John William Donaldson (7 June 1811 – 10 February 1861) was an English academic and writer in Greek classics, a philologist and a biblical critic.
[1] In 1841 he was elected headmaster of King Edward's School, Bury St Edmunds, but, "spectacularly unsuccessful",[2] in 1855 he resigned his post and returned to Cambridge, where his time was divided between literary work and private tuition.
The New Cratylus (1839), the book on which his fame mainly rests, was an attempt to apply to Greek the principles of comparative philology.
He was deficient in judgement and administrative power, and the school declined under him, notwithstanding his efforts to obtain reputation by the publication of Latin and Greek grammars, which met with little acceptance beyond the sphere of his personal influence and involved him in controversy.
His bold views on the nature of inspiration, and his free handling of the sacred text, aroused the anger of the theologians[3] and Donaldson's religious orthodoxy was questioned.