Biography

The third son of the Rev. Sampson Kingsford, formerly Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and vicar of St. Hilary, Cornwall, he was born at Ludlow

Ludlow

Ludlow is a market town in Shropshire, England close to the Welsh border and in the Welsh Marches. It lies within a bend of the River Teme, on its eastern bank, forming an area of and centred on a small hill. Atop this hill is the site of Ludlow Castle and the market place...

 on December 25, 1862. He was sent to Rossall, and went up to St. John's College, Oxford, as a scholar, and obtained honours in the classical schools and in modern history. In 1888 he was awarded the Arnold prize for an essay on "The Reformation in France," and in the following year he joined the editorial staff of the Dictionary of National Biography

Dictionary of National Biography

The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...

. In 1890 he was appointed an examiner in the Education Department, and was an assistant secretary from 1905 to 1912. During the war he was private secretary to Sir A. Boscawen at the Ministry of Pensions. Mr. Kingsford was vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries of London

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

, 1920-3, Ford Lecturer on English History at Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, 1923-4, and a vice-president of the Royal Historical Society

Royal Historical Society

The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...

 and the London Topographical Society. In 1924 he was elected a fellow of the British Academy

British Academy

The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...

.

Kingsford became recognized as our greatest modern authority on the history of the late 15th century. With Thomas Andrew Archer he published in 1894 a book on the Crusades, which was welcomed by serious students. His edition of John Stow

John Stow

John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...

's Survey in 1908 increased his reputation, which was established by his English Historical Literature in the Fifteenth Century and his "Prejudice and Promise in Fifteenth Century England." For the Royal Historical Society he wrote on Sir Otho de Grandison, and for the British Society of Franciscan Studies a volume on the Grey Friars of London. His latest work, which appeared at the beginning of this year, was The Early History of Piccadilly, Leicester-square, Soho, and their Neighbourhood, which was based on a plan drawn in 1585 and published by the London Topographical Society. To the Heroes of the Nations series he contributed the volume on Henry V of England

Henry V of England

Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....

.; he wrote the histories of the Royal Warwickshire and the Middlesex Regiment

Middlesex Regiment

The Middlesex Regiment was a regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms when the 57th and 77th Regiments of Foot were amalgamated with the county's militia and rifle volunteer units.On 31 December 1966 The Middlesex Regiment was amalgamated with three...

s; and he edited the first volume on the manuscripts of Lord De L'isle and Dudley

Philip Sidney, 1st Baron De L'Isle and Dudley

Philip Charles Shelley Sidney, 1st Baron De L'Isle and Dudley GCH was a British Tory politician.Sidney was the only son of Sir John Shelley-Sidney, 1st Baronet and Henrietta Hunloke. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was his cousin. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford...

 in the publications of the Historical MSS. commission. To these and other works he added numerous contributions to the Dictionary of National biography, the Encyclopædia Britannica

Encyclopædia Britannica

The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...

, the Camden Miscellany, the English Historical Review, Archæologia, the Cambridge Medieval History, and the London Topographical Record. Mr. Kingsford's interests thus covered a fairly wide range. To all his work he brought the scholarship of the true researcher, and by his patient ingenuity and insight he added materially to the sum of historical knowledge.

Kingsford died on Saturday, November 29, 1926, at the age of 63.

External links

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