Dakyns, Henry Graham

Henry Graham Dakyns was born on the island of St. Vincent in the West Indies on 1 August 1838. His father, Thomas Henry Dakyns (1803-1874) was a physician, who later left St. Vincent and became an attorney, running several estates. He later moved to England after the decline of the sugar trade in 1845 and was made Sub-Treasurer of the Middle Temple (Inn of Court) in London.

Thomas Dakyns had married his half-cousin, Harriet Dakyns née Dasent (1814-1868) in 1834. They had six sons: John Roche Dakyns (1836-1910), Henry Graham Dakyns (1838-1911), Bury Irwin Dakyns (1842-1918), Charles Stewart Dakyns (b.1844), Thomas Arnold Dakyns (1847-1910) and George Doherty Dakyns (1856-1939).

Henry Graham Dakyns attended Rugby School from 1850 to 1856 and Trinity College, Cambridge from 1857 to 1860. Upon graduation in 1860, Henry Graham Dakyns became the tutor of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's two sons: Hallam Tennyson (1852-1928) and Lionel Tennyson (1854-1886). He held this position at Farringford, Isle of Wight until 1861. In September 1862, he was appointed Assistant Master of Classics at Clifton College, Bristol.

Henry Graham Dakyns married Margaret Cay née Pirie (1846-1908) in 1872. She was the widow of Charles Hope Cay. They had three children, Henry Graham Dakyns (1874-1937), Margaret Frances Dakyns (1877-1960), and Arthur Lindsay Dakyns (1883-1941).

From 1881 until 1883, Henry Graham Dakyns took a sabbatical in Greece to work on his edition of the Complete Works of Xenophon . In December 1889, he retired from Clifton College, moving to Higher Coombe, Haslemere in 1891. He co-edited the Collected Poems of T.E. Brown (1900) with Horatio Brown & W.E. Henley and the Golden Treasury Selected Poems of T.E. Brown (1908) with Horatio Brown. He also contributed the chapter "Tennyson, Clough & the Classics" to Tennyson & his Friends (1911), edited by Hallam, Lord Tennyson, Macmillan & Co. Ltd.

Henry Graham Dakyns died of a heart attack at Haslemere station on 28 June 1911 at the age of 72.

From the guide to the Henry Graham Dakyns Papers, 1846-1999, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

Epithet: classical scholar

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000696.0x0001d4