Kemble John Mitchell

Kemble, John Mitchell, son of Charles and nephew of John Kemble, the famous actors, was born in 1807. Educated by Dr. Richardson, he acquired a taste for philology, and, winning an exhibition at Bury St. Edmunds School, went up to Trinity, Cambridge, where his conduct was erratic but not vicious. He was rusticated, and, joining the Spanish patriots, enjoyed some strange experiences, but ultimately returned to take his degree in 1830. In Germany, where he married a professor's daughter, his early prepossessions returned, and he took up the study of Anglo-Saxon with fervour, publishing in 1833 the Poems of Beowulf, with a glossary and commentary. This was followed in 1839-41 by his Codex Biplomaticiis AEvi Saxonici, and in 1844 by The Poetry of the Codex Vercellensis. His most valuable work, The Saxons in England, was issued in separate volumes between 1849 and 1856. He spent six years in North German3 investigating the archaeology of the Teutonic race, adding many interesting objects to the collection of antiquities at Hanover.