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{{short description|British classical scholar}}
{{Short description|English classical scholar (1874–1943)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{Hatnote|F. M. Cornford should not be confused with his wife [[Frances Cornford]].}}
{{Infobox academic
{{Infobox academic
|name = F. M. Cornford
|name = F. M. Cornford
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA|size=100%}}
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA|size=100%}}
|image =
|image = Cornford-francis-macdonald.jpg
|alt =
|alt =
|caption =
|caption =
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|death_place = [[Cambridge]], England
|death_place = [[Cambridge]], England
|spouse = {{marriage|[[Frances Cornford]]|1909}}
|spouse = {{marriage|[[Frances Cornford]]|1909}}
|children = {{hlist |[[Helena Darwin Cornford]] |[[John Cornford]] |[[Christopher Cornford]] |Hugh Cornford |Ruth Chapman}}
|children = {{hlist |Helena Darwin Cornford |[[John Cornford]] |[[Christopher Cornford]] |Hugh Cornford |Ruth Chapman}}
|alma_mater = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
|alma_mater = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
|thesis_title =
|thesis_title =
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|signature_alt =
|signature_alt =
}}
}}
'''Francis Macdonald Cornford''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA}} (27 February 1874 – 3 January 1943) was an English [[classics|classical scholar]] and translator known for influential work on [[ancient philosophy]], notably [[Plato]], [[Parmenides]], [[Thucydides]], and [[ancient Greek religion]]. [[Frances Cornford]], his wife, was a noted poet. Due to the similarity of their forenames, he was known to family as "FMC" and his wife as "FCC".{{sfn|Hackforth|Gill|2004}}
'''Francis Macdonald Cornford''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA}} (27 February 1874 – 3 January 1943) was an English [[classics|classical scholar]] and translator known for work on [[ancient philosophy]], notably [[Plato]], [[Parmenides]], [[Thucydides]], and [[ancient Greek religion]]. [[Frances Cornford]], his wife, was a noted poet. Due to the similarity in their names, he was known in the family as "FMC" and his wife as "FCC".{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}}


==Early life and family==
==Early life and family==
Cornford was born in [[Eastbourne]], [[Sussex]], on 27 February 1874.{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}} He attended [[St Paul's School, London]].{{sfn|Hackforth|Gill|2004}}
Cornford was born in [[Eastbourne]], [[Sussex]], on 27 February 1874.{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}} He attended [[St Paul's School, London]].{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}}


In 1909 Cornford married the poet [[Frances Cornford|Frances Darwin]], daughter of [[Francis Darwin|Sir Francis Darwin]] and [[Ellen Wordsworth Darwin]], née Crofts, and a granddaughter of [[Charles Darwin]]. They had five children:
In 1909 Cornford married the poet [[Frances Cornford|Frances Darwin]], daughter of [[Francis Darwin|Sir Francis Darwin]] and [[Ellen Wordsworth Darwin]], née Crofts, and a granddaughter of [[Charles Darwin]]. They had five children:
*Helena (1913–1994), married [[Joseph L. Henderson]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pearce |first=Jeremy |date=4 December 2007 |title=Joseph L. Henderson, 104; Expanded Jungian Methods |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/us/04henderson.html |url-access=limited |work=The New York Times |access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref> in 1934
*Helena (1913–1994), who married [[Joseph L. Henderson]] in 1934<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pearce |first=Jeremy |date=4 December 2007 |title=Joseph L. Henderson, 104; Expanded Jungian Methods |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/us/04henderson.html |url-access=limited |work=The New York Times |access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref>
*[[John Cornford|John]] (1915–1936), poet and Communist who was killed in the Spanish Civil War
*[[John Cornford|John]] (1915–1936), poet and Communist killed in the [[Spanish Civil War]]
*[[Christopher Cornford|Christopher]] (1917–1993), artist and writer; the father of [[Adam Cornford]]
*[[Christopher Cornford|Christopher]] (1917–1993), artist and writer, the father of [[Adam Cornford]]
*Hugh Wordsworth (1921–1997), medical doctor{{sfn|Hartog|1998}}
*Hugh Wordsworth (1921–1997), medical doctor{{sfn |Hartog |1998}}
*Ruth Clare (1923–1992), the mother of [[Matthew Chapman (author)|Matthew Chapman]]
*Ruth Clare (1923–1992), mother of [[Matthew Chapman (author)|Matthew Chapman]]


==Academic career==
==Career==
Cornford was educated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he was a Fellow from 1899 and held a teaching post from 1902.<ref>{{acad |id=CNFT893FM |name=Cornford, Francis Macdonald}}</ref> He became the first [[Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy]] in 1931 and was elected a [[Fellow of the British Academy]] in 1937.{{sfn|Hackforth|Gill|2004}} He used wit and satire to propagate proposals for reforming the teaching of the classics at Cambridge, in ''[[Microcosmographia Academica]]'' (1908).{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}}
Cornford was educated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he was a Fellow from 1899 and held a teaching post from 1902.<ref>{{acad |id=CNFT893FM |name=Cornford, Francis Macdonald}}</ref> He became the first [[Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy]] in 1931 and was elected a [[Fellow of the British Academy]] in 1937.{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}} He used wit and satire to propagate proposals for reforming the teaching of the classics at Cambridge, in ''[[Microcosmographia Academica]]'' (1908).{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}}


