Kemble, John Mitchell (1807-1857)

Kemble, John Mitchell

SCHOLAR, HISTORIAN (ENGLAND)

BORN 2 Apr 1807, London - DIED 26 Mar 1857, Dublin: Gresham Hotel, O'connell Street
GRAVE LOCATION Dublin: Mount Jerome Cemetery, 158 Harold's Cross Road (3866)

John Mitchell Kemlble was the oldest son of the actor Charles Kemble and the actress Maria Therese de Camp. The famous actress Sarah Siddons was his father's sister. As a child John Mitchell made toy theatres and acted with his sister Fanny in plays. He was educated by Dr. Charles Richardson (1775-1865) and at the grammar school of Bury St Edmunds before he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1824. There his historical essays were much appreciated. In 1829 he travelled to Germany with his friend Charles Barton. He continued his German travels alone and became an admirer of German scholarship.

He finally took his Master of Arts degree in Cambridge in 1833. After an intensive corresponce he visited Jakob Grimm in Göttingen in 1834. Between 1833 and 1837 he published "Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf ". Several works on Anglo-Saxon England would follow during his further career. "Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici" was published in siex volumes between 1839 and 1848.

In 1836 he had married Auguste Wendt, the daughter of Professor Amadeus Wendt from Göttingen. They had two daughters and a son. The marriage was not happy and they separated in 1847. After the separation Kemble accused her in letters to Grimm of adultery and drunkenness and he claimed that she did not bring up their children properly.

To fund his research he was the editor of the British and "Foreign Review or European Quarterly Journal" from 1835 to 1844. In 1840 he succeeded his father as Examiner of Plays, which involved both censoring of plays and examining theatres. He formally held this post until his death but when he moved to Hanover in 1849, his friend the poet William Bodham Donne (1807-1882) took over the actual work without requesting a fee. In 1854 Kemble catalogued the collections in the Royal Museum of Hanover. In 1857 he was invited to Dublin to address the Royal Irish Academy. This was a success, but he fell ill and he died in the Gresham hotel on 26 March 1857. He was buried at the Mount Jerome Cemetery in Dublin.

His elder daughter Gertrude (1837-1882) married the singer Sir Charles Santley (1834-1922). His younger daughter Mildred (1841-1876) married Charles Edward Donne (1832-1907), the son of William Bodham Donne.

Family
• Father: Kemble, Charles
• Sister: Kemble, Fanny
• Sister: Kemble, Adelaide

Related persons
• was pupil of Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Karl

Events