was sent to schools in Normandy and Southampton, and completed his education at Pembroke College, Oxford. In 1777 he took orders. After holding a mastership at Bury, in 1781 he became head master of Reading grammar...

 and then at Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

, Bandinel entered New College, Oxford

New College, Oxford

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

, in 1800 (B.A. 1805, M.A. 1807, B.D. and D.D. 1823) and was a Fellow there until 1813. He was ordained as a priest in the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 in 1805.

During Admiral Sir James Saumarez's Baltic campaign of 1808, Bandinel served a short while as chaplain on board HMS Victory

HMS Victory

HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is most famous as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805....

; but, returning, he settled in Oxford and rose within the University's ranks. From 1810 he was Sub-Librarian of the Bodleian Library

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...

 under his godfather John Price

John Price (librarian)

John Price was a Welsh librarian and Anglican priest, who was in charge of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford for 45 years.-Life:...

, and rose to become Bodley's Librarian

Bodley's Librarian

The head of the Bodleian Library, the main library at the University of Oxford, is known as Bodley's Librarian: Sir Thomas Bodley, as founder, gave his name to both the institution and the position. Although there had been a university library at Oxford since about 1320, it had declined by the end...

 in 1813 upon Price's death. It was a position he held until his own death in 1861. Bandinel was Dean of New College and Proctor of the University in 1814, and a Delegate of the University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 from 1813.

In addition, his clerical posts included curacies at nearby Wytham

Wytham

Wytham is a village and civil parish on Seacourt Stream, a branch of the River Thames, about northwest of Oxford. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the Oxford Ring Road ....

 from 1816, and at Albury, Oxfordshire

Albury, Oxfordshire

Albury is a village in the civil parish of Tiddington-with-Albury, west of Thame in Oxfordshire.-Manor:Its toponym is derived from the Old English Aldeberie, meaning "old fortified place", suggesting that the village's origins are Saxon....

, from 1820; then in 1822 he was promoted to the rectory of Haughton-le-Skerne formerly held by his brother-in-law, Thomas Le Mesurier

Thomas Le Mesurier

Rev. Thomas Le Mesurier was a British lawyer, cleric and polemicist.He was born on Alderney, in the Channel Islands, the fourth son of John Le Mesurier, Hereditary Governor of that island. Educated at New College, Oxford , he initially entered the legal profession and was called to the Bar in 1781...

. But Bandinel, occupied with administering the Bodleian and paying from his own purse for bold acquisitions of rare books and manuscripts, rarely visited his living in the North and the parish was run by a curate in his place.

The Bodleian's collections increased greatly under his direction and his knowledge of literary circles was rarely seconded. His patience with both ill-informed library visitors and colleagues would often run thin, many a guest falling victim to his short temper, but it is said that his courtesy was guaranteed to anyone of note who wished to consult him.

Macray in his Annals of the Bodleian Library recounts that Bandinel resigned his librarianship in 1860 "after forty-seven years of office as in the capacity of Head, and a total of fifty of work in the Library... At the age of seventy-nine the natural infirmities of age were felt by himself to incapacitate him for the duties which he had so long and so regularly discharged; while at the same time the continually increasing pressure of work and requirements of the Library made those duties much more onerous than they had been even a quarter of a century before." He gave way to his subordinate, Henry Octavius Coxe

Henry Octavius Coxe

Henry Octavius Coxe was an English librarian and scholar.The eighth son of Rev. Richard Coxe & Susan Smith, he was educated at Westminster School and Worcester College, Oxford...

.

Bandinel married, in 1813, Mary Phillips, daughter of John Phillips of Culham

Culham

Culham is a village and civil parish on the north bank of the River Thames, just over south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire.-Manor:The toponym comes from the Old English Cula's hamm, referring to the village's position in a bend of the Thames...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, and died without issue in 1861 at his home, 31 Beaumont Street

Beaumont Street

Beaumont Street is a street in the centre of Oxford, England.The street was laid out from 1828 to 1837 with elegant terraced houses in the Regency style. Before that, it was the location of Beaumont Palace, now noted by a plaque near the junction with Walton Street...

, Oxford.