John Lemprière

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John Lemprière (c. 1765–February 1, 1824), English classical scholar, a native of Jersey, received his early education at Winchester and at Pembroke College, Oxford.

He achieved renown for his Bibliotheca Classica or Classical Dictionary (1788), which, edited by various later scholars, long remained a readable if not very trustworthy reference book in mythology and classical history.

In 1792, after holding other scholastic posts, he became the headmaster of Abingdon Grammar School, and later became the vicar of that parish. While occupying this living, he published a Universal Biography of Eminent Persons in all Ages and Countries (1808).

In 1809 he succeeded to the head-mastership of Exeter free grammar school. On retiring from this, in consequence of a disagreement with the trustees, he received the living of Meeth in Devonshire, which, together with that of Newton Petrock, he held until his death in London.

The 1991 novel Lemprière's Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk is a fictional account of Lemprière's career.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.