Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/125

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Gifford
105
Gifford

of their bankers, brokers, or friends. He was in favour of 'free-banking,' under which a cheque might be drawn upon any person whether a banker or not. He advocated the reduction of the representation of Ireland in the imperial parliament, and the boring of a tunnel under the Irish Sea with a view to closer union.

His principal published writings, apart from separate addresses and pamphlets, are:

  1. 'American Railways as Investments,' in Cracroft's Investment Tracts (1872; 2nd and 3rd edits. 1873), written at the suggestion of Mr. Bernard Cracroft of the Stock Exchange, who provided him with materials. This work served to dispel some of the indiscriminate mistrust of American railways by the British public. A French translation by E. de Laveleye was published at Liège, 1873.
  2. 'The Production and Movement of Gold since 1848,' 1873.
  3. 'Stock Exchange Securities; an Essay on the General Course of Fluctuations in their Prices,' 1877.
  4. 'Essays in Finance' (contributions to periodicals), 1st series, 2 editions, 1880; 6th edit. 1890; 2nd series, 1886; 3rd edit. 1890.
  5. The 'Statist' on Ireland; reprint of 'Economist's' [R. G.'s] letters to the 'Statist' on the Irish land and home rule questions, and of editorial comments thereon, 1886.
  6. 'The Growth of Capital,' 1889.
  7. 'The Case against Bimetallism,' 1892; 2nd edit. 1892.
  8. 'Economic Enquiries and Studies' (contributions to periodicals), 2 vols. 1904.

Giffen contributed 'Growth and Distribution of Wealth, 1837-1887,' to vol. ii. of T. H. Ward's 'Reign of Queen Victoria' (1887), and added a chapter to Lord Farrer's 'The State in its Relation to Trade' (1902). He left completed in manuscript a 'Handbook of Statistics,' not yet published.

[Personal knowledge; information from Lady Giffen; Statistical Soc. Journal, May 1909 (with excellent engraved portrait); Economic Journal, June 1909.]

H. H.


GIFFORD, EDWIN HAMILTON (1820–1905), archdeacon of London and theologian, born at Bristol on 18 Dec. 1820, was sixth son of Richard Ireland Gifford by his wife Helen, daughter of William Davie of Stonehouse, Devonshire. After education at Elizabeth's Grammar School, Plymouth, he was admitted to Shrewsbury School in 1837, under Benjamin Hall Kennedy [q. v.], and in 1839 he proceeded to Cambridge, winning a scholarship at St. John's College. He had a distinguished university career. In 1842 he won the Pitt University scholarship, In 1843 he graduated B.A. both as senior classic and fifteenth wrangler in the mathematical tripos. In the same year he won the chancellor's medal, and was a fellow of his college from 4 April 1843 till 20 March 1844. He proceeded M.A. in 1846, and D.D. in 1861. In 1843 he returned to Shrewsbury as second master, and in 1848 he was appointed headmaster of King Edward's School, Birmingham. He proved a worthy successor of James Prince Lee [q. v.], and resigned in 1862 owing to ill-health. Gifford, who had been ordained in 1844, was honorary canon of Worcester (1853-77). In 1865 he became chaplain to Francis Jeune [q. v.], bishop of Peterborough, who presented him to the rectory of Walgrave, Northamptonshire. He subsequently held the post of examining chaplain to two successive bishops of London, Jackson and Temple. In 1875 he accepted the benefice of Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, and in 1877 was made an honorary canon of St. Albans. |In 1883 he was nominated to the prebend of Islington in St. Paul's Cathedral, and the following year he succeeded Piers Calverley Claughton [q. v.] as arch-deacon of London and canon of St Paul's.

Though Gifford was select preacher at Cambridge (1864, 1869) and at Oxford (1879, 1890–1) he was not an effective preacher. He was better known as a scholar than as an ecclesiastic. On 24 April 1889 Gifford resigned his archdeaconry, and retired to Arlington House, Oxford, where he continued his studies to the last. In 1903 he was elected an honorary fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. He died in London on 5 May 1905.

Gifford married (1) in 1844, Anne, daughter of John Yolland of Plymouth; (2) in 1873, Margaret Symons, daughter of Francis Jeune, bishop of Peterborough and sister of Francis Henry Jeune, baron St. Heller [q. v. Suppl. II]. He had issue one daughter.

Gifford's contributions to biblical and patristic learning, which were marked by insight and accuracy, included:

  1. 'Voices of the Past' (1874), the Warburtonian lectures delivered at Lincoln's Inn 1870-4.
  2. 'The Epistle to the Romans' (1881) in the 'Speaker's Commentary.'
  3. 'Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy' (1888) in the same series.
  4. 'Authorship of Psalm cx.' (1892; 3rd edit, 1895).
  5. 'The Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem' (1894), revised translation in vol vii. of Nicene and Post-Nicene Library.
  6. Eusebius's 'Præparatio Evangelica' (1903), 5 vols., text and translation.