Richard Irvine Best | |
|---|---|
 R. I. Best | |
| Born | 17 January 1872 Londonderry, Derry, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 25 September 1959 (aged 87) Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation | Philologist, Bibliographer, Librarian |
| Subject | Translations |
| Notable works | |
| Spouse | Edith Best (1906-1950) |
Richard Irvine Best
editRichard Irvine Best (17th January 1872 – 25th September 1959) was born on the 17th January 1872, at 3 Bishop Street in Co. Derry (also known as Co. Londonderry located in Northern Ireland). He was often known as R. I. Best, or simply Best to his close friends and family.[1][2] He was an Irish scholar, specifically a philologist and bibliographer, who specialised in Celtic Studies.[3]
Family
editBest’s parents were Henry Best and Margaret Jane Best (née Irvine).[4] His father, Henry, was an excise officer working in Paisley, Scotland at the time of Richard’s birth.[5]
Richard Best married his wife, Edith Best (née Oldham) in 1906, Best was seven years her junior.[2] Edith was older sister to Charles Hubert Oldham, who would go on to become Professor of Economics at University College Dublin. Edith herself was a musician, a pianist, who had studied at the Royal College of Music in London.[5] The couple had no children, and also claimed to have no affiliation with any religion.[6] Edith died in 1950, and Best on 25th September, nine years later. He died in his home at 57 Upper Leeson Street, Co. Dublin.[1][5]
Early Life
editHis education took place locally at a grammar school in Co. Derry, called Foyle College, an institution which dates back to 1617, schooling children ages eleven to eighteen. Following on from his time at Foyle College, Best did not attend university, however he was a member of the Irish Literary Society in London.[4] Instead of attending university he worked as a banking assistant for a time before an inheritance allowed him to travel to Paris, France.[3][4]
It was in Paris that Best met, and became friends with, John Millington Synge, who recommended the lectures of Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville at the Collège de France.[2] Best would later go on to translate and annotate Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville’s work, Le cycle mythologique irlandais et la mythologie celtique into The Irish Mythological Cycle and Celtic Mythology. Best returned to Dublin, where he met Kuno Meyer, who he pushed to establish the School of Irish Learning in 1903, where Best himself was both secretary and student; he was capable of speaking both French and Irish alongside English.[3][6]
References
edit- ^ a b de Vere White, Terence (1977). "Richard Irvine Best and His Irish Literary Contemporaries". Irish University Review. 7 (2): 168–183. ISSN 0021-1427. JSTOR 25477173.
- ^ a b c Sayers, William (2006). "Best the Mythographer, Dinneen the Lexicographer: Muted Nationalism in "Scylla and Charybdis"" (PDF). Papers on Joyce. 12: 7–24.
- ^ a b c "Best, Richard Irvine (1872–1959), philologist and bibliographer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64461. Retrieved 2023-11-03. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b c "Best, Richard Irvine | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
- ^ a b c Breathnach, Diarmuid; Ní Mhurchú, Máire (2010). "BEST, Richard Irvine". ainm.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Census of Ireland, 1911". National Archives of Ireland.