E. E. Speight

Ernest Edwin Speight (6 December 1871 – 17 September 1949), usually known as E E Speight, was a Yorkshireman who travelled in Japan and India and was a professor of English for twenty years at the Imperial University, Tokyo, Japan and also at the Fourth Higher School, Kanazawa,[4] then for a further twenty years at the Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. In India he made a study of the Nilgiri hill tribes and was working on a Toda grammar at his death[1][5]

Ernest Edwin Speight
circa 1930 in India
Born(1871-12-06)6 December 1871
Bradford, Yorkshire
Died17 September 1949(1949-09-17) (aged 77)
Ootacamund, India
NationalityEnglish
Other namesE E Speight
OccupationProfessor of english, author
Known forlexicography, educationalist, philosopher, poet, anthropologist,[1] Publisher[2][3]

In Speight's youth he was a friend of W. B. Yeats, A. E. Housman and George Bernard Shaw, in his latter years of Tagore, Aurobindo, Mohandas K Gandhi, and Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark for whom he reviewed some of his writings.[1][5]

In addition to teaching, Speight wrote a substantial number of English textbooks, some of which remain in use in the 21st-century English syllabus in India.[6] Speight also wrote fiction, poetry, music, and edited anthologies.

With his business partner R. H. Walpole, Speight formed The Saracen's Head Library, a publishing house based in Teignmouth, in Devon.[2][3]

Personal life

Speight was married twice. On 11 July 1899 he married Ragna Grõn (11 July 1876 – 3 May 1953) of Norway who travelled to Japan overland by train through Russia from Norway twice with their young son Arthur, and he later married Doris Allix (10 July 1901 – 22 May 1991) in India with whom he had two sons, Peter and Michael.

Honours

Speight was awarded the Fifth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan for services to teaching, and was allowed this honour by the King[4]

Bibliography
  • Speight, E E (March 2007). Indian Masters of English – An Anthology of English Prose By Indian Writers. Davidson Press. ISBN 978-1-4067-1209-4.
  • Speight, E E; Sethi, G L (1948). A High School Composition for Matriculation Classes. Orient Longmans Ltd., Madras 2.
  • Speight, E E; Nance, R Morton (1 January 1912). Britain's Sea Story. UK: Henry Frowde. ASIN B000LQ60UM.
  • Speight, E E (March 2007). Sentinel Hours. Rinsland Press. ISBN 978-1-4067-6932-6.
  • Speight, E E (1905). Hakluyt's English Voyages. Marshall. ASIN B000SEJSM4.
  • Speight, E E; Dowden, Edward (1 January 1899). The temple reader: A reading book in literature for school and home (New English series). Horace Marshall and Son. ASIN B0008B8NKK.
  • Speight, E E (1 January 1908). Galleon of Torbay, The: A Romance. Chatto & Windus. ASIN B000GLGYOY.
  • Speight, E E (1917). Black's sentinel readers: Book IV. A. & C. Black. ASIN B0008B8Q98.
  • Speight, E E (1919). Black's sentinel readers: Book V. A. & C. Black. ASIN B0008B8Q9I.
  • Speight, E E (1915). Black's sentinel readers: Book VI. A. & C. Black. ASIN B0008B8Q8Y.
  • Speight, E E (July 1936). "Marmaduke Pickthall". Islamic Culture. X: iii–vi.[7]
  • Reeves, The hon W P; Speight, E E. The Imperial Reader: being a descriptive account of the territories forming the British Empire. ASIN B0017H4K5G.
  • Speight, E E (30 June 1911). "A Few Norwegian Proverbs". Folklore. Taylor & Francis on behalf of Folklore Enterprises. 22 (2): 213–218. doi:10.1080/0015587x.1911.9719475. JSTOR 1255063.
  • Major, A F (Albany Featherstonehaugh); Speight, E E; Powell, Frederick York (1899). Stories from the Northern Sagas. Horace Marshall & Son. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  • Lamb, Charles; Speight, E E (1905). The Adventures of Ulysses. Horace Marshall and Son. ASIN B001BYOCSA.
  • Speight, E E (1922). "Poems Made on the Royal Visit of Jito Tenno to the Shrine of Yoshino by Hitomaro, Meiji Seitoku Kinen Gakkai Kiyou". 17. Meiji Seitoku Kinen Gakkai: 12–13. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)[8]
  • Jefferies, Richard; Speight, E E. The Story of My Heart (Waga Kokoro No Ki). Kenkyusha Limited. ISBN 978-4-327-01086-7.[9]

See also

References
  1. Walsh, R R (15 April 1953). "Ernest Speight – A Portrait". The Sunday Statesman. During his retirement he lived alone, devoting himself to the care of his fascinating library and extensive collection of Japanese art treasures and antiques. and the study of the language and customs and mythology of the Nilgiri hill tribes, the Badagas. He was compiling a Toda grammar when he died
  2. "The Saracen's Head Library" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 December 1903. Retrieved 26 May 2010. A new library of books for collectors, to be entitled The Saracen's Head Library, is about to be published by Ernest Speight and Reginald Horace Walpole
  3. "Notes". The Star. New Zealand. 10 February 1904. p. 4. Retrieved 26 May 2010. Mr Ernest Speight and Mr Reginald Horace Walpole of Teignmouth ... are about to commence the publication of finely produced books for collectors, to be entitled 'The Saracen's Head Library'
  4. "Whitehall, September 14, 1918" (PDF). The London Gazette: 11090. 17 September 1918. Retrieved 19 July 2010. The KING has been pleased to give and grant unto Ernest Edwin Speight, Esq.. Teacher at the Fourth Higher School at Kanazawa, Kaga, Japan, His Majesty's Royal licence and authority to wear the Insignia of the Fifth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun, which Decoration has been conferred upon him by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan in recognition of valuable services rendered by him.
  5. Peter, Prince of Greece and Denmark (20 April 1953). "Memories of Ernest Speight". The Statesman. On September 17 at 8 am he had the second heart attack, which killed him ... I went over to Mount Stewart to put seals on his lonely dwelling with the manager of the local branch of the Imperial Bank of India
  6. Loathta, A K (10 April 2004). "An Ode to Primer English". The Tribune. Chandigarh, India. Retrieved 27 May 2010. A larger part of English syllabus for classes below BA and BSc should be that of primer English. Equal attention should be paid to grammar as well. Syllabus in lower classes should be such that every student must have studied in detail J. C. Nesfield, Wren and Martin, Roger Fowler, E. E. Speight, T. L. H. Smith Pearse, F. T. Wood, Hugh Jarrett, Randolph Quirk and E. R. Ram Kumar by the time he or she passes the class XII examination.
  7. "Marmaduke Pickthall, a brief biography". British Muslim Heritage – Mas'ud Ahmed Khan. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  8. "Foundation Corporate Meizi Isao Satoshi Memorial Society Bulletin Table of Contents Article 1 Volume ( Taisyou 3 Year ) – Article 20 Volume ( Taisyou 12 Year )". Google Translation of citation. Meiji Seitoku Kinen Gakkai (Meiji Japan Society). Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  9. "The story of my heart" (in Japanese). Webcat Plus. Retrieved 10 January 2011. by Richard Jefferies; with introduction & notes by E.E. Speight
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