Cornford coined the phrase "twin pillars of Platonism", referring to the theory of Forms on the one hand, and, on the other the doctrine of immortality of the soul.<ref>Francis Cornford, 1941. ''The Republic of Plato''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. xxv.</ref>
⚫
He died on 3 January 1943 in his home, [[Conduit Head]] in [[Cambridge]].{{sfn|Hackforth|Gill|2004}} He was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium on 6 January 1943.{{sfn|Hackforth|Gill|2004}}

==Death==
⚫
He died on 3 January 1943 in his home, [[Conduit Head]] in [[Cambridge]].{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill|2004}} He was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium on 6 January 1943.{{sfn |Hackforth |Gill |2004}}


==Works==
==Works==
*[https://archive.org/details/thucydidesmythis00cornuoft ''Thucydides Mythistoricus''] (1907) argued that [[Thucydides]]' ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]'' was informed by Thucydides' [[tragic]] view.
*[https://archive.org/details/thucydidesmythis00cornuoft ''Thucydides Mythistoricus''] (1907) put the argument that [[Thucydides]]'s ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]'' was informed by Thucydides's [[tragic]] view.
*''[[iarchive:in.ernet.dli.2015.179784/page/n3|From Religion to Philosophy: A Study in the Origins of Western Speculation]]'' (1912) sought the deep religious and social concepts that informed the early Greek philosophers. He returned to this in ''Principium Sapientiae: The Origins of Greek Philosophical Thought'' (posthumous, 1952).
*''[[iarchive:in.ernet.dli.2015.179784/page/n3|From Religion to Philosophy: A Study in the Origins of Western Speculation]]'' (1912) sought the deep religious and social concepts that informed the early Greek philosophers. He returned to this in ''Principium Sapientiae: The Origins of Greek Philosophical Thought'' (posthumous, 1952).
*''[[Microcosmographia Academica]]'' (1908), an insider's satire on academic politics, was the source of catch phrases such as the "doctrine of unripeness of time", "principle of the wedge", and "principle of the dangerous precedent".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wilby |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Wilby |date=4 May 2009 |title=Pass the Sickbag, Alice |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2009/05/women-evidence-tax-fast |magazine=New Statesman |volume=138 |issue=4947 |location=London |access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=10 September 2001|title=Slavery Was Theft: We Should Pay |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/node/154073 |magazine=New Statesman |location=London |access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref>
*''[[Microcosmographia Academica]]'' (1908) was an insider's satire on academic politics. It was the source of catch phrases such as the "doctrine of unripeness of time", the "principle of the wedge" and the "principle of the dangerous precedent".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wilby |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Wilby |date=4 May 2009 |title=Pass the Sickbag, Alice |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2009/05/women-evidence-tax-fast |magazine=New Statesman |volume=138 |issue=4947 |location=London |access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=10 September 2001|title=Slavery Was Theft: We Should Pay |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/node/154073 |magazine=New Statesman |location=London |access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref>
*''Before and After Socrates'' (1932)
*''Plato's Cosmology : The Timaeus of Plato.'' Hackett Publishing Company (1935)
*According to the preface to ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic of Plato]]'', translated with an introduction and notes (OUP, 1941), it "aims at conveying... as much as possible of the thought of the ''Republic'' in the most convenient and least misleading form."
*According to the preface to ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic of Plato]]'', translated with an introduction and notes (OUP, 1941), it "aims at conveying... as much as possible of the thought of the ''Republic'' in the most convenient and least misleading form."


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===Sources===
===Sources===
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
:{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Hackforth |first1=Reginald |author1-link=Reginald Hackforth |last2=Gill |first2=David |year=2004 |title=Cornford, Francis Macdonald (1874–1943) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32571 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Hackforth |first1=Reginald |author1-link=Reginald Hackforth |last2=Gill |first2=David |year=2004 |title=Cornford, Francis Macdonald (1874–1943) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32571}}
:{{Cite journal |last=Hartog |first=Martin |year=1998 |title=Obituaries: Hugh Wordsworth Cornford |journal=BMJ |volume=316 |issue=7136 |page=1023 |pmc=1112870 |pmid=9552882 |issn=1756-1833 |ref=harv}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Hartog |first=Martin |year=1998 |title=Obituaries: Hugh Wordsworth Cornford |journal=BMJ |volume=316 |issue=7136 |page=1023 |pmc=1112870 |pmid=9552882 |issn=1756-1833}}
:{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Gordon |author-link=Gordon Johnson (historian) |year=2008 |title=University Politics: F.&nbsp;M. Cornford's Cambridge and His Advice to the Young Academic Politician |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=Cambridge University Press
*{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Gordon |author-link=Gordon Johnson (historian) |year=2008 |title=University Politics: F.&nbsp;M. Cornford's Cambridge and His Advice to the Young Academic Politician |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89789-1}}
|isbn=978-0-521-89789-1 |ref=harv}}
{{refend}}
{{refend}}


