Name Herbert Coleridge Role Poet | Died April 23, 1861 Parents Sara Coleridge | |
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Born October 7, 1830 ( 1830-10-07 ) Books A Dictionary of the First Or Oldest Words in the English Language: from the Semi-Saxon Period of A.D. 1250 to 1300 Grandparents Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sarah Fricker Great-grandparents Anne Bowden, John Coleridge People also search for | ||
Herbert "Herbie" Coleridge (7 October 1830 – 23 April 1861) was a British philologist, technically the first editor of what ultimately became the Oxford English Dictionary. He was a grandson of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
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Biography
He was the son of Sara and Henry Nelson Coleridge. He earned a double first in Classics and mathematics at Balliol College, Oxford. After graduation, he became a barrister, but, living off a small annuity, devoted most of his time and energy to linguistics studies. At age 27, as a member of the Philological Society, he formed a committee with Richard Chenevix Trench and Frederick Furnivall to identify and research words unlisted and undefined in English dictionaries of the period. The efforts of this committee eventually led to the development of the Oxford English Dictionary. A dedicated editor, he died of tuberculosis at age 30 after completing some fundamental work for the project.