Name William Paton Role Author | ||
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Books The Inscriptions of Cos, The Greek Anthology - Scholar's Choice Edition | ||
William Roger Paton, usually cited as W. R. Paton (9 February 1857 – 21 April 1921), was an author and translator of ancient Greek texts and poets, mostly known for his translation of the Greek anthology. He was of Scottish origin.
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Early life / family
He was born on 2 September 1857, Old Machar (Aberdeen, Scotland), son of John Paton (1818-1879) and Eliza Deborah Burnett (1823-1860) .
His father, John Paton (Esq., of Ferrachie and Grandholme or Grandhome), was educated in Eton College and was in military, initially in the Aberdeenshire militia as major and later colonel and deputy lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, as well as a magistrate. His mother Eliza Deborah Burnett was the daughter of Thomas Burnett of Kepplestone, also from Aberdeenshire. They married on June 11, 1844 and they had five children, four daughters (Mary-Louisa, Ida-Margaret-Helen, Sarah-Matilda and Elisabeth-Bertha) and one son (the fourth child), William Roger, born at 10 Chanonry, Old Aberdeen, on the 9th of February 1857. His mother died three years later in Feb. 24, 1860 at the age of 37. In 1862, his father married Catherine Margaret, daughter of Col. Lumsden.
Education
He was educated in the same college as his father, in Eton College, Oxford. He studied at Oxford from 1871 to 1873, boarding the Edward Peake Rouse's house and later on at Oscar Browning's. On October 23, 1876, at the age of 19 he became a student at University College, Oxford, where he took his 1st in “Classical Moderations” in 1877. The next year, in 1878, he changed direction, starting legal studies for the bar at Middle Temple, London. Later on he returned to Oxford and obtained his 3rd in Classic «Literae Humaniores» at 1880. Even though he was not called to the bar, he continued to be involved with Middle Temple until 1884.
Later on, in 1900, the University of Halle awared to Paton an honorary PhD.
Marriage and life in the South
He was married in 1885 to Irene Olympiti (1869/70-1908 Paris, daughter of Emmanuel Olympiti, mayor of Kalymnos), a woman from the island of Kalymnos who had a plot of land in Myndos (Gümüşlük) but he later moved to Chios and Lesbos so that his sons could attend high school there.
He had two sons and two daughters: George Paton (13 August 1886 – ?), unmarried, Thetis Paton (21 November 1887, Woodside – ?) [4], who married Costakis Svinos in Smyrna, John David Paton, (1890 – 1922), who married Fenella Cromby from Scotland, and Sevastie or Augusta Paton (1900, Myndos – 1989), who married Baron János Kemény, Hungarian author, theater director and dramatist.
He appears as a resident of Vathy, Samos from 1897 to his death, 1921, from a number of periodicals which show this address and some of his published letters. He was a resident in Samos since he got married again with Clio, a woman from Samos, after his wife Irene Olympitis death.
He died on 21 April 1921 in the town of Vathy, Samos.
Timeline
Works
He published the following books:
His works are extensively quoted as the main references both for the Greek Anthology as well as for Polybius.