Israel Gollancz

Who was Israel Gollancz?

Sir Israel Gollancz was a scholar of early English literature and of Shakespeare. He was Professor of English Language and Literature at King's College, London, from 1903 to 1930.

Gollancz was born 13 July 1863, in London, sixth of seven children of Rabbi Samuel Marcus Gollancz, cantor of the Hambro Synagogue, London, and his wife, Johanna Koppell. He was the younger brother of Sir Hermann Gollancz and the uncle of the publisher Victor Gollancz. In 1910, he married Alide Goldschmidt in London.

He was a founder member and the first Secretary of the British Academy and of the committee for a Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, which eventually became the Royal National Theatre in London, and he was the Director of the Early English Text Society. He edited the "Temple" Shakespeare, a uniform edition of the complete works in pocket size volumes which was the most popular Shakespeare edition of its day. He also produced a translation in modern English of the important medieval Christian allegorical poem Pearl. He contributed works to the Dictionary of National Biography. Gollancz was knighted in 1919.

Gollancz died on 23 Jun 1930, in London and was buried at the Jewish Cemetery at Willesden on 26 June. In the year of his death, the British Academy held a memorial lecture in his name, at which they unveiled a bust of Sir Israel. The British Academy awards the Sir Israel Gollancz prize for Early English Studies.