The record-union., 1891-01-18
GEORGE BANCROFT.
SUDDEN DEATH OF THE yENER-
ABLE HISTORIAN.
Only a Few Intimate Friends Aware
of the Illness Which Car
riod Him Off.
Special to the REcoRD-UNIoN.

|
WASHINGTON Jan. 1.-THE commu-
nifty was greatly shocked this evening by
the news that George Bancroft, the vener-
able historian, was dead. He has been in
apparently better health this year, since
his return from Newport, than for several
seasons past, so his death was sudden and
unexpected TO all save q few intimate
friends, who knew Of the attack of illness
which carried him off,
His death occurred at $40 O'Clock this
afternoon. The end was quiet and peace
ful, and came after period of uncon-
sciousness lasting about twenty-four
hours. Since his severe illness two years
ago he has never been as strong as before,
but, as mentioned above, he has been
feeling extremely well since his return to
this city. Last week he caught a cold
Notwithstanding this, he continued to
seek outdoor exercise every day until
Thursday, when he took to bed as q mat
ter OF precaution. His whole illness was
less than three days. He failed rapidly
yesterday, and became unconscious in
the afternoon, in which state he remained
until his end.
His son, John G. Bancroft, who, with
his wife, kept house for the historian, was
1t was decided this evening to hold the
funeral services next Tuesday morning
in st. Johns Episcopal Church The in
tcrment viii take place at Worcester
Mass, where Bancroit's wife is buried.
Mr.. Bancroft regarded his life work as
finished two years ago. and of late had
done no work. During the last decade
he had revised his great work, the Ellis
tory of the United States,'' going over it
in a severely critical style and eliIninat-
ing the flowers of rhetoric in the earlier
work. His last production was the his
I tory of the formation of the Constitution.
He undertook to write history of Presi
dent Poll<'s Administration, in whose
Cabinet he served as Secretary of the
Navy, but was compelled to abandon it.
George Bancroft, the eminent Amer
lean historian, was born in Worcester,
| Mass, October 3, 1900. He was graduated
at Harvard in 1917, studied German liter
ature at Gottingen under Benecke and
Italian literature under Artand and Bru-
sen. Arabic, Hebrew and Scripture under
Eichorn, history under Planck and
Heerren, natural history under Blumen-
| bach and antiquities and literature of
Greece and Rome under Dessen. Coffin
gen made him Ph.D. in 1920, and he Sc
lected history as his speciality. At Heidel-
berg he studied history under Schlosser.
In lS22 he was Greek tutor at Harvard
He published poems in 1923 and opened
with DR.. Cogswell the Round Hill
School at Northampton. He was ten
dered high political offices and de-
ciined them. In 1884 he published the
first volume of his History of the United
States. In 1898 he was Collector of the
Port of Boston. Under Polk he was
Secretary of the Navy and established
the Annapolis Academy. In 1869 he
was our minister to Great Britain, in
1867 to Prussia, in 1865 to the North Ger
man Confederation, and in 1871 to the
German Empire. In 1874 he completed
| his History of the United States and
| followed it with the History of the
| Constitution. He was a member of many
| learned societies, received numerous
| university degrees, and published many
volumes and monographs of high value.
including orations, biographies, ETC. He
was the most eminent of American his
| torians. and ranked abreast with the
greatest historians of the world.]