Henry Daniel (classicist)

Daniel was born on 30 September 1836 in Wareham, Dorset, England, as the eldest son of the Reverend Alfred Daniel and Eliza Anne (née Cruttwell).^[1] As a baby, he was presented to the then Princess Victoria, the year before she became Queen of the United Kingdom.^[3] Two years after his birth, his father was appointed perpetual curate of Frome, Somerset, and it was there that he spent the rest of his childhood.^[1] He was educated at Grosvenor College, Bath, and King's College School, London.^[1] He learnt how to use the family's Ruthven printing press as a child, and took it with him when he went to university.^[4] In 1854, aged only 17, he was awarded a scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford, to study Literae humaniores (i.e. classics).^[3] He graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree 1858.^[1] He was a prominent member of the Oxford Union and was elected its librarian for 1859.^[3] HIn 1904, he was awarded the Doctor of Divinity (DD) degree by the University of Oxford.^[3]

In 1859, Daniel joined King's College, London, as a lecturer in classical literature.^[5] However, in 1863, he was elected to a fellow of his alma mater Worcester College and so he left London to return to the University of Oxford.^[1] He brought an early Albion press with him to his new rooms in Oxford.^[3] He was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England either in London before he returned to Oxford^[6] or in 1864.^[3][1] His religious views were latitudinarian, rather than the Tractarianism that flourished at Oxford nor the anti-ritualist intolerance that sprung up against it.^[6] In addition to being a classical tutor, he held a number of college offices: he became dean of chapel in 1865, the vice-provost in 1866, and junior bursar in 1870.^[1] He also served the University of Oxford; as proctor in 1873 and as the classical examiner from 1876 to 1877.^[1][2] In 1882, following the death of Henry Coxe, he was a candidate for the post of Bodley's Librarian, but the post went to Edward Nicholson, a professional librarian.^[3] In 1903, the first year that the fellows of Worcester College had the power to elect their own provost, Daniel was chosen by he colleagues to head the college.^[1][3] During the First World War, he kept the college chapel open and maintained "its services unbroken".^[3] He led the college until his death in 1919.^[2]

In 1878, Daniel married Emily Olive (1852–1933), his first cousin and daughter of Edmund Crabb Olive.^[1][2] Together they had two daughters; Rachel (1880–1937) and Ruth (1884–1961).^[1]

Daniel died on 6 September 1919 at his country house in Oddington, Gloucestershire.^[1] He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford.^[1][7]

The Daniel Press was inherited by Daniel's nephew, Henry Martin Daniel [Wikidata] (1888-1955), who used it to print and publish his own His Majesty's Valiants: Being a Short Account of Valiant Deeds Accomplished by the King's and Queen's Ships of that Name Between the Years 1759 and 1922 in 1923, to Emily Daniel's chagrin.^[8] H. M. Daniel, a Royal Navy officer, was famously court-martialled in the Royal Oak affair of 1928 and subsequently worked as a journalist.^[9]