Frederic G. Kenyon | |
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| Born | Frederic George Kenyon 15 January 1863 London, England |
| Died | 23 August 1952 (aged 89) Godstone, Surrey, England |
| Academic work | |
| Main interests | Palaeography, Biblical criticism and Classics |
Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA (15 January 1863 – 23 August 1952) was an English palaeographer and biblical and classical scholar. He held a series of posts at the British Museum from 1889 to 1931. He was also the president of the British Academy from 1917 to 1921. From 1918 to 1952 he was Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod.
Kenyon was born in London, the son of John Robert Kenyon, the Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford, and was thus great-grandson of Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon.[1] He was educated at Winchester College.[2] He graduated BA from Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was later a fellow.
Kenyon joined the British Museum in 1889 and rose to be its Director and Principal Librarian by 1909. He was knighted for his services in 1912 and remained at his post until 1931. He was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1937.[3] He was a trustee of the Imperial War Museum from 1920 to 1946.[4]
In 1891, Kenyon edited the editio princeps of Aristotle's Constitution of Athens. In 1920, he was appointed president of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. He spent most of his retirement researching and publishing ancient papyri. He died on 23 August 1952.
Kenyon was a noted scholar of ancient languages, and made a lifelong study of the Bible, especially the New Testament as an historical text. His book Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts (1895) shows one way that Egyptian papyri and other evidence from archaeology can corroborate the narrative of historical events in the Gospels. He was convinced of the historical reality of the events described in the New Testament: “the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed.”[5]
At the start of the First World War, Kenyon served with the British Expeditionary Force in France to September 1914, then on home service with his regiment the Inns of Court O.T.C. He was promoted major in 1916 and lieutenant-colonel in 1917, retiring in 1921.[6] He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1918.[7] In the Second World War he served in the Home Guard from 1940 to 1942. He was an advisor to the Imperial War Graves Commission from 1917 to 1948.[4]
Kenyon married Amy, third daughter of Rowland Hunt of Boreatton Hall, Baschurch, Shropshire, by whom he had two daughters. She died in 1938.[8] Kenyon's elder daughter was the British archaeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon.[1]
From 1899 to 1901 Frederic was Commanding Officer of the Roxeth & Harrow Company of the London Diocesan Church Lads' Brigade.
