James Duff Duff
Encyclopedia
James Duff Dunlop Duff known as James Duff Duff or J. D. Duff, was an English
translator and classical scholar
best known for his edition of Juvenal
.
, and Jane Bracken Dunlop. He and his twin brother Alan were among the first boys at Fettes College
, Edinburgh
; he came as a scholar to Trinity College, Cambridge
, in 1878 and was elected a Classical Fellow
in 1883, a post he held until his death.
He married Laura Eleanor Lenox-Conyngham on 28 December 1895. They had five children: Lieutenant-General Alan Colquhoun Duff (1896-1973) who published books under the nom-de-plume "Hugh Imber"; Sir James Fitzjames Duff; Patrick William Duff (1901-1991), Regius Professor of Civil Law
at Trinity College, Cambridge
; Mary Geraldine Duff (1904-1995), principal at Norwich Training College, Norwich
; and Hester Laura Elisabeth Duff (1912-2001).
Duff died at the age of 79 at Cambridge
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
translator and classical scholar
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
best known for his edition of Juvenal
Juvenal
The Satires are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD.Juvenal is credited with sixteen known poems divided among five books; all are in the Roman genre of satire, which, at its most basic in the time of the author, comprised a...
.
Biography
Duff was the son of Colonel James Duff, a retired army officer living in AberdeenshireAberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
, and Jane Bracken Dunlop. He and his twin brother Alan were among the first boys at Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
; he came as a scholar to Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, in 1878 and was elected a Classical Fellow
Fellow
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...
in 1883, a post he held until his death.
Teaching Latin and Greek at Trinity, and also at GirtonGirton College, CambridgeGirton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the...
, was the main work of his life; and he is best known to classical scholars for what A. E. HousmanA. E. HousmanAlfred Edward Housman , usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900...
praised as his 'unpretending school edition' of Juvenal.
He was over forty years old when he taught himself Russian, in order to read in the original the novels of TolstoyTolstoyTolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy who served under Vasily II of Moscow...
and especially Turgenev, which he had greatly admired in French translations. He never visited Russia, but had Russian friends, with whom he corresponded in their own language: notably Alexandra Grigorievna Pashkova, the wife of a Russian landowner, whose two sons were Trinity undergraduates.
He married Laura Eleanor Lenox-Conyngham on 28 December 1895. They had five children: Lieutenant-General Alan Colquhoun Duff (1896-1973) who published books under the nom-de-plume "Hugh Imber"; Sir James Fitzjames Duff; Patrick William Duff (1901-1991), Regius Professor of Civil Law
Regius Professor of Civil Law (Cambridge)
The Regius Professorship of Civil Law is one of the oldest and most prestigious of the professorships at the University of Cambridge.The chair was founded by Henry VIII in 1540 with a stipend of £40 per year, and the holder is still chosen by The Crown....
at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
; Mary Geraldine Duff (1904-1995), principal at Norwich Training College, Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
; and Hester Laura Elisabeth Duff (1912-2001).
Duff died at the age of 79 at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
.
Editor
- Lucretius, T. Lucreti Cari De Rerum Natura (Cambridge, 1889)
- Juvenal, Satvrae XIV: Fourteen satires (Cambridge, 1898) (Google Books)
- Pliny, C. Plini Caecili secundi epistularum liber sextus (Cambridge, 1926)
Translator
- Serge Aksakoff (Sergei AksakovSergei AksakovSergey Timofeyevich Aksakov was a 19th-century Russian literary figure remembered for his semi-autobiographical tales of family life, as well as his books on hunting and fishing.- Early life :...
), Years of Childhood (London: Edward Arnold, 1917) - —, A Russian Gentleman (London: Edward Arnold, 1917)
- —, A Russian Schoolboy (London: Edward Arnold, 1917)
- Lucan, The Civil War (Loeb Classical Library, 1928)
- Silius Italicus, Punica (Loeb Classical Library, 1934)