biography
| name: |
Spooner, William Archibald
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1844–1930)
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| biography:
| Anglican clergyman and educationist, dean (1876–89) and warden (1903–24) of New College, Oxford. As an albino he suffered all his life from weak eyesight, but surmounted his disabilities with heroism, and earned a reputation for kindness. His name is associated with a nervous tendency to transpose initial letters or half-syllables in speech, the spoonerism (eg ‘a half-warmed fish’ for ‘a half-formed wish’). |
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