Life

The eldest of the seventeen children of Henry Homer the elder, he was born at Warwick

Warwick

Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...

 in 1753. In 1758 he entered Rugby School

Rugby School

Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...

, of which, at the age of fourteen, he was the head boy. He then studied for three years at Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

. In November 1768 he was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

, under Richard Farmer

Richard Farmer

Dr Richard Farmer was a Shakespearean scholar and Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is known for his Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare , in which he maintained that Shakespeare's knowledge of the classics was through translations, the errors of which he reproduced.-Life:He was born at...

, where he became acquainted with Samuel Parr

Samuel Parr

Samuel Parr , was an English schoolmaster, writer, minister and Doctor of Law. He was known in his time for political writing, and as "the Whig Johnson", though his reputation has lasted less well that Samuel Johnson's, and the resemblances were at a superficial level, Parr being no prose stylist,...

, who helped to direct his studies. Among his close college friends were William Bennet

William Bennet (bishop)

William Bennet was Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland, and an antiquary. He was born in the Tower of London and educated at Harrow School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was senior tutor for many years...

 and George Dyer. He graduated B.A. in 1773, M.A. in 1776, and B.D. in 1783.

Homer was elected a Fellow of his college in 1778, and returned to the university from Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, where he had been living for about three years, soon after his election. About this time he was admitted into deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

's orders. He now resided chiefly at Cambridge, and spent much time in the university library, turning his attention to philological studies. In consequence of religious scruples Homer declined to take priest's orders in compliance with the college statutes, and his fellowship was therefore declared vacant in June 1788. He died at Birdingbury

Birdingbury

Birdingbury is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, England, just south of the River Leam, and not far from Draycote Water. It is located roughly half way between Rugby and Leamington Spa, about eight miles from each. According to the 2001 census it had a population of...

 of a rapid decline on 4 May 1791, and was buried in the churchyard there.

Works

In 1787 he joined with Parr in the republication of William Bellenden

William Bellenden

William Bellenden was a Scottish classical scholar.James I appointed him magister libellorum supplicum or master of requests...

's Tracts, and prepared editions of several classical authors. At the suggestion of Parr, he undertook a variorum

Variorum

A variorum is a work that collates all known variants of a text. It is a work of textual criticism, whereby all variations and emendations are set side by side so that a reader can track how textual decisions have been made in the preparation of a text for publication...

 edition of Horace

Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...

, but died before its completion. It was finally published by Charles Combe

Charles Combe

-Life:He was born on 23 September 1743, in Southampton Street, Bloomsbury, London where his father, John Combe, carried on business as an apothecary. He was educated at Harrow School, and among his schoolfellows were Sir William Jones and Samuel Parr...

, and occasioned a public literary quarrel between Combe and Parr.

Homer edited:

• The first, twenty-fifth, and thirty-first books of Livy
  Livy
  Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
  
  , from Drakenborch's edition, with Dissertations, 1787.
• Tacitus
  Tacitus
  Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
  
  , ‘De Moribus Germanorum et de Vita Agricolæ,’ London, 1788.
• ‘Tractatus varii Latini, a Crevier, Brotier, Auger, aliisque clarissimis viris conscripti, et ad Rem cum criticam, tum antiquariam pertinentes,’ London, 1788.
• ‘P. Ovidii Nasonis Heroides ex editione P. Burmanni,’ London, 1789.
• ‘A. Persii Flacci Satirarum liber,’ 1789.
• ‘Sallustii Opera Omnia excusa ad editionem Cortii cum editionibus Havercampi et Gabrielis Antonii collatam,’ London, 1789.
• ‘Taciti Dialogus de Oratoribus,’ 1789.
• ‘C. Plinii Cæcilii Secundi Epistolarum libri x.,’ London, 1790.
• ‘Taciti Opera Omnia,’ 4 vols., London, 1790.
• ‘C. J. Cæsaris Opera Omnia,’ 2 vols. London, 1790.
• ‘M. T. Ciceronis de Officiis libri tres, ex editione Oliveti,’ London, 1791.
• ‘Quintilian,’ in the press at the time of the editor's death.
• ‘T. Livii Patavini Historiarum libri qui supersunt omnes ex recensione Arn. Drakenborchii,’ 8 vols. London, 1794, a reprint of Drakenborch's text, with a index.

The works which he left unfinished were completed by his brothers Arthur Homer and Philip Bracebridge Homer. His portrait was engraved by J. Jones from a painting by S. Harding.