author
R. W. (Robert William) Browne
1809–1895
A Victorian clergyman and scholar, he wrote clear, ambitious histories of Greek and Roman literature that helped bring the classical world to a wider readership. His career joined teaching, church service, and serious literary study.
1 Audiobook
A History of Roman Classical Literature.
by R. W. (Robert William) Browne
About the author
Born in 1809, he was an English clergyman, teacher, and writer who studied at Merchant Taylors’ School and St John’s College, Oxford. Sources agree that he went on to teach at Oxford and later became Professor of Classical Literature at King’s College London, building a reputation as both an academic and an educational writer.
Alongside his scholarly work, he also served in the Church of England and eventually became Archdeacon of Bath, a post he held for many years. He died in 1895, after a long career that combined pastoral duties with teaching and writing.
He is best remembered by modern readers for books such as A History of Greek Classical Literature and A History of Roman Classical Literature. Those works reflect a broad Victorian effort to explain the ancient world in an organized, readable way, and they still give a good sense of how 19th-century scholars introduced classical authors to general readers.