William John Courthope, CB, FBA (17 July 1842 – 10 April 1917) was an English writer and historian of poetry, whose father was rector of South Malling, Sussex.
From Harrow School he went to New College, Oxford; took first-classes in classical moderations and greats; and won the Newdigate prize for poetry (1864) and the Chancellors English essay (1868).
He seemed destined for distinction as a poet, his volume of Ludibria Lunae (1869) being followed in 1870 by the remarkably fine Paradise of Birds.
[2] He dealt with the history of English poetry as a whole, and in its unity as a result of the national spirit and thought in succeeding ages, and attempted to bring the great poets into relation with this.
[1] His daughter, Katharine Courthope, married Reverend Charles Fiennes Cholmondeley (born 26 Nov 1863, d. Dec 1959).