Edward T. (Edward Tompkins) McLaughlin

Born in Sharon, Connecticut, on May 28, 1860, he was raised in a strongly scholarly New England family. Much of his early education came from his father, the Reverend D. D. T. McLaughlin, and he later entered Yale in 1879, earning his A.B. degree in 1883.

After graduation, he continued at Yale on the Douglas Fellowship and then joined the faculty, serving as a tutor in English before becoming assistant professor of English language and literature. In June 1893, Yale created a professorship of rhetoric and belles-lettres for him, but he died in New Haven on July 25, 1893, only weeks later, from typhoid fever.

Though his life was short, his writing left a clear impression. He is best known for Studies in Mediæval Life and Literature, published in 1894, and he is also listed with works including Literary Criticism for Students and editions of Marlowe. His career suggests a teacher and critic whose reputation was strong enough that friends and former students established a memorial fund in his name at Yale after his death.