Thomas Gaisford was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 classical scholar.

He was born at Iford Manor

Iford Manor

Iford Manor in Wiltshire sits on the steep slopes of the Frome valley, which itself has been occupied since Roman times. The house is mediaeval in origin, the classical façade having been added in the 18th century when the hanging woodlands above the garden were planted.-History and...

, Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, and entered the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 in 1797, becoming successively student and tutor of Christ Church

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

. In 1811, he was appointed Regius Professor of Greek

Regius Professor of Greek (Oxford)

The Regius Professorship of Greek is a professorship at the University of Oxford in England.Henry VIII founded the chair by 1541. He established five Regius Professorships in the University , the others being the Regius chairs of Divinity, Medicine, Civil Law and Hebrew.-List of holders:* John...

 in the University. Taking orders, he held (1815–1847) the college living of Westwell, Oxfordshire

Westwell, Oxfordshire

Westwell is a village and civil parish about southwest of Burford in Oxfordshire.-History:The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is Norman. The chancel arch may have originally been Norman, but if so it was later altered in the Transitional style fron Norman to Early English Gothic...

, and other ecclesiastical preferments simultaneously with his professorship. From 1831 until his death, he was Dean of Christ Church.

As curator of the Bodleian Library

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...

 and principal delegate of the Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

, Gaisford was instrumental in securing the cooperation of distinguished European scholars as collators, notably Bekker

August Immanuel Bekker

August Immanuel Bekker was a German philologist and critic.-Biography:Born in Berlin, Bekker completed his classical education at the University of Halle under Friedrich August Wolf, who considered him as his most promising pupil. In 1810 he was appointed professor of philosophy in the University...

 and Dindorf

Karl Wilhelm Dindorf

Karl Wilhelm Dindorf , German classical scholar, was born at Leipzig....

. Among his numerous contributions to Greek literature may be mentioned, Hephaestion

Hephaestion (grammarian)

Hephaestion was a grammarian of Alexandria who flourished in the age of the Antonines. He was the author of a manual of Greek metres, which is most valuable as the only complete treatise on the subject that has been preserved. The concluding chapter discusses the various kinds of poetical...

's Encheiridion (1810); Poëtae Graeci minores (1814–1820); Stobaeus

Stobaeus

Joannes Stobaeus , from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containing two books each...

' Florilegium (1822); Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

, with variorum notes (1824); Suidas' Lexicon (1834); Etymologicum Magnum

Etymologicum Magnum

Etymologicum Magnum is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicographer around 1150 AD. It is the largest Byzantine lexicon and draws on many earlier grammatical, lexical and rhetorical works...

 (I848). Eusebius

Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...

's Praeparatio evangelica (1843) and Demonstratio evangelica (1852). In 1856, the Gaisford prizes, for Greek composition, were founded at Oxford to perpetuate his memory.

On 23 June 1843, his 21 year-old son, William Gaisford, drowned while swimming in the river Thames at Sandford Lock

Sandford Lock

Sandford Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, situated at Sandford-on-Thames which is just South of Oxford. The first pound lock was built in 1631 by the Oxford-Burcot Commission although this has since been rebuilt...

 - a notoriously dangerous spot. He got into difficulties and his friend, Richard Philmore, entered the water to save him, but both young men perished. They are buried in Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the diocese of Oxford, which consists of the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. It is also, uniquely, the chapel of Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford.-History:...

. They are commemorated by an obelisk at Sandford Lock and two memorial tablets in the north walk of the Cathedral cloisters.

Memorial

The Gaisford Prize

Gaisford Prize

The Gaisford Prize is a prize in the University of Oxford, founded in 1855 in memory of Dr Thomas Gaisford . For most of its history, the prize was awarded for Classical Greek Verse and Prose...

 was founded in Gaisford's honour, shortly after his death.

Gaisford Street in Kentish Town

Kentish Town

Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...

, north London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, was named in his honour.

Quotation

• "Nor can I do better, in conclusion, than impress upon you the study of Greek literature, which not only elevates above the vulgar herd, but leads not infrequently to positions of considerable emolument."

-Th. Gaisford, Christmas Day Sermon in the Cathedral, Oxford
(Rev. W. Tuckwell, Reminiscences of Oxford, 2nd ed., 1907, p. 124)