Paget Toynbee

Paget Jackson Toynbee, FBA (20 January 1855 – 13 May 1932) was a British Dante scholar. Robert Hollander has described Toynbee as 'the most influential Dantean scholar of his time'.

Life

He was born in Wimbledon, London, the third son of otolaryngologist Joseph Toynbee and his wife Harriet. and matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in January 1874, aged 19 where he read Classics; B.A. 1878, M.A. 1880; he gained a D. Litt in 1901. He was awarded an honorary degree of LLD by the University of Edinburgh in 1923.

Personal life

Toynbee married Helen Wrigley (19 October 1868 – 18 April 1910) on 23 August 1894 in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, where they later built a house named Fiveways. Further papers were bequeathed by him in 1932.

The Paget Toynbee lectures on Dante have taken place annually in Oxford since 1995.

The current Paget Toynbee Lecturer in Italian Medieval Studies at Balliol College (as of 2024) is Professor Elena Lombardi.