Æschylus, and Sophocles never wavered, his admiration for Plato waxed exceedingly. In 1883 he published an admirable edition of the ‘Phædo,’ in which he investigated the argument of the dialogue, and traced its relations to the rest of Plato's writings. A second edition appeared in 1894. In 1888 he brought out his magnum opus, an original and complete edition of the difficult, important, and neglected ‘Timæus,’ which gave a new impetus to Platonic studies. The translation is exact and scholarly; the commentary is helpful, learned, many-sided; and in the introduction Archer-Hind sets out the results of his profound study of Plato's metaphysic. His aim is to ‘show that in this dialogue we find, as it were, the focus to which the rays of Plato's thoughts converge, that in fact the “Timæus” and the “Timæus” alone enables us to recognise Platonism as a complete and consistent scheme of monistic idealism.’
Archer-Hind's conception of the theory of ideas as ‘a thorough-going idealism’ is the key at once to Platonic philosophy and to Platonic science. Papers in the ‘Journal of Philology’ (see especially xxiv. 49; xxix. 266; xxxi. 84) supplemented the editions of the ‘Phædo’ and the ‘Timæus.’ In 1905 Archer-Hind published a volume of admirable ‘Translations into Greek Verse and Prose.’
An industrious teacher and a singularly efficient examiner, Archer-Hind took no prominent part in the affairs of the university; but his occasional allocutions at university discussions and college meetings were incisive and epigrammatic. He was always an earnest supporter of the movement for the education of women, and gave much time to the affairs of Newnham College and the instruction of its students. His literary interests were by no means limited to the classical tongues. He loved his garden, and kept an exact record of the rare plants which it contained. He took a passionate interest in music; his knowledge of certain favourite composers was intimate and minute. He had made a careful study of Greek music. His quiet, retiring manner covered strong convictions tenaciously held.
[Information from Mrs. Archer-Hind, Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher and Mr. R. D. Hicks; personal knowledge; school, college, and university records. See Cambridge University Review, 28 April 1910 (an article by the present writer); The Times, 8 April 1910 (obit. notice by Dr. S. H. Butcher); Burke's Landed Gentry, s.v. Hind.]
ARDAGH, Sir JOHN CHARLES (1840–1907), major-general, royal engineers, born at Comragh House on 9 Aug. 1840, was second son of William Johnson Ardagh, vicar of Rossmire, of Comragh House and Stradbally, co. Waterford, by his wife Sarah Cobbold, of Ipswich. After education at the endowed school in Waterford under Dr. Price, John entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1857, with the intention of taking orders. He gained a prize in Hebrew and honours in mathematics. But deciding on a military career he passed first at the entrance examination to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1858, and was again first at the final examination, receiving a commission as lieutenant in the royal engineers on 1 April 1859. After the usual training at Chatham, Ardagh superintended the construction of Fort Popton, one of the new works of defence for Milford Haven, under the Defence Act of 1860. When a rupture with the United States, owing to the Trent affair, threatened in November 1861, Ardagh embarked at Queenstown in the transport Victoria (26 Dec. 1861) with the stores necessary to construct a line of telegraph through the colony of New Brunswick to the St. Lawrence river. The vessel, which was badly found, encountered tempestuous weather and was driven back to Queenstown; leaving port again on 13 Feb. 1862, she was only saved from foundering by Ardagh's and his sappers' ingenuity and exertions, which enabled her to reach Plymouth on 12 March. Ardagh's conduct was highly commended by the duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-chief.
Ardagh, who remained at home, was charged with the construction of the new fort at Newhaven, and there invented an equilibrium drawbridge, which was used at Newhaven fort and elsewhere (cf. his description of it in Royal Eng. Prof. Papers, new series, vol. xvii.). After other employment on southern defences, he was appointed, in April 1868, secretary of Sir Frederick Grey's committee to report on the fortifications in course of construction under the Defence Act of 1860, and in September 1869 accompanied Sir William Jervois [q. v.] on a tour of inspection of the defence works at Halifax and Bermuda. Permitted to witness the entry of the German troops into Paris in February 1871, Ardagh visited the defences of the city, and went on to Belfort and Strassburg. After three months in Malta and a year at Chatham, he was promoted captain on
