February 16, 1801

Frederic Madden (February 16, 1801 to  March 8, 1873) was the Keeper of the Manuscripts at the British Museum in the middle of the 19th century. This position required the skills of a paleographer.Beyond that Madden had a pure passion to preserve and protect books. He had to fight to get funding to preserve certain old vellum books, a collection that turned out to include a rare copy of Beowulf.

Madden's diaries reveal a happy home life. This included a Persian cat named Mouton. It was a gift from a Parisian bookseller. Mouton slipped out once and was gone for a day. Madden was upset and even thought that a rival at the Museum might have something to do with the cat's disappearance. We might all entertain this kind of crazy thought when under pressure. And Madden was under pressure at the museum He did not get along with other department heads at the British Museum. He finally retired early due to this disagreeableness. And he left his own journals and papers to the Bodleian library.