author
Charles Duke Yonge
1812–1891
A prolific Victorian translator and historian, this Eton-born scholar helped bring Greek and Roman writers to a wide English readership. His books range from classical texts to sweeping histories, making him a familiar name on many older library shelves.
2 Audiobooks
The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
by Charles Duke Yonge
The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860
by Charles Duke Yonge
About the author
Born at Eton on November 30, 1812, Charles Duke Yonge was an English historian, classicist, and translator. He was educated at Eton and at King’s College, Oxford, and went on to build a career in teaching and scholarship.
Yonge is best remembered for the sheer range of his writing. He produced histories, school books, and reference works, and he translated several important classical authors into English, including writers such as Plutarch, Cicero, Diogenes Laërtius, and Athenaeus. His work helped make ancient literature more accessible to general readers and students in the nineteenth century.
He also served as regius professor of modern history and English literature at Queen’s College, Belfast. Yonge died on November 30, 1891. Although many of his translations are now Victorian in tone, they remain a notable part of the long history of bringing the classics into English.