Dates

• Existence: 1882 - 1943

Biography

Sir Stephen Gaselee (1882-1943), knight, librarian and classical scholar, was born in Brunswick Gardens, Kensington, London, on 9 November 1882. After attending Temple Grove School in East Sheen, in 1896 Gaselee entered Eton College, where he was elected (second in the list) a King's scholar. A gifted student, he edited the Eton College Chronicle, won prizes for Latin verse, was awarded the Newcastle medal, and in 1901 he was elected a scholar of King's College, Cambridge. Gaselee obtained a first class in part 1 of the classical tripos (1904) and a second class in part 2 (1905). He left Cambridge in that year and, as tutor to Prince Leopold of Battenberg (later Lord Leopold Mountbatten), travelled widely, attaining an experience of foreign countries and courts that was to stand him in good stead for his later duties. In 1907 he returned to Cambridge and as editor of the Cambridge Review was an enthusiastic promoter of the work of the poet Rupert Brooke. After failing, to the surprise of his friends, to win (by his dissertation on Petronius) a fellowship at King's in the following year, he accepted two months later the post of Pepys librarian at Magdalene College, which he held until 1919. After moving there in the autumn he was elected in 1909 into a fellowship which he held for thirty-four years. In 1916 Gaselee entered the Foreign Office and was rewarded for this war service in 1918 by appointment as CBE. Sir Stephen died at his home, 24 Ashburn Place, London, on 16 June 1943.

Found in 8 Collections and/or Records: