Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Latham, Henry
LATHAM, HENRY (1821–1902), master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, born at Dover on 4 June 1821, was second son of John Henry Latham, a paymaster of exchequer bills, by his first wife, Harriet, only child of Edward Broderib, M.D., of Bath. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Latham, was a banker at Dover and consul for several foreign countries. His father settled at Eltham soon after his son's birth, bat Henry was considered delicate and was sent to Dover to the house of his mother's father, who had retired thither from Bath. Here he went to a private school and enjoyed the run of his grandfather's large library. In 1836 he returned home. He read with two curates at Eltham, attended lectures, and travelled on the Continent. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1841, was elected a scholar in 1844, and graduated B.A. as eighteenth wrangler in 1845. He continued to reside at Trinity till he was called to his life's work at Trinity Hall in 1847. Trinity Hall was then a small and almost exclusively a law college. The master, Sir Herbert Jenner-Fust [q. v.], was dean of arches. The fellows were advocates of Doctors' Commons] or barristers, with the exception of two clerical fellows, who were almost always brought from other colleges and acted as tutors. There were thirty-nine undergraduates. The men rarely took degrees except in civil law.
On the recommendation of Trinity friends, Latham was admitted to a vacant clerical fellowship, to which a tutorship was attached, 29 Dec. 1847, and was ordained deacon by the bishop of Ely in 1848 and priest in 1850. He proceeded M.A. in 1848. In 1855, on the retirement of his colleague, he became senior tutor. Latham set himself not only to make such general reforms as were then needed everywhere, but to broaden the aims of the college by destroying its exclusively legal associations, and thus raise it to the front rank among the smaller colleges. The abolition in 1857 of the independent profession of civil lawyers made a change on the legal side imperative. He attracted promising men from other colleges, like Henry Fawcett from Peterhouse, by the prospect of foundation scholarships and lay fellowships to follow, and he originated the system of open scholarships to be awarded before admission. Of this innovation Sir Robert Romer (afterwards lord justice), senior wrangler in 1863, was one of the first to take advantage. As a conservative reformer he helped to recast the college statutes in 1857. An innovator from another college, Latham provoked criticism from some of his colleagues, but his personal influence as a college tutor on pupils of all capacities, his sound judgment, and breezy commonsense steadily overcame all obstacles. His interest was always rather in men than in books, and his conversational and anecdotal powers were remarkable.
In 1877, when the master, Dr. Thomas Charles Geldart, died, Latham was disappointed in not succeeding him. Fawcett was a rival candidate. Sir Henry Sumner Maine [q. v.] was elected. Latham built himself a house near Cambridge in 1880, and in 1885 resigned the tutorship. The undergraduates then numbered 178 in place of thirty-nine at the date of his appointment. His old pupils presented him with his portrait by Frank Holl, and with the surplus money collected for that purpose founded a college prize for English literature. In 1888, on Maine's death, he became master.
As master Latham continued to take lectures and pupils in order to keep in touch with the undergraduates. But a practical rebuilding of the college remains the visible monument of his mastership. He suggested and largely paid for a new block of rooms, the Latham Buildings. He had the Lodge reconstructed, the hall enlarged, and at his own expense built a new combination room, the old being converted into a reference library. His health failed in 1901, and he died, unmarried, at the Lodge, on 5 June 1902. He was buried in Little Shelford churchyard.
In 1877 he brought out 'The Action of Examinations,' and late in life surprised his friends by publishing studies on the life of Christ which still command wide interest. In 1890 appeared his 'Pastor Pastorum,' in 1894 'A Service of Angels,' and in 1901 'The Risen Master.' The copyright of these books Latham left to Trinity Hall.
Of three portraits, one as a young man by Lowes Dickinson belongs to his nephew's widow; another by Frank Holl, painted in 1884-5, is in Trinity Hall Lodge; and the third, as master, painted by the same artist, hangs in the college hall.
[College Books of Trinity College and Trinity Hall; private information; personal knowledge.]