William Roger Paton


William Roger Paton, usually cited as W. R. Paton, was an author and translator of ancient Greek texts and poets, mostly known for his translation of the Greek anthology. He was of Scottish origin.

Early life and family

Paton was born on 2 September 1857, Old Machar, son of John Paton and Eliza Deborah Burnett .
His father, John Paton, was educated in Eton College and was in military, initially in the Aberdeenshire militia as major and later colonel and deputy lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, as well as a magistrate. His mother Eliza Deborah Burnett was the daughter of Thomas Burnett of Kepplestone, also from Aberdeenshire. They married on 11 June 1844 and they had five children, four daughters and one son, William Roger, born at 10 Chanonry, Old Aberdeen, on 9 February 1857. His mother died three years later in 24 February 1860 at the age of 37. In 1862, his father married Catherine Margaret, daughter of Col. Lumsden.

Education

He was educated at the same school as his father, Eton College, Windsor, where he studied from 1871 to 1873, boarding at Edward Peake Rouse's house and later on at Oscar Browning's. On 23 October 1876, at the age of 19 he became a student at University College, Oxford, where he took a first in "Classical Moderations" in 1877. The following year, he changed direction, starting legal studies for the bar at Middle Temple, London. Later on he returned to Oxford and obtained a third in Classics «Literae Humaniores» in 1880. Even though he was not called to the bar, he continued to be involved with Middle Temple until 1884.
Later on, in 1900, the University of Halle awarded Paton an honorary PhD.

Marriage and life in the South

He was married in 1885 to Irene Olympitis, a woman from the island of Kalymnos who had a plot of land in Myndos but he later moved to Chios and Lesbos so that his sons could attend high school there.
He had two sons and two daughters: George Paton, unmarried, Thetis Paton , who married Costakis Svinos in Smyrna, John David Paton,, who married Fenella Crombie from Scotland, and Sevastie or Augusta Paton, who married Baron János Kemény, Hungarian author, theater director and dramatist.
He appears as a resident of Vathy, Samos from 1897 to his death, 1921, from a number of periodicals which show this address and some of his published letters. He was a resident in Samos since he got married again with Clio, a woman from Samos, after the death of his first wife.
He died on 21 April 1921 in the town of Vathy, Samos.

Timeline

He published the following books:
His works are extensively quoted as the main references both for the Greek Anthology as well as for Polybius.