Richard Grant White

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Richard Grant White (23 May 1822–8 April 1885) was a Shakespearean scholar, born in the U.S. state of New York.

He graduated from New York University in 1839, studied medicine, then law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845, then became a journalist. He was a longtime Chief of the Revenue Marine Bureau.

As one of the most acute students and critics of Shakespeare, White's scholarship was recognized. He published two editions of Shakespeare's works, the first in 1865 and the second ("the Riverside") in 1883. White also wrote Words and their Uses, Memoirs of Shakespeare, Studies in Shakespeare, The New Gospel of Peace (a satire), The Fate of Mansfield Humphreys (a novel), and other titles including Shakespeare's Scholar (1854) and Essay on the Authorship of the Three Parts of Henry VI (1859).

White was dogmatic and inclined to controversy. He was passionate about music, played the cello, and founded the Richard Grant White String Quartette, which survived into the 1930s.

[edit] Family

In 1850, he married Alexina Black Mease (1830–1921) of Charleston, South Carolina. They were the parents of Stanford White, the celebrated New York City architect.