Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bandinel, Bulkeley
BANDINEL, BULKELEY, D.D. (1781–1861), librarian of the Bodleian Library, was born at Oxford 21 Feb. 1781, and was descended from an Italian family long settled in Jersey. Having been educated at Reading, Winchester, and New College, and having served as chaplain to Sir James Saumarez in the Baltic, he was in 1810 appointed under-librarian of the Bodleian, the librarian, Mr. Price, being his godfather, and he succeeded the latter in 1813. He appears to have entered upon his duties with energy, it being recorded in Macray's ‘Annals of the Bodleian’ that the sum expended in purchases immediately rose from 261l. to 725l., and the catalogue of annual additions from two pages to seventeen. At the visit of the allied sovereigns to Oxford in 1814 Bandinel was proctor for the university, and in this capacity gained great credit. The most important administrative occurrences during his long tenure of office as Bodley's librarian were the publication of the catalogue in 1843 and succeeding years, and the adoption of the means by which it has ever since been kept in alphabetical order. The acquisitions during the period were exceedingly numerous and important, including the Canonici MSS., the Oppenheim Hebrew library, the Sutherland collection of prints, and the stores of various kinds accumulated by Bruce, Horace Wilson, Count Mortara, Malone, and Douce, the latter acquisition being said to be due to the personal courtesy shown to the irritable antiquary by Bandinel. In 1860 Bandinel, worn out by age and infirmity, resigned his post. He retired on his full salary, and was appointed an honorary curator, but only survived his resignation a few months, dying on 6 Feb. 1861. He is highly eulogised for ‘zeal, energy, courtesy, and discretion,’ as well as for his surprisingly accurate acquaintance with the collections committed to his charge.
In addition to his official publications in connection with the Bodleian Library, Bandinel edited Dugdale's ‘Monasticon’ (1817, and again in 1846), and Clarendon's ‘History of the Rebellion’ (1826).
[Gentleman's Magazine, March 1861; Macray's Annals of the Bodleian Library.]