Clinton, Henry Fynes
A remarkable English classical scholar, born at Gamston (Nottinghamshire) in 1781. Educated
at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford
(1803), he showed an unusual
aptitude for the study of classical literature and history, which he pursued with little
interruption all his life, though he served as member of Parliament for Aldborough from 1806
to 1826.
His life-work was the elucidation of Greek and Roman chronology, and his two great
productions stand upon a basis of such remarkably profound and enduring scholarship that they
are unlikely ever to be superseded or disused. These are the
Fasti Hellenici: a Civil
and Literary Chronology of Greece, 4 vols.
(1824-34), and the
Fasti Romani: a Civil and Literary Chronology of Rome and Constantinople from the
Death of Augustus to the Death of Heraclius, 2 vols.
(1845-51). Of the
former work, an epitome was published in 1850; and of the second, in 1854. Mr. Clinton died at
Welwyn, October 24th, 1852. His literary remains were edited and published by Mr. C. F. J.
Clinton in 1854.
