Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Sanderson, Edgar
SANDERSON, EDGAR (1838–1907), historical writer, born at Nottingham on 25 Jan. 1838, was son of Edgar Sanderson by his wife Eliza Rumsey. The father, who was a direct descendant of Bishop Robert Sanderson [q. v.], had at first a lace-factory at Nottingham, but afterwards kept private schools at Stockwell and Streatham Common. The younger Sanderson was educated at the City of London School and at Clare College, Cambridge, where he won a scholarship. He graduated in 1860 as fourth in the 2nd class of the classical tripos, proceeding M.A. in 1865. After holding a mastership in King's Lynn grammar school he was ordained deacon in 1862 and priest in 1863. At first curate of St. Dunstan's, Stepney, and second master of Stepney grammar school, he held successively curacies at Burcombe-cum-Broadway, Dorsetshire (with a mastership at Weymouth school), and at Chieveley, Berkshire. From 1870 to 1873 Sanderson was headmaster of Stockwell grammar school; from 1873 to 1877 of Macclesfield; and from 1877 to 1881 of Huntingdon grammar school. Thenceforth he lived at Streatham Common, and occupied himself in writing educational manuals and popular historical works. He died at 23 Barrow Road, Streatham Common, on 31 Dec. 1907, and was buried at Norwood cemetery. He married in 1864 Laetitia Jane, elder daughter of Matthew Denycloe, surgeon, of Bridport. She died in October 1894, leaving two sons and four daughters.
Sanderson had a retentive memory and a faculty for lucid exposition. His chief works, all of which were on a comprehensive scale and enjoyed a large circulation, were: 1. 'History of the British Empire,' 1882; 20th edit. 1906: a well-arranged handbook. 2. 'Outlines of the World's History, Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern,' 1885, issued both in four parts and in one volume; revised edit. 1910. 3. 'History of the World from the Earliest Historical Time to 1898,' 1898. 4. 'The British Empire in the 19th Century: its Progress and Expansion at Home and Abroad,' 6 vols. 1898-9 (with engravings and maps); reissued in 1901 as 'The British Empire at Home and Abroad.'
[Private information; The Times, 1 Jan. 1908; Guardian, 8 Jan. 1908; Crockford's Clerical Directory; Introduction by Mr. Roger Ingpen to Sanderson's abridgment of Carlyle's Frederick; note in Mrs. Valentine's Cameos of Engl. Literature, 1894; Sanderson's works.]