H. W. Garrod

Who was H. W. Garrod?

Heathcote William Garrod was a British classical scholar and literary scholar. He was Fellow of Merton College, Oxford for over 60 years. He was Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1923 to 1928.

From 1929-1930 Garrod was the Charles Eliot Norton professor at Harvard University.

Though the remark is frequently attributed to others more famous, more reliable sources give him as the person who, when accosted by a woman during the First World War asking why he was not with the soldiers fighting to defend civilization, replied: 'Madam, I am the civilization they are fighting to defend'.