by M. L. Cartwright, rev.
© Oxford University Press 2004 All rights reserved
Titchmarsh, Edward Charles (1899-1963), mathematician, was born at Newbury on 1 June 1899, the son of Edward Harper Titchmarsh and his wife, Caroline Farmar. He had an elder sister and a younger sister and brother. His father was minister of the Congregational church at Newbury from shortly before 1899 until 1907, when he moved to Nether Chapel in Sheffield. There was a strict religious tradition on both sides of his family, and Titchmarsh endured a restricted childhood. From 1908 to 1917 he was educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield. He first specialized in classics, but failed in Greek in the higher certificate, and turned to mathematics and physics.
Titchmarsh arrived at Balliol College, Oxford, on an open scholarship in 1917. He was subsequently on war service for two years (1918-19) as a second lieutenant, Royal Engineers (signals), and was in France and Belgium from August 1918. He never talked about his experiences and wrote deprecatingly of his abilities as an officer, but he acquired a useful ability to deal with domestic electrical appliances.
After Titchmarsh returned to Oxford in 1919 his tutors were J. W. Russell and, later, J. W. Nicholson; Russell's methods of teaching were grossly over-organized, while Nicholson seldom saw his pupils. G. H. Hardy went to Oxford as Savilian professor of geometry in 1920 and was mainly responsible for Titchmarsh's determination to devote his life to research in pure mathematics. Titchmarsh won the junior mathematical exhibition in 1920 and the junior mathematical scholarship, jointly with H. O. Newboult, in 1921. He was placed in the first class in honour moderations in 1920 and in the final honours school of 1922, taking his BA degree in 1922 and his MA in 1924. In addition, in 1924 he won the senior mathematical scholarship. He spent a year at Oxford working for a DPhil under Hardy's supervision, but never completed the requirements for the degree. He also acted as secretary to Hardy.
In the summer of 1923 Titchmarsh was appointed a senior lecturer at University College, London, and in 1925 reader. In 1923 he obtained by examination a prize fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, and remained a fellow from 1924 to 1930, although he resided only occasionally.
In 1925 Titchmarsh married Kathleen, daughter of Alfred Blomfield JP, who was a farmer and secretary and senior deacon of Titchmarsh's father's church, by then at Halstead, Essex. They had three daughters who all married, and he was always much concerned with family and domestic matters.
In 1929 Titchmarsh became professor of pure mathematics at Liverpool, and in 1931 he was elected Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford to succeed Hardy. This chair carried with it a fellowship at New College, which he held until his death. Hardy had regularly given lectures on geometry as well as subjects connected with his own research, but Titchmarsh said in his application that he could not lecture on geometry and the statute was altered for him. He was a dominant figure in Oxford mathematics for many years and had many research students. As senior mathematical professor he became curator of the Mathematical Institute when it was established, delegating much to his staff. His habits were extremely regular and his mathematical output prodigious. Titchmarsh's textbook, The Theory of Functions (1932), made easily available much of the theory of functions of a complex and of a real variable which had previously been inaccessible in English. A short tract, The Zeta-Function of Riemann (1930), later revised and enlarged (1952), gave a connected account of his work on the subject. Introduction to the Theory of the Fourier Integrals (1937) synthesized his earlier papers on Fourier transforms and was translated into several foreign languages. All the subjects on which he worked were linked and his work led to results of importance in other fields. He studied a certain type of integral function with a view to applying the methods to the zeta function, and obtained thereby his 'convolution theorem' which is important in functional analysis because it shows that a certain algebra has no zero divisors. In middle life he began to consider the applications of Fourier integrals in quantum mechanics, but only 'as exercises in analysis'. This led to his work on eigenfunction expansions, summed up in the two-part Eigenfunction Expansions Associated with Second-Order Differential Equations (1946-58). These studies represent an outstanding contribution to functional analysis by completely classical methods. He also wrote Mathematics for the General Reader (1948).
Both in term and vacations, except for short holidays, Titchmarsh worked in the mornings and after tea, never later than 8 p.m. He had no telephone in his room at the institute. He seldom discussed mathematics, preferring to write everything down, and submitted work for publication in clear manuscripts unless compelled to have it typed. On committees he spoke late and little, but clearly and effectively. He found lecturing difficult and, although he was very clear, he showed little enthusiasm. He was tall and broad-shouldered and a little inclined to stoop. He had dark brown eyes with strongly marked eyebrows and was rather diffident and shy. He served on various committees at New College and was a courteous and benevolent sub-warden. Like Hardy he enjoyed watching cricket, and he played in the annual match at New College for the senior common room against the choir school.
Titchmarsh joined the London Mathematical Society in 1922 and was on its council (1925-9, 1932-6, and 1945-8), vice-president (1928-9), and president (1945-7). He received the De Morgan medal in 1953 and the Berwick prize in 1956. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1931 and received its Sylvester medal in 1955. An honorary DSc was conferred upon him by Sheffield University. He seldom went to mathematical colloquia, but gave an invited address at the International Congress of Mathematicians at Amsterdam in 1954 and attended the congresses at Edinburgh in 1958 and at Stockholm in 1962. At the time of his death he was expecting to go to the USSR for a fortnight. Titchmarsh died at his home, 4 Capel Close, Summertown, Oxford, on 18 January 1963. He was survived by his wife.
M. L. CARTWRIGHT, rev.
Sources
M. L. Cartwright, Memoirs FRS, 10 (1964), 305-24
Journal of the London Mathematical Society, 39 (1964)
The Times (19 Jan 1963)
The Times (23 Jan 1963)
personal knowledge (1981)
private information (1981)
CGPLA Eng. & Wales (1963)
Archives
New College, Oxford, papers
Likenesses
W. Stoneman, photograph, 1932, NPG [see illus.]
Wealth at death
£17,679 14s. 1d.: probate, 7 March 1963, CGPLA Eng. & Wales
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