FYNES-CLINTON, OSBERT HENRY (1869-1941), Professor of French and Romance Philology at the University College of North Wales, Bangor;
b. 9 Nov. 1869, son of the Rev. Osbert Fynes-Clinton, rector of Barlow Moor, Didsbury. A graduate of St. John's College, Oxford, he was elected Taylorian Scholar of the University in Spanish in 1892. He was French master at King Edward's School, Aston, Birmingham from 1896 to 1904, when he was appointed Professor of French and Romance Philology at the University College of North Wales, a position which he held until 1937 when he retired and was appointed Professor Emeritus. A brilliant linguist, he devoted his leisure hours to a meticulous study of the Arfon dialect of Welsh, and in 1913 published The Welsh Vocabulary of the Bangor District, which secured for him a place of honour in the history of Welsh linguistics, being the only comprehensive phonetic study of the vocabulary of a Welsh dialect hitherto published. In recognition of his work the University of Wales in 1939 conferred on him the honorary degree of D.Litt. He d. 9 Aug. 1941.
Bibliography:
- Www, 1941-50;
- N. Wales Chronicle, 15 and 22 Aug. 1941.
Author:
Emyr Gwynne Jones, M.A., (1911-72), Bangor
