C. H. (Charles Harold) Herford

Born in 1853, Charles Harold Herford was an English literary scholar and critic whose work ranged widely across English and European literature. He became especially known for his studies of major writers and for a style of criticism that combined close reading with broad historical interest.

Herford taught at the University of Manchester, where he served as Professor of English Literature and became one of the figures associated with the university's early intellectual reputation. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, reflecting the standing he had earned in literary scholarship.

He is remembered above all for his long, ambitious edition and biographical work on Ben Jonson, a project completed in 11 volumes with Percy and Evelyn Simpson and published by Oxford University Press from 1925 onward. He died in 1931, leaving behind scholarship that remained useful to later readers and researchers.