MARSH, SIR EDWARD HOWARD

born Nov. 18, 1872, London died Jan. 13, 1953, London man of letters and art collector who influenced the development of contemporary British art by patronizing artists who were not yet established. He was also an editor, translator, and biographer well known in British literary circles of the early 20th century. Marsh entered the civil service in 1896; beginning in 1905 he served for more than 20 years as private secretary to Winston Churchill. By 1904 an important private collector of English old masters, he later turned to contemporary artists, helping popularize such painters as Duncan Grant, Stanley Spencer, and R.O. Dunlop; his London flat was famous as a miniature gallery. He was knighted on his retirement in 1937. Marsh edited the five volumes of Georgian Poetry (191222). Other literary works include translations of La Fontaine's Fables (1931) and of The Odes of Horace (1941); The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke (1918), a memoir; and a series of reminiscences entitled A Number of People (1939).