Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/349

 cliffe Observatory, after a short illness, on 9 May 1878. Besides being a fair classical scholar, he read fluently nine modern languages.



MAIN, THOMAS JOHN (1818–1885), mathematician, was a younger brother of the Rev. [q. v.] He graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1838 as senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, was chosen a fellow of his college, and proceeded M.A. in 1841. He joined the Royal Astronomical Society on 10 Jan. 1840. Having taken orders, he received an appointment as chaplain in the royal navy, and was placed on the retired list in 1869. He was for thirty-four years professor of mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, and died in London on 28 Dec. 1885, aged 67. He wrote, with Mr. Thomas Brown, R.N.:
 * 1) ‘The Indicator and Dynamometer,’ London, 1847; 3rd edit. 1857.
 * 2) ‘The Marine Steam Engine,’ 1849; 5th edit. 1865; German translation, Vienna, 1868.
 * 3) ‘Questions on Subjects connected with the Marine Steam Engine,’ 1857 and 1863.



MAINE, HENRY JAMES SUMNER (1822–1888), jurist, son of Dr. James Maine, a native of Kelso, N.B., by Eliza, fourth daughter of David Fell of Caversham Grove, Reading, was born 15 Aug. 1822. His infancy was passed in Jersey. Family difficulties arose and he was for a time in the exclusive charge of his mother, who lived chiefly at Henley-on-Thames. He was a delicate child, and his mother and a ‘devoted aunt’ nearly poisoned him with an overdose of opium. He was sent to a school kept by a Mrs. Lamb in the Fair Mile at Henley, but in 1829 his godfather, Dr. Sumner, then bishop of Chester, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, obtained a nomination for him to Christ's Hospital. He showed great promise, and in 1840 he won an exhibition to Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was the best classical scholar of his year. In 1841 he was elected to a foundation scholarship at Pembroke, and in 1843 to the Craven university scholarship. He won the Browne medal for a Latin ode in 1842, and in 1843 the Browne medals both for a Latin ode and for epigrams. In 1842 he also won the chancellor's medal for English verse, the subject being the birth of the Prince of Wales. He sent in a poem upon ‘Plato’ in 1843, but was defeated by Mr. W. Johnson of King's College. Great interest was taken by his contemporaries in the competition between Maine and [q. v.], afterwards public orator, the most distinguished and popular Trinity man of the time. In the classical tripos of 1844 Maine was senior classic and Clark second. A copy of Latin elegiacs (printed by Bristed) was said to have decided the contest. Maine, who had succeeded in gaining a place as senior optime, was also first chancellor's medallist, Clark being again second. Maine's health was always delicate, while his great nervous energy led him to overtax his strength. Though member of a small college he became well known to the most intellectual of his contemporaries, and belonged to the famous ‘Apostles’ Club. Tom Taylor and Henry Fitzmaurice Hallam were among his friends and contemporaries. He contributed a memoir of Hallam to the ‘Remains.’ His delicacy disqualified him for athletic games, and he did not speak at the Union. The clearness of his voice and brightness of manner were remarked in his recitation of his prize competitions.

No fellowship was vacant at Pembroke, and in 1845 Maine accepted the junior tutorship at Trinity Hall, then at the lowest ebb in point of numbers. He could not hold the fellowship usually associated with the tutorship, for which he must have qualified by taking orders. The income was very small, and he took some private pupils, the first being C. A. Bristed, who has described him in his ‘Five Years at an English University,’ 1852. In 1847 Maine resigned the tutorship on becoming regius professor of civil law. He held this office till 1854. The position of legal studies at that time in Cambridge was such as to give very little scope for the energies of a man of ability, but his office probably turned his attention to the studies by which he was to distinguish himself. He married his cousin, Miss Jane Maine, in 1847, and was called to the bar in 1850. Although he retained rooms in college, and discharged his professorial duties, Maine resided chiefly in London and the neighbourhood, and began to write for the papers. He was contributing in 1851 to the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ edited by [q. v.], and an organ of the Peelites. He wrote especially upon foreign and American questions, his sympathies being with the liberal-conservatives. In 1852 the Inns of