- John Edward Courtenay Bodley
John Edward Courtenay Bodley (1853-1925) was an English civil servant, known for his writings on
France .Life
He studied at
Balliol College, Oxford from 1873 to 1876. [ [http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/library/jowett/appendix.asp#_Toc45533383 Balliol College Library: Jowett Papers - Appendix ] ] An activeFreemason , he approachedOscar Wilde , then also an undergraduate, and introduced him to a Masonic Lodge in Oxford [ [http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/beresiner8.html OSCAR WILDE Freemasons ] ] [Jonathan Fryer, "Wilde" (2004), p. 16.] .Richard Ellmann ["Oscar Wilde" (1987), p. 169.] attributes to Bodley a long, spiteful "New York Times " article that appeared on Wilde, on 21 January 1882.He was secretary to
Charles Dilke , from 1880. Initially Dilke thought him frivolous, but he came to play a major part in Dilke's official work and private life.. [Roy Jenkins , "Dilke" (1965 edition), p. 147 and many other references.] He was a witness in the divorce case that broke Dilke's career. [Jenkins, p. 287.] He subsequently believed that Dilke's downfall was caused byJoseph Chamberlain . [Jenkins, p. 355.]A personal friend of
Cardinal Manning ("almost certainly his most intimate non-Catholic friend", and Manning's preferred choice as biographer [Jenkins, p. 367.] ), he was his biographer only in a short work. [cite news
author=
title=CARDINAL MANNING; Mr. Bodley's Intimate Sketch of the Great Catholic Prelate
date=
work=New York Times
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E05E3D81139E633A25755C1A9659C946296D6CF
accessdate=2008-08-09]Political writing
Bodley's political writings are in the general tradition of
Hippolyte Taine , whom Bodley knew. [Silvanus Phillips Thompson, "The Life of Lord Kelvin" (reprinted 1977), note p. 913.] WhenÉmile Boutmy , a follower of Taine, had his work on England in the same vein translated into English, ["The English People: a study of their political philosophy" (1904).] Bodley wrote an introduction.Shane Leslie , a friend, described him as "one of the last cultured Europeans". [ [http://www.archive.org/stream/salutationtofive000369mbp/salutationtofive000369mbp_djvu.txt "Salutation to Five", p. 14.] ] A 1928 work byCharles Maurras about him was entitled "L'anglais qui a connu la France"; [The Englishman who has known France.] Maurras had already studied Bodley in 1902, in "Deux témoins de la France".Works
*"France" (1898, two volumes)
* "L'Anglomanie et les Traditions Françaises" (1899)
*"The Coronation of Edward the Seventh: A Chapter of European and Imperial History" (1903)
*"The Church In France" (1906)
*"Cardinal Manning; The decay of idealism in France; The Institute of France" (1912)
*"L'Age Mécanique et le Déclin de l'idéalisme en France" (1913)
*"The Romance of the Battle-Line in France" (1920)Family
The writer
Ronald Victor Courtenay Bodley and the artistJosselin Reginald Courtenay Bodley (1893-1974) were his sons, and joint dedicatees of "France". His daughter Ava marriedRalph Wigram in 1925, [Mary Soames, "Winston and Clementine: The Personal Letters of the Churchills By Winston Churchill, Clementine Churchill" (1999), note p. 420.] andJohn Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley in 1941. ["Burke's Landed Gentry of Scotland"]Reference
*
Shane Leslie (1930), "Memoir of John Edward Courtenay Bodley"Notes
External links
* [http://archives.balliol.ox.ac.uk/images/Portraits/026.jpgPortrait by Gilbert Baldry, Balliol Archives]
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