Coxe, Henry Octavius

Coxe, Henry Octavius a minister of the Church of England, was born in 1811, and educated at Westminster and at Worcester College, Oxford, graduating in 1833. He entered at once upon work in the MS. department at the library of the British Museum, and continued there till 1838, when he became one of the sublibrarians of the Bodleian library. He succeeded the late Dr. Bandinel as head librarian in 1860. On the part of the government Mr. Coxe was sent out to inspect the libraries in the monasteries of the Levant. He was an authority on the date and character of MSS., and he detected one of the forgeries palmed by M. Simonides upon the learned. He died July 10, 1881, at Oxford. Mr. Coxe was the editor and author of many works; the most important of all his labors being the new Catalogue of the Bodleian Library. He was curate in a London district while working at the museum; and he was in charge of Wytham, near Oxford, as curate or rector, for twenty-five years, until his death. He was Oxford select preacher in 1842, and Whitehall preacher in 1868; also an honorary fellow of Worcester and Corpus Christi colleges, and chaplain of the latter. (B.P.)