Quiggin, Edmund Crosby, 1875-1920

Edmund Crosby Quiggin (1875-1920) was born on 23 August 1875 in Cheadle, Staffordshire. He attended Kingswood School in Bath and later read Modern and Medieval Languages at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, marticulating in 1893 and graduating with first-class honours. Whilst at Caius his interest in Celtic was fuelled by C.H. Munro, an Irish-speaking law fellow.

In October 1898 he became English Lector at the University of Greifswald and completed a doctorate on the 'Book of Leinster' version of Tin B Cuailnge . Quiggin returned to Cambridge in 1901, but between June 1903 and January 1906 he stayed in a district of Donegal, familiarising himself with the dialect. This led to the publication of A Dialect of Donegal, being the speech of Meenawannia in the parish of Glenties: Phonology and Texts (C.U.P., 1906). His reputation as a Celtic scholar then grew and in 1909 Caius College created the Monro Lectureship in Celtic for him, the first of its kind.

From 1915 to 1919 Quiggin was involved in war service, first in Boulogne and then in the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. In 1919 he was twice allowed to return to his duties at the University of Cambridge, but, his health failing, he died on 4 January 1920.

From the guide to the Edmund Crosby Quiggin: Correspondence and Papers, c. 1902-1994, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)