(c) 2014 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Gaillard Thomas Lapsley

1871 - 1949

BiographyFriend of Henry James; historian; don at Trinity College, Cambridge

https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no91-000056/ I.S. 12/21/2017

Gaillard Thomas Lapsley was Edith Wharton’s literary executor.

He was also, in his own right, a graduate of Harvard who, after teaching there for several years, went to England, where he was elected a fellow and lecturer at Trinity College in 1904. From 1919 until 1929, he was a tutor of the college and in 1931 was named a reader in constitutional history.

He lived from 1871 until 1949, when he died in his apartment at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City. He was a relative of the Stickneys, a prominent New York family that settled in Stonington in the early 20th century, and he often spent weeks each summer in Stonington.

And, as it happened, he was the grandson of Emma Willard, the American women’s rights activist who dedicated her life to education and founded the first school for women’s higher education, the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, N.Y., which opened in September 1821.

A series of books called Queer Places, written by Elisa Rolle and dedicated to pointing out houses, schools and burial places of LGBTQ key figures, has this to say about Lapsley:

“He was a close friend of Henry James and Edith Wharton and was appointed Wharton’s literary executor in her will. He corresponded with Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner.

“After the death of his mother in 1888, Howard Sturgis (an American ex-pat novelist in Britain who wrote about same-sex love) moved with his lover, William Haynes-Smith, into a country house named Queen’s Acre, near Windsor Great Park. Their home was a familiar retreat for many other bachelors in Henry James’ circle, including Arthur Christopher Benson, Percy Lubbock and Gaillard Lapsley.

“Gaillard Thomas Lapsley was the son of Howard Lapsley and Katherine A. Willard. He was graduated from Harvard in 1893 and originally studied law. After teaching there for many years he went to England and became an authority on medieval constitutional history.

“Although ‘The County Palatine of Durham,’ published in 1900, was his only book, a selection of his articles was published posthumously in a volume entitled ‘Crown, Community and Parliament in the Later Middle Ages.’

“A memorial brass located on the north wall of the Trinity College Ante-Chapel reads (translated from Latin): ‘This inscription commemorates Gaillard Thomas Lapsley. A Fellow of the College for forty-five years, he served as Lecturer and Tutor, and in his writing and lecturing shed light on the origins of our laws and constitution. An American citizen, he loved the British way of life. At length he returned to his native country, where he died in 1949 at age seventy-six.”

https://www.thewesterlysun.com/opinion/guest-columns/postscripts-in-poets-corner-lies-a-man-held-high-in-edith-wharton-s-esteem/article_dd6ff35e-9510-11eb-8e8c-5bc6a14ca97f.html, accessed 11/21/2022

Lapsley, Gaillard Thomas (1871-1949), American constitutional historian
(1871-1949)
Biographical history
G. T. Lapsley was born in New York in 1871 and originally studied law, graduating from Harvard in 1893. He became an authority on medieval constitutional history and was elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1904. He was successively Lecturer, Tutor and Reader until 1937, when ill-health and the advent of war prompted his return to the United States. He died there in 1949. Although The County Palatine of Durham, published in 1900, was his only book, a selection of his articles was published posthumously in a volume entitled Crown, Community and Parliament in the Later Middle Ages. In addition to his interest in medieval history, Lapsley was widely read in English and French literature and a close friend of Henry James and Edith Wharton, and served as Wharton's literary executor.
https://archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/papers-of-gaillard-lapsley, accessed 11/21/2022

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Last Updated8/7/24

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