Education
The child of a London solicitor, Englefield attended Mill Hill School in North London.
The child of a London solicitor, Englefield attended Mill Hill School in North London.
His major work, Language and Thought, remains unpublished, though excerpts have appeared in various books and journals. He was critical of the use of words in situations where the words have no clear referent, especially in religion and philosophy, but also in literary criticism. His theory that language evolved naturally from gestures has not met with wide acceptance, but his criticism of religion and philosophy, published posthumously, was well received and is still in print.
He was a scholarship student at Saint John"s College, Cambridge, where he studied modern languages.
In World War I, he served in France and in Salonika, and was mentioned by Winston Churchill for "gallant and distinguished services in the field". After the war, he supported himself by teaching French and German in public schools, and wrote poetry and philosophy.
In his lifetime, his only publications were a book of poems, Songs of Defiance and, in the last years of his life, two articles, excerpts from the rejected Language and Thought, in the journal Trivium, University of Wales Press.