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*[https://archive.org/details/backgroundtomode032734mbp ''Greek Natural Philosophy and Modern Science''] a Lecture (1938)
*[https://archive.org/details/backgroundtomode032734mbp ''Greek Natural Philosophy and Modern Science''] a Lecture (1938)
*{{FadedPage|id=Cornford, Francis Macdonald|name=Francis Macdonald Cornford|author=yes}}
*{{FadedPage|id=Cornford, Francis Macdonald|name=Francis Macdonald Cornford|author=yes}}
*{{worldcat id|lccn-n50-20430}}
*[http://www.trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/brasses/cornford/ Trinity College Chapel]
*[http://www.trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/brasses/cornford/ Trinity College Chapel]
*{{Find a Grave|96738734}}
*{{Find a Grave|96738734}}
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[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century scholars]]
[[Category:20th-century scholars]]
[[Category:20th-century British translators]]
[[Category:20th-century English translators]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British scholars of ancient Greek philosophy]]
[[Category:British scholars of ancient Greek philosophy]]
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[[Category:Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics]]
[[Category:Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics]]
[[Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London]]
[[Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London]]
[[Category:People from Eastbourne]]
[[Category:Laurence Professors of Ancient Philosophy]]

Latest revision as of 02:39, 30 September 2024

F. M. Cornford should not be confused with his wife Frances Cornford.
F. M. Cornford
FBA
Born
Francis Macdonald Cornford

(1874-02-27)27 February 1874
Eastbourne, England
Died3 January 1943(1943-01-03) (aged 68)
Cambridge, England
Spouse
​
(m. 1909)​
Children
Academic background
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Influences
Academic work
DisciplineClassics
InstitutionsTrinity College, Cambridge
Notable studentsW. K. C. Guthrie

Francis Macdonald Cornford FBA (27 February 1874 – 3 January 1943) was an English classical scholar and translator known for work on ancient philosophy, notably Plato, Parmenides, Thucydides, and ancient Greek religion. Frances Cornford, his wife, was a noted poet. Due to the similarity in their names, he was known in the family as "FMC" and his wife as "FCC".[2]

Early life and family

[edit]

Cornford was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, on 27 February 1874.[2] He attended St Paul's School, London.[2]

In 1909 Cornford married the poet Frances Darwin, daughter of Sir Francis Darwin and Ellen Wordsworth Darwin, née Crofts, and a granddaughter of Charles Darwin. They had five children:

Career

[edit]

Cornford was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow from 1899 and held a teaching post from 1902.[5] He became the first Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy in 1931 and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1937.[2] He used wit and satire to propagate proposals for reforming the teaching of the classics at Cambridge, in Microcosmographia Academica (1908).[2]

Cornford coined the phrase "twin pillars of Platonism", referring to the theory of Forms on the one hand, and, on the other the doctrine of immortality of the soul.[6]

Death

[edit]

He died on 3 January 1943 in his home, Conduit Head in Cambridge.[2] He was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium on 6 January 1943.[2]

Works

[edit]
  • Thucydides Mythistoricus (1907) put the argument that Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War was informed by Thucydides's tragic view.
  • From Religion to Philosophy: A Study in the Origins of Western Speculation (1912) sought the deep religious and social concepts that informed the early Greek philosophers. He returned to this in Principium Sapientiae: The Origins of Greek Philosophical Thought (posthumous, 1952).
  • Microcosmographia Academica (1908) was an insider's satire on academic politics. It was the source of catch phrases such as the "doctrine of unripeness of time", the "principle of the wedge" and the "principle of the dangerous precedent".[7][8]
  • Before and After Socrates (1932)
  • Plato's Cosmology : The Timaeus of Plato. Hackett Publishing Company (1935)
  • According to the preface to The Republic of Plato, translated with an introduction and notes (OUP, 1941), it "aims at conveying... as much as possible of the thought of the Republic in the most convenient and least misleading form."

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Johnson 2008, p. 2.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Hackforth & Gill 2004.
  3. ^ Pearce, Jeremy (4 December 2007). "Joseph L. Henderson, 104; Expanded Jungian Methods". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  4. ^ Hartog 1998.
  5. ^ "Cornford, Francis Macdonald (CNFT893FM)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  6. ^ Francis Cornford, 1941. The Republic of Plato. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. xxv.
  7. ^ Wilby, Peter (4 May 2009). "Pass the Sickbag, Alice". New Statesman. Vol. 138, no. 4947. London. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  8. ^ "Slavery Was Theft: We Should Pay". New Statesman. London. 10 September 2001. Retrieved 13 November 2019.

Sources

[edit]
[edit]
Academic offices
New office Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy
1930–1939 		Succeeded by
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