Posted by John Wilson on January 19, 2009 at 08:47:54 user hugo.
Cyril Ransome died in 1897 when Arthur was 13 according to his autobiography (page 51), though Brogan’s Life does not clearly give a year.
A ProQuest online search of “The Times” only found him listed in an article on deaths in 1897. A search of three other newspapers found a Memorial Notice of 21 lines in the “Manchester Guardian” of 28 June 1897, which said he died at Rugby on Thursday (ie 24 June). He wrote a number of books used in colleges and schools on English history and the colonies. He had resigned his professorship (at Yorkshire College, Leeds) last year with the intention of taking up a literary appointment in London.
Then a search of the Australian National Bibliographical Database found a number of books by Cyril Ransome, but his birth & death years were variously given as 1851-1897, 1857-1897, and 1851-1911. These books are all on English history (textbooks) or India and the colonies, apart from “Short Studies of Shakespeare’s plots” so must be by the same person!
While his death was definitely in 1897 the Memorial Notice does not give an age at death, so does not confirm whether 1851 is more likely than 1857 for his year of birth.