CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Thomas Farrant Higham

(1890-1975), Classics scholar and Dean of Trinity College, Oxford

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 21, 2024
Entity authorityQ55309631
Source-derived summary

Thomas Farrant Higham (20 September 1890 – 29 January 1975) was an English classical scholar and translator. He was a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford from 1914 to 1958, and Public Orator of the University of Oxford from 1939 to 1958. He also saw active service during the First World War, first with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and then as a translator with the British Salonika Army.

Early life and education

Higham was born in Kesari, Punjab, then part of the British Raj, to English parents Thomas and Eliza Higham. The family shortly thereafter returned to England and Thomas was educated at Clifton College before going up to Trinity College, Oxford to read classics, gaining a First in Honour Moderations and the 1912 Gaisford Prize for Greek verse composition. (He submitted a translation, into Theocritean hexameters, of the first nine lines of George Meredith's Love in the Valley).

Career

Academic career

He was elected a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, his alma mater, in 1914. Having returned from the First World War, he served as dean from 1919 to 1933. He was senior tutor of this college from 1938 to 1939, and, following a break during the Second World War, from 1945 to 1948.

He was additionally pro-proctor for the University of Oxford for the 1921/22 and 1927/28 academic years, and then as senior proctor for the 1932/33 academic year.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Thomas Farrant Higham” is (1890-1975), Classics scholar and Dean of Trinity College, Oxford. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Thomas, Farrant and Higham, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1890, 1975, 1914, 1958—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1890-01-01. For this dossier, Thomas, Farrant and Higham is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “(1890-1975), Classics scholar and Dean of Trinity College, Oxford” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 21, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q55309631. VIAF identifies the subject as 97903690. The Library of Congress control number is no00051859. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 1975, 1914 and 1958.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas Farrant Higham”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas Farrant Higham primary sources, Thomas Farrant Higham archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas Farrant Higham”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Thomas Farrant Higham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.