M A Bayfield

Reverend Matthew Albert Bayfield 17 June 1852 - 2 August 1922 was an English classical scholar, author, headmaster, clergyman and spiritualist. Bayfield is best known for his commentaries on classical Greek texts as well his writing on the subject of poetry. His works include "The Measures Of The Poets", 1919 and "A Study ofShakespeare's Versification", 1920. Bayfield collaborated with Walter Leaf and Arthur Woollgar Verrall on numerous commentaries on the works of Sophocles, Homer and Euripides.

After studying classics at Clare College, Cambridge, Bayfield taught at Malvern College where he composed the school song, "Carmen Malvernense". Later he became headmaster of Christ College, Brecon and rector of Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire. Despite being a clergyman, he was a keen spiritualist, believing that 'everyone is a spiritualist who is not a materialist, and Christianity itself is essentially a spiritualistic religion'. [http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/arthur-conan-doyle/the-history-of-spiritualism-vol-ii/ebook-page-102.asp]