Regius Professor of History (Cambridge)
Regius Professor of History, prior to 2010 Regius Professor of Modern History, is one of the senior professorships in history at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1724 by George I.[1]
The appointment is by Royal Warrant on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the day. Traditionally the Patronage Secretary at Number 10 Downing Street 'took soundings' in Cambridge and put two names before the Prime Minister, of which one was forwarded to the monarch. In 2008, however, Prime Minister Gordon Brown devolved the appointment of all the Regius Professorships onto appointments committees at their respective universities; the Vice-Chancellor is now required to forward the name of the successful candidate, who must have accepted the offer of the post, to the Cabinet Office, which then initiates the recommendation by the Prime Minister and the issuing of the Royal Warrant. The Regius Professorship was originally intended by George I to teach contemporary European history, and four modern language instructors had to be paid for out of the Professor's salary. In 1861 this requirement was dropped. A number of the holders of the Professorship have in fact been medieval history specialists, following a later division of History into Ancient and Modern. In 2010, the Queen and the Privy Council approved the removal of the word 'modern' from the title to reflect this change in usage, on the recommendation of the History Faculty and the University.
Regius Professors of Modern History
- Samuel Harris 1724
- Shallet Turner 1735
- Lawrence Brockett 1762
- Thomas Gray 1768
- John Symonds 1771
- William Smyth 1807
- Sir James Stephen 1849[2]
- