October 16, 1861

J. B. Bury, (October 16, 1861 to June 1, 1827) was Irish and educated at Trinity College Dublin, where his scholarship earned him a post there teaching history. He wrote many volumes about European history and had a notably clear prose style. He spoke confidently about historiography being a scientific pursuit, and also that history exhibited an upward progress. Scholars in those days were learned in Greek and Latin, and this is evident in his books, such as Life of St. Patrick and His Place in History (1905),  and The Ancient Greek Historians (1909). These titles, are not available in Google books but probably are easily found at Hathitrust.org.

John Bagnell Bury was so shy he refused to teach students, even when he wound up at Cambridge University in England. But that was after he wrote many of his histories, such as History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene (1889). I mention this last title, for in that volume he made a note that Gregory the Great, an early pope, had a pet cat. Gregory died in 604 AD.  .