North American Scholar

LEACOCK, Arthur Gordner

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  • Date of Birth (YYYY-MM-DD): 1868-05-27
  • Born City: Lehman
  • Born State/Country: PA
  • Parents: John Clark, a Methodist clergyman, & Lydia Gordner L.
  • Date of Death (YYYY-MM-DD): 1947-11-28
  • Death City: Boston
  • Death State/Country: MA
  • Married: Anne Adams Brown, 24 Aug. 1911.
  • Education:

    A.B. Syracuse, 1892; A.B. Harvard, 1893; A.M., 1894; Ph.D., 1899; study in Munich, 1897-8.
  • Professional Experience:

    Instr. Gk. & Lat. Wesleyan Acad. (Wilbraham, MA), 1894-6; instr. Lat. Wesleyan Coll., 1896-7; Bradbury Longfellow Cilley prof. Gk. Phillips Exeter Acad., 1899-1939; instr. Gk. Harvard, summer 1905.
  • Dissertation:

    "De rebus ad pompas sacras apud Graecos pertinent-ibus quaestiones selectae" (Harvard, 1899); printed, HSCP 11 (1900) 1-45.
  • Publications:

    Studies in the Life of St. Paul (New York, 1906; 6th ed., 1916).
  • Notes:

    Arthur Leacock devoted 40 years to what he called "the congenial business of teaching Greek to boys," equaling the record of his predecessor, Bradbury Longfellow Cilley, like him a Harvard man. He worked on a manuscript called "Outlines of Greek Civilization," learned sufficient Italian to read Dante, played cello in a faculty trio, and remodeled a colonial house and garden in Exeter. A man of charm and droll New England humor, he was a beloved figure on campus for generations. He was succeeded by Henry Phillips.
  • Sources:

    NatCAB 38:77; WhAm 2:315.
  • Author: Ward W. Briggs, Jr.