Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Tyler, Thomas
TYLER, THOMAS (1826–1902), Shakespearean scholar, was born in London in 1826. An evening student (1857-8) at King's College, London, he there distinguished himself in scripture and classics. Matriculating at London University in 1857, he graduated B.A. in classics in 1859 and M.A. in 1871, obtaining prizes for Hebrew and for New Testament Greek. He soon engaged in biblical research. An article contributor to the 'Journal of Sacred Literature' in January 1854 was expanded in 1861 into a volume called 'Jehovah the Redeemer God : the Scriptural Interpretation of the Divine name "Jehovah."' The New Testament interpretation of the name was discussed in a second volume, 'Christ the Lord, the Revealer of God, and the Fulfilment of the Prophetic Name "Jehovah."' In 1872 he joined the newly formed Society of Biblical Archaeology, and in a small pamphlet, 'Some New Evidence as to the Date of Ecclesiastes' (1872), he first indicated exclusively from the literary point of view (as Zirkel had urged in 1792 on philological grounds) the influence of Greek, especially Stoic, philosophy on the teaching of the author, and assigned the composition of the work to the second century B.C. Tyler developed his view in his exhaustive 'Ecclesiastes, a Contribution to its Interpretation; with Introduction, Exegesis, and Translations with Notes' (1874; 2nd edit. 1879; new revised edit. 1899) Professor Ewald praised the work, but questioned Tyler's conclusions as to the date (Göttingische gelehrte Anzeiger, 23 Oct. 1872). Tyler was also a student of Hittite antiquities, on which he lectured at the British Museum, and his lectures and writings helped to stimulate in England the study of the Hittite language.
Tyler made many suggestive contributions to Shakespearean study. He published in 1874 'The Philosophy of "Hamlet,"' and took part in the proceedings of the New Shakspere Society from its foundation in 1874. In the introduction to the facsimile edition of 'Shakespeare's Sonnets, the first quarto, 1609,' which Tyler edited in 1886, he with the assistance of the Rev. W. A. Harrison, vicar of St. Anne's, Lambeth, first propounded the theory that Mary Fitton [q. v.] was the 'dark lady' of the sonnets. He elaborated his argument in his interesting edition of 'Shakespeare's Sonnets' (1890). By way of confutation Lady Newdigate-Newdegate in 'Gossip from a Muniment Room ' (1897; 2nd edit. 1898) showed from extant portraits at Arbury that Mary Fitton was of fair complexion, and (Sir) Sidney Lee contested Tyler's view in his 'Life of Shakespeare' (1898). Tyler answered his critics in 'The Herbert-Fitton Theory: a Reply' (1898), disputing the authenticity of the Arbury portraits. He also edited in 1891 the facsimile issue of 'The True Tragedy. The First Quarto, 1595.'
Tyler, who suffered from birth from a goitrous disfigurement, was for nearly half a century an habitual frequenter of the British Museum reading-room. He died in London, unmarried and in straitened circumstances, on 27 Feb. 1902.
[The Times, 6 March 1902; Athenæum, 26 July 1890 and 1 March 1902; Standard, 27 Oct. 1897; Lady Newdigate-Newdegate's Gossip from a Muniment Room, 2nd edit. 1898, Appendix A.]