Lord, John King, 1848-1926

Dates

• Existence: 1848 - 1926

Biography

John King Lord (JKL) was born in Cincinnati, OH on October 21, 1848. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1868, he spent a year teaching at the Appleton Academy in New Ipswich, NH. JKL returned to Dartmouth College as a member of the faculty in 1869. Until 1872, he served as a tutor in Latin and that year became an Associate Professor of Latin and Rhetoric for eight years. JKL became the Evans Professor of Oratory and Belles Lettres in 1880, but resigned the position two years later. From 1882 until 1892, he served as Associate Professor of the Latin Language and Literature. From 1892 until his retirement in 1916, JKL served as the Daniel Webster Professor of the Latin Language and Literature. He served as acting President between the administrations of Presidents Bartlett and Tucker in 1892-1893. From 1893 until 1909, JKL was the acting president of the faculty. He received an honorary Ph.D. from Dartmouth College in 1893 and an honorary LL.D. from both Dartmouth College and the University of Maine in 1908. A year after his retirement in 1916, after serving 47 years of service to the college, JKL was elected a life trustee to Dartmouth College, a position he held until his death in 1926. In his life, JKL translated several Latin works, including Cicero’s Laelius. He also completed and edited his brother-in-law Frederick Chase’s (DC Class of 1860) History of Dartmouth College and the Town of Hanover, and wrote the companion volume The History of Dartmouth College, 1815-1909. He also prepared a manuscript of the history of the town of Hanover, which was published posthumously. Along with his service to the College, JKL also served his community as the President of the Board of Trustees of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover (today located with the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH) and as a member of the village schools’ school board. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society and the grandson of Nathan Lord (DC Honorary 1821), President of Dartmouth from 1828 to 1863. JKL was married to Emma Fuller Pomeroy in 1873 and they had four children. In 1929 Dartmouth named a dormitory, Lord Hall, in his honor. John King Lord died in Wonalancet, NH on June 26, 1926 at 77 years of age.

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