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William Arthur Sewell

University professor of English (1903-1972)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 29, 2024
Entity authorityQ8004591 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Arthur Sewell (9 August 1903 – 19 April 1972) was a university professor of English. Arthur Sewell was born in Goole, Yorkshire, England on 9 August 1903. He was appointed to the chair of English at Auckland University College in 1933 and moved to New Zealand. In 1945 he returned to England from Auckland. In 1946 he became the Byron professor of English at the University of Athens. He was then director of the British Institute in Barcelona (1952–53), and professor of English at the University of Ankara (1954–56) and the American University of Beirut (1956–65). He returned to New Zealand in 1965 to become professor of English at the University of Waikato until he retired in 1969. He died in Hamilton on 19 April 1972.

Personal life

In 1951 he married Rosemary Seymour. They had one son, William Seymour Sewell.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “William Arthur Sewell” is university professor of English (1903-1972). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through William, Arthur and Sewell, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1903, 1972, 1933, 1945—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1903-08-09. For this dossier, William, Arthur and Sewell is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “university professor of English (1903-1972)” 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 entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 29, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q8004591. VIAF identifies the subject as 42214895. The Library of Congress control number is n50001406. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1903, 1972, 1933 and 1945.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. 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

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “William Arthur Sewell”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Arthur Sewell primary sources, William Arthur Sewell archive and William 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 “William Arthur Sewell”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Arthur Sewell” 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.