Item 120 - Letter from Henry Jackson to James Ward

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Add. MS c/101/120

Title

Letter from Henry Jackson to James Ward

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  • 28 Jan 1904 (Creation)

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(1839-1921)

Biographical history

Henry Jackson was born in 1839, the son of an eminent Sheffield surgeon of the same name. He attended Sheffield Collegiate School and Cheltenham College before entering Trinity College Cambridge in 1858. He graduated BA in 1862 as third Classic. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity in 1864 and became Assistant Tutor in 1866, Praelector in Ancient Philosophy in 1875 and Vice-Master in 1914. In 1906 he succeeded R. C. Jebb as Regius Professor of Greek. Jackson was a great reformer, both within the college and the university. Together with Henry Sidgwick and others he essentially established the Cambridge supervisory system by introducing it in the classical side at Trinity. Other disciplines and other colleges soon followed suit.

Jackson's area of study was Greek philosophy, but he did not publish greatly - editing book 5 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and writing a series of pieces on Plato's later theory of ideas in the Journal of Philology. His greater achievement was in his lectures and his ability to train the next generation of classical scholars; his more eminent students included R. K. Gaye, Francis Cornford and R. G. Bury. He died in 1921.

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Expresses his gratitude for Ward's having called his attention 'to the dialogue between Henry Sidgwick and John Grote in the C[lassical] R[eview] for March 1889' [“A Discussion Between Professor Henry Sidgwick and the Late Professor John Grote, on the Utilitarian Basis of Plato's Republic.” (1889) 3 Classical Review 97], and hopes that he will see his way to publishing it. Refers to the fact that Sidgwick always had an interest in the subject and 'always comes to this question from the point of view of ancient ethics.' Finds it surprising that he never read that 'curious paper', and reports that he 'read with great care [ ] Wilson's mendacious attack upon Archer Hind.' Explains that at the time, however, he had been very busy, and had completely forgotten that the paper had appeared. Remarks that 'anything of Sidgwick's about ancient ethics ought to be considered', since it always seemed to him that the subject 'had an especial fascination for him, and brought out in full force his critical quality.' Returns with the letter the copy of the Classical Review [not included]. Also expresses his gratitude to Ward for his having given him his paper 'on the [ ] of psychology', which he 'shall read with all the more interest' because he is lecturing on [Aristotle's?] De Anima and believes that the paper will very directly bear upon that subject.

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