Background
John Mitchell Kemble was eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor, was born in 1807.
John Mitchell Kemble was eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor, was born in 1807.
Kemble received his education from Charles Richardson and at Bury Street Edmunds grammar school, where he obtained in 1826 an exhibition to, Cambridge, where he became a member of the Cambridge Apostles. As a law student, his historical essays were well received but he "would not follow the course of study prescribed by the university and was, moreover, fond of society and of athletic amusements", which caused the deferral of his graduation in 1829.
His thorough knowledge of the Teutonic languages and his critical faculty were shown in his Beowulf (1833 - 1837), Uber die Stammtafel der Westsachsen (1836), Codex Diplomalicus Aevi Saxonici (1839 - 1848), and in many contributions to reviews; while his History of the Saxons in England (1849; new ed. 1876), though it must now be read with caution, was the first attempt at a thorough examination of the original sources of the early period of English history.
He was editor of the British and Foreign Review from 1835 to 1844; and from 1840 to his death was examiner of plays. In 1857 he published State Papers and Correspondence illustrative of the Social and Political State of Europe from the Revolution to the Accession of the House of Hanover. His Horae Ferales, or Studies in the Archaeology of Northern Nations, was completed by Dr R. G. Latham, and published in 1864.
John Mitchell Kemble was married to the daughter of Professor Amadeus Wendt of Gottingen in 1836; and had two daughters and a son; the elder daughter was the wife of Sir Charles Santley, the singer.