Edward Hincks

Life
1792-1866; orientalist, b. 19 Aug., Cork, son of Thomas Hincks, a Presbyterian minister, orientalist and naturalist (1767-1857) who ran a school in Cork and later became classical head-master at the Belfast Academical Institution [RBAI]; ed. at home, Midleton College and TCD, entering at 15, in 1807; BA in 1812 with Gold Medal; elected Jnr. Fellow, 1813; left TCD poss. on account of a disagreement with the Provost; appt. rector of Killyleagh, Co. Down, 1825; publ. a Hebrew Grammar, 1832 and "The Enchorial Language of Egypt" in 1833; he studied Assyrian, Median, Persian, and Babylonian inscriptions; contrib. articles on Egyptian hieroglyphics to Transactions (RIA); rediscovered Persian vowel system similtaneously with Rawlinson in Baghdad;

credited with deciphering Mesopotamiam cuneiform; wrote damningly of the Religious Revival in Ulster in 1859; d. at Killyleagh, 3 Dec. 1866; his Correspondence has been edited both by E. F Davison (1933) and K. J. Cathcart (2007-09); there is an annual Hinck Memorial Lecture at the Dept. of Near East Languages (UCD); his br. William became the first Prof. of Natural Science at Manchester Univ.,, and later at Univ. Coll., Toronto; Sir Francis Hincks [q.v.], Governor of Barbados and Canadian politician, was another brother; port. at TCD and bust in Cairo Museum; there is also a plaque to Hincks marking his birthplace at the Unitarian Church in Prince’s St., Cork - which claims to be the oldest church in continual use for prayer in Cork. DIB WIKI

The Wikipedia entry gives a detailed acount of his activities as an interpreter of ancient scripts - notably Assyrian Akkadian. It tells of a contest between Hincks, Henry Rawlinson, Wm. Henry Fox Talbot and Jules Oppert in which each was given a copy of a newly-discovered cuneiform text resulting in identical translations by Hincks and Rawlinson thus demonstrating that the script had indeed been successfully decoded. His discoveries included the polyphonic value of cuneiform symbols in different contexts. (See online; accessed 20.08.2023.)

See also the entry in Dictionary of Irish Biography [online] by Kevin. J. Cathcart, which cites Cathcart [& Patricia Donlon], Edward Hincks (1792-1866), Assyriologist and Egyptologist: A bibliography of His Publications (2020) [available in JSTOR - online [password].

The Dictionary of Irish Biography (RIA) also contains an entry on Thomas Hincks (1767-1857, the father, whose somewhat migratory life took him to Cork, Belfast and parts of England. In Belfast he taught at the Academical Institute and lectured in natural history; in Cork he was set up an academy which led to the founding of the Cork Institution. He was made MRIA in 1803. [See DIB - online; accessed 20.08.2023.) Note: DIB in the Life notice above refers to the compilation by Harry Boylan and not the later RIA production from which these details are largely taken.

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References
Belfast Public Library holds with others, Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland Colloquy (Guardian Office 1829) [prob. Unitarian].

Belfast Linen Hall Library holds Reverend Edward Hincks, Bounaparte, a poem (Cork 1816); God’s Work and Satan’s Counterwork, sermon (Belfast 1859). Hyland Books (Cat. 214) lists E. F. Davidson [ed.,], Edward Hincks: A Selection from His Correspondence with a Memoir (Oxford 1933), port.

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Notes
Portrait: There is a bust at entrance of Cairo Museum; see also Edw. Hincks [Egyptol.], oil by unknown (Anne Crookshank, ed., Irish Portraits [Catalogue], Ulster Museum 1965).

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