The literary critic and historian George Edward Bateman Saintsbury was born in Southampton on 23 October 1845. He was educated at King's College School, London, and at Merton College, Oxford. Saintsbury was a schoolmaster at Manchester Grammar School and at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, before becoming headmaster of Elgin Educational Institute in 1874. From 1876 until 1895 he was a journalist in London, during which time, 1883-1894, he was the Assistant Editor of the Saturday Review. In 1895 he became Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at Edinburgh University. He held the Chair until 1915. His published works include Short history of French literature (1882), Essays in English literature(1890), Short history of English literature (1898), the three volume History of English prosody from the twelfth century to the present day (1906-1910), the two volume History of the French novel (1917-1919), and A last scrap book (1924). Professor George Saintsbury died in Bath on 28 January 1933.