John Mitchell Kemble

John Mitchell Kemble (1807 - 26 March 1857), English scholar and historian, was the eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor. He received his education partly from Dr Richardson, author of the Dictionary of the English Language, and partly at the grammar school of Bury St Edmunds, where he obtained in 1826 an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a member of the Cambridge Apostles. At the university his historical essays gained ... more

John Mitchell Kemble (1807 - 26 March 1857), English scholar and historian, was the eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor. He received his education partly from Dr Richardson, author of the Dictionary of the English Language, and partly at the grammar school of Bury St Edmunds, where he obtained in 1826 an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a member of the Cambridge Apostles. At the university his historical essays gained him high reputation. The bent of his studies was turned more especially towards the Anglo-Saxon period through the influence of one the brothers Grimm, Jacob Grimm, under whom he studied at Göttingen (1831). His thorough knowledge of the Teutonic languages and his critical faculty were shown in his Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf (1833-1837), Über die Stammtafeln der Westsachsen (Munich 1836), Codex diplomaticus aevi Saxonici (London 1839-1848), and in many contributions to reviews; while his History of the Saxons in England (1849; new ed. 1876),... less