OBITUARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 10483, 22 October 1894, Page 5

OBITUARY.

J. A. FROUDB, HISTORIAN. [Special to Press Association.! LONDON, Oct. 20, iMr J. A. Froude died to-day, [James Anthony Froude, youngest son of the late Venerable R. H. Froude, archdeacon of Totnes, bom at Darlington, Devonshire, April 23, 1818, was educated at Westminster and at Oriel College, Oxford, where ho graduated in 1840, taking a second-class in classics, and he proceeded M.A. in due course. In 1842 he carried off the Chancellor’s prize for aa English essay on “The Influence of the Science of Political Economy on the Moral and Social Welfare of the Nation; ” and in the same year he became a Fellow of Exeter College. He was ordained a deacon in the Church of England in 1844. For seme time he was connected with the High Church party under the Rev J. H. Newman, and wrote ia “The Lives of the English Saints.” Under the pseudonym of “ Zeta ” he published, in 1847, a volume entitled “ Shadows of the Clouds,” which comprised two stories Trials ” and “ The Lieutenant’s Daughter.” His “ Nemesis of Faith ” appeared in 1848, and reached a second edition in the following year. It marked hie defection from the teaching of the Church of England, against whose reverence for what he called the “ Hebrew Mythology,” it ia, inter alia, a protest. Both these works were severely condemned by the University authorities. About this time Mr Froude resigned his Fellowship, and ho was obliged to give up an appointment which he had received to a teschership in Tasmania. For two or three years he wrote almost constantly for Fraser’s Magazine and the Westminster Review . One of his articles in the latter on the Book of Job has been reprinted iu a separate form. In 1856 he published the first two volumes of bis “ History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of tbe Spanish Armada,” which was continued from time to time, vole 11 and 12 having been published in 1870, concluding the work. The materials for this history are mainly derived from the public documents of the time, and the boldness and originality of the author’s views have attracted much attention. One of the roost marked features of the work is an elaborate attempt to vindicate the reputation of Henry VIII. His “ Short Studies on Great Subjects ” appeared in 1867, being reprints of essays which had appeared in various periodicals. Mr Froude was installed Rector of the University of St Andrew’s, March 23, 1869, on which occasion the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him. For a short time he was editor of Fraser’s Magazine, but he resigned that position in August, 1871. On Sept. 21, 1872, taking advantage of the Clerical Disabilities Act, he executed a deed of relinquishment of the office of deacon. In the autumn of 1872 Mr Prcude went to the United States, where he delivered a series of lectures on the relations between England and Ireland. The burden of his addresses was that Irishmen had themselves, to a large extent, caused their country’s prostration by their own intestine jealousies and want of patriotism. Aa animated controversy ensued between him and Father Thomas Burke, the Dominican orator. At the clqse of the year 1874 Mr Froude was sent by the Earl of Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to the Gape of Good Hope, to make inquiries respecting the late Gaffro insurrection, and he returned to London in March, 1875. His later works are “The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century,” 8 vole, 1871-74; “Cmsar: a Sketch,” 1879; and “ Reminiscences of the High Church Revival,” a series of papers in Good Words (1881). Having been appointed executor to Thomas Carlyle, he published his “Reminiscences,” 2 vola, 1881; and the first part of his biography “Thomas Carlyle; a History of the first forty years of his life,” 1882 ; and “Reminiscences of hia Irish Journey in 1849,” riondon, 1882. A few years ago Mr Fronde visited Australia and New Zealand, and “ Oceana,” an account of his voyage, was published in 1886. MELBOURNE, Oct. 21. Colonel Smith, M.L.A. for Ballarat, ia dead. i . .

HON P. DIGNAN, M.L.C. [Per Press Association. I NEW PLYMOUTH. Oct. 20. The Hon Patrick Dignan, M.L.C., a passenger by the Takapuna, which is alongside the wharf, died suddenly this morning. Dr Leatham was sent for from Now Plymouth, but Mr Dignan was dead before the doctor arrived. Mr Dignau’s son was with his father. HAWBRA, Oct. 20. Dr Richards, for seventeen years ia practice here, died this morning; Apoplexy is believed to be the cause of death.