William Hardie


William Ross Hardie was a Scottish classical scholar, Professor of Humanity at Edinburgh University from 1895 until his death.

Early life

Hardie was born in Edinburgh in 1862 and educated there at Circus Place School and Edinburgh University, where he graduated with an undergraduate Master of Arts degree in 1880, and then at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated BA and later MA. In 1882 he was awarded both the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse and the Gaisford Prize for Greek Prose, among other distinctions, and was considered the "most brilliant undergraduate classicist of his generation".

Career

Elected to a fellowship at Balliol in 1884, he spent a year abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy, and returned to his college, staying there as Fellow and Tutor at Balliol from 1884 to 1895 and also serving as the University's Junior Proctor in 1893-1894.
At Balliol, he taught a form of Greek that was "simple, pronounceable, and intelligible to the ear", writing to John Stuart Blackie "I always endeavour to make the accent audible in pronouncing Greek. I quote, read, or recite Greek as much as possible, and I frequently teach composition orally, by... choosing by chance a piece of English and working out a version of it by common suggestion and discussion".
In 1895, he was appointed Professor of Humanity at Edinburgh University.
He died on 3 May 1916 after suffering a severe attack of influenza in January 1916.

Sons

Hardie was the father of William Francis Ross Hardie and Colin Graham Hardie, both also classical scholars. His elder son, W. F. R. Hardie, was President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1950 to 1969.

Selected publications