An event supported by PhilSoc: 17th November 2023, Weston Library, Oxford, 3-6 p.m.

It has been Henry Bradley’s fate to be remembered as ‘only’ the second Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, always overshadowed by James Murray. This event aims both to celebrate and recontextualize his achievements – not just as a lexicographer, but as a writer, historian, and scholar in a variety of contexts. When he died in 1923, his former OED assistant J. R. R. Tolkien paid tribute to him, in Old English, as a sméaþoncol mon (a ‘man of subtle thought’). One hundred years after his death we offer a long-overdue reappraisal of his life and scholarship in a series of papers.

The event, supported by the Philological Society, will be chaired by Professor Simon Horobin. It will be followed by a reception in Blackwell Hall.  To register and for more information, go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/henry-bradley-1845-1923-a-celebration-of-his-life-and-scholarship-tickets-692432723917?aff=oddtdtcreator

Speakers include:

Charlotte Brewer, Professor of English, Hertford College, Oxford.

Simon Horobin, Professor of English, Magdalen College, Oxford. 

Dr. Peter Gilliver, Executive Editor, Oxford English Dictionary. 

Lynda Mugglestone, Professor of the History of English, Pembroke College, Oxford. 

Tania Styles, Senior Editor, Oxford English Dictionary.

Programme:

• 2.30-3 pm – Registration at Blackwell Hall.
• 3 pm – ‘Henry Bradley: a lexicographer and more’ (Peter Gilliver)
• 3.30 pm – ‘Henry Bradley from his Letters’ (Charlotte Brewer and Stephen Turton)
• 4 pm – ‘“The Making of English”: Bradley, the OED, and the Text Behind the Text’ (Lynda Mugglestone)
• 4.30 pm – ‘Henry Bradley: Greatest of English Place-Name Scholars’ (Tania Styles)
• 5 pm – Q and A
• 5. 15 pm – Drinks reception, Blackwell Hall.
• 6 pm – The event ends