Basil Cottle

Arthur Basil Cottle (17 March 1917 – 13 May 1994) was a British grammarian, historian and archaeologist. He lived most of his life in Bristol.

Early life and education Cottle was born in Cardiff on 17 March 1917. He was the younger son of Arthur Bertram Cottle (1881–1964), a clerk, and Cecile Mary Bennett, a schoolmistress. He attended Howard Gardens Secondary School in Cardiff, where his precocious talents came to the notice of Evan Frederic Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar (1893–1949), Welsh poet, author, occultist and convert to Roman Catholicism, who gave Cottle the use of the extensive library at Tredegar House. A prolonged and severe bout of rheumatic fever in his early teens permanently affected his eyesight and he subsequently completely lost sight in his right eye. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, Cottle went on to the University of Wales, where he obtained a double first in English and Latin, and a second in Greek, his favourite subject. Whilst there he became a protege of Dr Victor Erle Nash-Williams (1897–1955), Keeper of the Department of Archaeology at the National Museum of Wales, and lecturer in archaeology from whom he developed a lifelong interest in Roman and early Celtic Christianity and epigraphy. Cottle was encouraged by Nash-Williams to become a museum curator but he eventually trained as a schoolmaster, gaining a first in education at Cardiff, and taught at Cowbridge Grammar School.

Second World War At the outbreak of the Second World War, Cottle was judged to be medically unfit for active service and instead became a private in the Royal Pioneer Corps, stationed at Huyton. Whilst serving there, in May 1941, he witnessed the Liverpool Custom House burn down in a German air raid. Later, he was transferred to the Royal Army Educational Corps and rose to the rank of Sergeant-Major. The Triumph of English 1350–1400 (History and Literature Series – Blandford Press, 1969) The Plight of English (Arlington House, 1975) Robert Southey (Historical Association – Bristol Branch, 1980) Names (Thames & Hudson, 1983) The Language of Literature: English Grammar in Action (Macmillan, 1985) Joseph Cottle of Bristol (Historical Association – Bristol Branch, 1987) Medieval Literature and Antiquities: Studies in Honour of Basil Cottle edited by Myra F. K. Stokes & T. L. Burton (D S Brewer, 1987) All the Cathedrals of France, edited by Nicholas A. Lee (Unicorn Press, 2002) "Joseph Cottle and the Romantics: The Life of a Bristol Publisher", edited by Myra F. K. Stokes (Bristol, Redcliffe Press, 2008) A Grand Gossip: the Bletchley Park Diary of Basil Cottle 1943–1945, edited by James and Judith Hodsdon (Hobnob Press, 2017)