William Roger Paton, usually cited as W. R. Paton (9 February 1857 – 21 April 1921), was a Scottish author and translator of ancient Greek texts, mostly known for his translation of the Greek Anthology. Early life and family Paton was born at Old Machar (Aberdeen, Scotland), son of John Paton (1818-1879) and Eliza Deborah Burnett (died 1860). His father, John Paton (Esq., of Ferrachie and Grandholme or Grandhome), was educated in Eton College and was in military, initially in the Aberdeenshire militia as major and later colonel and deputy lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, as well as a magistrate. His mother Eliza Deborah Burnett was the daughter of Thomas Burnett of Kepplestone, also from Aberdeenshire. They married on 11 June 1844 and they had five children, four daughters (Mary-Louisa, Ida-Margaret-Helen, Sarah-Matilda and Elisabeth-Bertha) and one son (the fourth child), William Roger, born at 10 Chanonry, Old Aberdeen, on 9 February 1857. His mother died three years later on 24 February 1860 at the age of 37. In 1862, his father married Catherine Margaret, daughter of Col. Lumsden. Education He was educated at the same school as his father, Eton College, Windsor, where he studied from 1871 to 1873, boarding at Edward Peake Rouse's house and later on at Oscar Browning's. On 23 October 1876, at the age of 19 he became a student at University College, Oxford, where he took a first in "Classical Moderations" in 1877. The following year, he changed direction, starting legal studies for the bar at Middle Temple, London. Later on he returned to Oxford and obtained a third in Classics «Literae Humaniores» in 1880. Even though he was not called to the bar, he continued to be involved with Middle Temple until 1884. Later on, in 1900, the University of Halle awarded Paton an honorary PhD. Marriage and life in the South He was married in 1885 to Irene Olympitis (1869/70–1908 Paris, daughter of Emmanuel Olympitis, mayor of Kalymnos), a woman from the island of Kalymnos who had a plot of land in Myndos (Gümüşlük) but he later moved to Chios and Lesbos so that his sons could attend high school there. He had two sons and two daughters: George Paton (13 August 1886 – ?), unmarried, Thetis Paton (21 November 1887, Woodside – ?) , who married Costakis Svinos in Smyrna, John David Paton, (1890 – 1922), who married Fenella Crombie from Scotland, and Sevastie