Charles Duke Yonge

Born in Eton in 1812, he was educated at Eton College, studied at King's College, Cambridge, and later at Oxford, where he took a first-class degree in Classics. He went on to become a professor of history and English literature at Queen's College, Belfast, and died in 1891.

He is remembered as a historian, classical scholar, translator, and even as an amateur cricketer. Alongside his teaching, he produced a remarkably wide range of books, including histories of England and France, biographies such as The Life of Marie Antoinette, and works on figures from Wellington to Lord Liverpool.

Many readers know him best through his translations. He translated major classical authors including Cicero, Philo, Diogenes Laërtius, Athenaeus, and Ammianus Marcellinus, helping make demanding ancient texts available to a much broader English-speaking audience. His writing has the feel of a hardworking Victorian man of letters: learned, energetic, and endlessly productive.