Augustus Theodore Bartholomew

Who was Augustus Theodore Bartholomew?

Augustus Theodore Bartholomew was a bibliographer and a librarian at Cambridge University for over twenty-five years. He was the youngest child of a large family, his father having died shortly before his birth. He grew up in Fowlmere, near Cambridge, and attended the Nonconformist Grammar School in Bishop's Stortford. His mother's lack of funds forced him to quit school at an early age and seek employment nearby. In spite of his limited education, Bartholomew felt from an early age a definite desire for a career in books. At the age of 17, he found a job as "Second-Class Assistant" at the University Library at Cambridge, earning 10 shilings a week. In 1901 he was able to enter Peterhouse, Cambridge, as an undergraduate, graduating in 1904. After graduation, the library remained the focus of his life. He began by cataloguing Lord Acton's donation to the library – a task which took nine years. Bartholomew was exempted from military service during the First World War by reason of his poor eyesight. During the chaotic war years, Bartholomew's sane and precise habits became vital to the smooth functioning of the library.

In 1926, Bartholomew began to suffer from bouts of depression, which eventually developed into an all-consuming melancholy. This serious affliction was quite satisfactorily cured by a program of psychological intervention. In the years left to him, Bartholomew applied his characteristic sense of cleanliness and order to his new home in Millington Road. He had inherited good taste in furniture from his family, who came from a long line of cabinet-makers. To this he added his knowledge of books and prints, and with these he decorated his house, and so began to enjoy a well-deserved domestic comfort. His enjoyment was cut short; in 1932 he began to suffer from severe headaches, caused by high-blood pressure. Within a year he was dead, at the age of 51.