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Arthur Blackburne Poynton

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A. B. Poynton
Born
Arthur Blackburne Poynton

28 June 1867
Kelston, Somerset, England
Died8 October 1944(1944-10-08) (aged 77)
NationalityEnglish
Academic background
EducationMarlborough College
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
Academic work
DisciplineClassics
Sub-discipline
InstitutionsHertford College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
Notable studentsC. S. Lewis
E. R. Dodds

Arthur Blackburne Poynton (28 June 1867 – 8 October 1944) was an English classical scholar. He was a Fellow and later Master of University College, Oxford.[1][2]

Early life and family

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Poynton was born in Kelston, Somerset, the son of the Rev. Francis John Poynton (1831–1903) and Frances Mary Billinge (1837–1930). He was educated at Marlborough College and went up to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1885.[2][3]

In 1896 he married Mary Sargent (1867–1952), the daughter of John Young Sargent, a Fellow of Hertford College. They had two sons (the classical scholar John Blackburne Poynton (1900–1995) and the civil servant Sir Arthur Hilton Poynton (1905–1996)) and three daughters.

Career

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F. H. S. Shepherd, "University College Fellows", 1934: grouped under the college's bust of King Alfred are D. L. Keir, E. W. Ainley-Walker, A. D. Gardner, G. D. H. Cole, J. P. R. Maud, A. L. Goodhart, J. H. S. Wild, E. J. Bowen, A. B. Poynton, Sir Michael Sadler, A. S. L. Farquharson (in the centre), E. F. Carritt, G. H. Stevenson and K. K. M. Leys.

Poynton was a fellow of Hertford College, Oxford, from 1889 to 1894.[4] In 1894, he was elected a fellow and tutor of University College, Oxford, where he would spend the rest of his career.[4] At University College, he was a tutor to the author and academic C. S. Lewis[5] from 1919 to 1920 and the classical scholar E. R. Dodds.[6] He also served as bursar of University College from 1900 to 1935,[1] and its Master from 1935 to 1937.[4] He retired from Oxford in 1937, and was made an honorary fellow of his old college.[4]

He was Public Orator at the University of Oxford for seven years, from 1925 to 1932.[4][1][7] He delivered the oration for Albert Einstein at his honorary degree ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre on 23 May 1931.[8]

Poynton died on 8 October 1944 as the result of a motor car crash in the High Street at Oxford.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Bickerton, Fred, Fred of Oxford. London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1953, pages 136–137.
  2. ^ a b "Obituary: Dr. A. B. Poynton". The Times. 10 October 1944. p. 6.
  3. ^ Robin Darwall-Smith, Index of BJs contemporaries Archived 21 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine Balliol College, Oxford, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Poynton, Arthur Blackburne, (28 June 1867–8 Oct. 1944), Hon. DLit". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  5. ^ Kathryn Lindskoog, C. S. Lewis and the Ceremonies at Oxford University (1917–1925), The Lewis Legacy, Issue 79, Winter 1999. The C.S. Lewis Foundation for Truth in Publishing, 1 January 1999.
  6. ^ "Article". Eikasmos. 15: 463–476. 2004.
  7. ^ "Foreign News: Canonibus Dawsiensis". Time. 8 July 1929. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012.
  8. ^ "Orations of the Public Orator". Einstein Archives. 23 May 1931. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
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Academic offices
Preceded by Master of University College, Oxford
1935–1937 		Succeeded by


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