Collection UT459 - John Orr Collection

John Orr (1885 -1966) was born at Egremont, Cumberland, England, but his parents emigrated to Tasmania and he was educated at the High School, Launceston. He passed the Senior Public school examinations in 1902, at the age of 17, with credits in English, history, geography, Latin, Greek, French and arithmetic and passes in algebra and geometry, and was awarded a scholarship to the University of Tasmania. He matriculated in 1903 and passed the first examination for the BA. in Classics in Latin, French, Greek and English with credits. In 1904 he passed the second BA. exams, with credits, in Latin, ancient history and Greek. Halfway through his third year course, however, in June 1905, he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship for study at Oxford University (first awarded in 1904 and open to British subjects who had passed the first and second year exams for a bachelor degree and had resided in Tasmania at least 5 years). Under the terms of the award he had to go into residence at Oxford within six months and so could not complete his Tasmanian degree but went immediately to Oxford to enter Balliol College in the Michaelmas term, the beginning of the academic year. He read classics (graduating 1907) and Jurisprudence (graduating 1909) intending to become a lawyer, but after travelling in France and Switzerland for his health he changed to languages (Lic. es Lettres, Paris & B.Litt, Oxford, 1913). He was a lecturer at Manchester University from 1913 to 1915, served with the Intelligence Corps 1916-18 and in 1919 became Professor of French at Manchester University. From 1933 he was Professor of French at Edinburgh University. He married in 1910 Auguste Berthe Brisac (d. 1961) and had one son who was killed on active service with the R.A.F. in world War II. He died at Edinburgh, aged 81, on 10 August 1966.