Author talk:Thomas Francis Dale

Date issue
The Britannica text (vol. 22 front matter) is "Queen’s College. Oxford. Steward and Member of the Council of the Polo and Riding Pony Society. Author of Polo, Past and Present; &c. The date problem is that he matriculated at Oxford in 1867, Page:Alumni Oxoniensis (1715-1886) volume 1.djvu/355, so can hardly have been born in 1858. Charles Matthews (talk) 06:47, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

So what we know about Dale is: he must be Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Dale, Thomas Francis since there is no other choice for Queen's. His father Thomas Pelham Dale will be the subject of Dale, Thomas Pelham (DNB01), who married (it says) in 1846. If he was 18 in 1867, he would have been born 1848 or 1849, which at least fits. On the other hand, the ODNB, which gives the wife's name as Mary Francis, daughter of William Francis of Reigate, gives the date of marriage as 1848. So that would narrow the conjectural birth date down. Born 1849 looks like the best guest, however may other sources disagree.

There is further family background to follow up. Charles Matthews (talk) 07:34, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

Got it: ! Born 15 July 1848, so the sources saying 1858 have just a digit wrong, and presumably just copy across. OTOH if his parents married in 1848 ... eyebrows might have been raised in that clerical family. The previous page says the marriage was October 1847. Phew ... reputation saved. Changing the date on the Author: page now. Charles Matthews (talk) 11:59, 19 June 2018 (UTC)