Thomas Frederick Tout
Thomas Frederick Tout FBA (28 September 1855 – 23 October 1929) was a 19th- and 20th-century British historian of the medieval period. Born in London, he was a pupil of St Olave's Grammar School, still then at Southwark, a graduate of Balliol Colle
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Thomas Frederick Tout FBA (28 September 1855 – 23 October 1929) was a 19th- and 20th-century British historian of the medieval period. Born in London, he was a pupil of St Olave's Grammar School, still then at Southwark, a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, and a fellow of Pembroke, but failing to obtain permanent fellowships at All Souls (1879) and Lincoln, his first academic post was at St David's University College, Lampeter (now the University of Wales, Lampeter), where his job title was 'Professor of English and Modern Languages'.
While at Lampeter, Tout commenced his prolific production of articles for the Dictionary of National Biography, including the entry on Rowland Williams. He learned Welsh, wrote and lectured on Welsh history, and contributed many of the Welsh articles to the DNG, including some on modern as well as medieval figures. His descendants have said that this famous outpouring of influential biographical ur-essays was due to no more than the sheer poverty of a young married academic needing cash for words.
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