Richard John Lloyd

Richard John Lloyd FRSE DLitt (1846-1906) was a British linguist and phoneticist. He researched the acoustics of vowel sounds and articulation, which he deemed “minute phonetics”. His field of work did not become popular until the late 20th century, around 100 years after his original work.

He was born in Liverpool on 14 October 1846, into the well-established family business of Richard Lloyd & Brothers. At first entering the family business he only attended university later in life, graduating BA from the University of London in 1875.

In 1890 the university awarded him an honorary doctorate (DLItt). In 1897 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John Gray McKendrick, Alexander Buchan, James Thomson Bottomley and Magnus Maclean. He took a particular interest in Esperanto.

Lloyd worked as a customs official and port ganger after he left the university. Lloyd was reported as missing on the 29 August 1906 while attending an Esperanto Congress in Geneva, it was feared he fell into the Rhone while walking along the bank.

He died in Seyssel in France, close to the Swiss border, as the result of a swimming accident.

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