Editing Herbert Coleridge

{{short description|English philologist (1830–1861)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| image       = Herbert Coleridge.jpg
| imagesize   = 200px
| caption     = Coleridge at the age of 17
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1830|10|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = 
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1861|4|23|1830|10|7|df=y}}
| death_place = 
| parents     = {{unbulleted list|[[Henry Nelson Coleridge]]|[[Sara Coleridge]]}}
| relatives   = {{unbulleted list|[[Edith Coleridge]] (sister)|[[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] (maternal grandfather)}}
}}

'''Herbert "Herbie" Coleridge''' (7 October 1830 – 23 April 1861) was an [[England|English]] [[philologist]], technically the first editor of what ultimately became the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. He was a grandson of the poet [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].

==Biography==
He was the son of [[Sara Coleridge|Sara]] and [[Henry Nelson Coleridge]]. He earned a [[British undergraduate degree classification#First-class honours|double first]] in [[Classics]] and [[Mathematics]] at [[Balliol College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]. After graduation, he became a [[barrister]], but, living off a small [[Life annuity|annuity]], devoted most of his time and energy to linguistic studies. At age 27, as a member of the [[Philological Society]], he formed a committee with [[Richard Chenevix Trench]] and [[Frederick James Furnivall|Frederick Furnivall]] to identify and research words unlisted and undefined in English dictionaries of the period. The efforts of this committee eventually led to the development of the ''Oxford English Dictionary''. A dedicated editor, he died of [[tuberculosis]] at age 30 after completing some fundamental work for the project.

He died on 23 April 1861 at Chester Place, [[Regents Park]] and is buried, with his parents and grandparents, in the crypt of [[St Michael's Church, Highgate|St Michael's, Highgate]].<ref>The Monumental Inscriptions of Middlesex Vol III - Cansick 1875. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuc.3465163_001&seq=75&q1=coleridge</ref> The coffins were moved in 1961 from the [[Highgate School]] Chapel.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/12/samuel-taylor-coleridge-poet-remains-rediscovered-wine-cellar|title=Samuel Taylor Coleridge's remains rediscovered in wine cellar|last=Kennedy|first=Maev|date=12 April 2018|journal=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=23 June 2023}}</ref>

== Works ==
* ''A Glossarial Index to the Printed English Literature of the Thirteenth Century''. London: Trubner & Co., 1859. 
* ''A Dictionary of the First, or Oldest Words in the English Language: from the Semi Saxon Period of A.D. 1250 to 1300. Consisting of An Alphabetical Inventory of Every Word Found in the Printed English Literature of the 13TH Century''. London: John Camden Hotten, 1863.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*[[Simon Winchester]] (2003). ''[[The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary]]''. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-860702-4}}. pp.&nbsp;50–58.

== External links ==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=41463| name=Herbert Coleridge}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Herbert Herbie Coleridge}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029032931/http://geocities.com/Athens/4017/index.html |date=29 October 2009 |title=The Genealogy of Coleridge Family and Coleridge links }}
* {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Coleridge, Sara |volume=6}}

{{Authority control}} 
{{Coleridge family tree}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleridge, Herbert}}
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1861 deaths]]
[[Category:Coleridge family|Herbert]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British philologists]]
[[Category:19th-century philologists]]
[[Category:Chief editors of the Oxford English Dictionary]]
[[Category:19th-century British lexicographers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]