All Scholars

HACKFORTH, Reginald

  • HACKFORTH, Reginald
  • Date of Birth: August 17, 1887
  • Born City: Tottenham
  • Born State/Country: England
  • Parents: Joseph Purslove, an accountant, & Annie Glover H.
  • Date of Death: May 6, 1957
  • Death City: Cambridge
  • Death State/Country: England
  • Married: Lily Mines, 1922
  • Education:

    Queen’s scholar, Westminster, 1900-5; Trinity College, Cambridge, 1905-7; John Stewart of Rannoch Scholar, 1907; Davies Scholar, 1908; B.A. (Chancellor’s Gold Medalist). 1909.
  • Professional Experience:

    Asst. lectr., Manchester, 1910-12; lectr. & Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 1912-15, 1920-39; Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy, 1939-52; chair Faculty Board of Classics, 1938-9   service in War Office, 1914-1918; Artists’ Rifles, 1919-20; co-ed., CQ 1927-34; fell., British Academy, 1946.
  • Publications:

    The Authorship of Plato’ Epistles (Manchester: Manchester U. Press, 1913); “ἀνταπόδοσις and ἀνάμνησις in the Phaedo.” CR 39 (1925) 12-13; chapters 4-6 (History of Sicily down to Timoleon), Cambridge Ancient History (1926-7); “Hedonism in Plato's Protagoras,” CQ 22 (1928) 39-43; “A Corner of the Socrates-Problem,” PCPS 148-150 (1931) 2-3; “On Two Passages in Aristotle's Ethics,” CR 46 (1932) 5-9; The Composition of Plato’s Apology (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1933); “Great Thinkers I: Socrates,” Philosophy (1933) 259-72; “Three Notes on Aristotle, Ethics, Book III,” CR 48 (1934) 208-10; “The Apology of Plato,” JHS 55 (1935) 83-4; “Plato’s Theism” CQ 30 (1936) 4-9;  Plato’s Examination of Pleasure (The Philebus) (trans & comm.) (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1945); “Philebus 25C-26A; 28D-E; 62A-B; 66A,” PCPS 160-2 (1935) 8-9; “The Aviary Theory in Theaetetus,” CQ 32 (1938) 27-9; “s 534-536,” CR52 (1938) 5-7; “On Some Passages of Plato's Philebus,” CQ 33 (1939) 23-9; “Plato's Divided Line and Dialectic,” CQ 36(1942) 1-9; “Notes on Some Passages of Plato's Timaeus,” CQ 38 (1944) 33-40; “The Story of Atlantis, Its Purpose and Its Moral,” CR 58 (1944) 7-9; Plato’s Examination of Pleasure (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1945); “False Statement in Plato’ Sophist” CQ 39 (1945) 56-8; “The “ἀνεχέταστος βίος in Plato,” CR 39 (1945) 1-4; “Notes on Some Passages of Alexander Aphrodisiensis De Fato,” CQ 40 (1946) 37-44; “Moral Evil and Ignorance in Plato's Ethics,” CQ 40 (1946) 118-20; “Immortality in Plato's Symposium,” CR 64 (1950) 43-5; “Plato and the Poet's ἐνθουσιασμός,” PCPS (1950-1) 30; “Plato’s Phaedrus (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1952); Plato’s Phaedo (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1955); “Platonic Forms in the Theaetetus,” CQ 51 (1957) 53-8; “Notes on Plato's Theaetetus,” Mnemosyne 10 (1957) 128-40; “Plato’s Cosmology (Timaeus 27Dff.),” CQ 9 (1959) 17-22.  
  • Notes:

    Reginald Hackforth’s mother was an accomplished pianist who encouraged her son to play publicly. At Cambridge he played with the University Musical Club and was heavily involved in musical offerings during his years at Manchester.  He had a storied academic career, taking firsts in the two parts of the Classical Tripos at Cambridge and sharing the Chancellor’s Medal with future historian F.E. Adcock (1886-1968). 

            While working on the Tripos he began a serious study of Plato, beginning with the Platonic Letters. His first book, The Authorship of Plato’s Epistles (1913) claimed that five of the 15 letters (all 15 previously thought spurious) were genuine and three possibly genuine. At Sidney Sussex, one of the smaller colleges, he taught all classics courses until 1939, which ultimately took a toll on his health. Following his war service as a cryptographer, he wrote articles on Sicily for the Cambridge Ancient History and began a series of articles, mostly in CQ, which journal he co-edited with J.D. Denniston (1887-1949), on specific problems in Plato’s dialogues. In The Composition of Plato’s Apology (1933) he analyzed the portions of the speech that he attributes to Socrates and those he attributes to Plato. In this period, he was named University Lecturer, which obliged him to lecture on a variety of Greek and Roman authors. He shared interests with Francis Cornford (1874-1943), whose practice in his translations was to subdivide dialogues into discreet portions. Hackforth was expected to assume the Laurence Chair when Cornford retired in 1939, but his weak heart prevented him from taking on the position. Cornford had published translations with commentary on the Theaetetus and Sophist (1935), Timaeus (1937) and Parmenides (1939). In declining health Cornford suggested that Hackforth continue in this vein with the Philebus (Plato’s Examination of Pleasure). This began a series of clear translations, textual improvements, and analytic commentary by which Hackforth is principally known. He published his Phaedrus in 1952 and the Phaedo in 1955. Hackforth defended Plato’s consistency in his Theory of the Forms but acknowledged that his literary and dramatic artistry with which he constructed the Dialogues developed from the middle period. His article on Alexander Aphrodisiensis (1946) and Aristophanes (1938) are his only publications not on Plato or Aristotle. 

            Hackforth was an accomplished pianist, who was reluctant to perform in public. His wife, Lily, a graduate of the Royal College of Music, produced concerts at Cambridge and was ultimately awarded an honorary M.A. in 1956. 

            Hackforth was succeeded as Laurence Professor by W.K.C. Guthrie (1906-81).
  • Sources:

    F.H. Sandbach, PBA 44 (1958) 297-304; M[alcolm] S[chofield], DBC 408-9; Obit. The Times 7 May 1957; Frank Adcock, 9 May 1957; D.S. Robertson, 13 May 1957.
  • Author: Ward Briggs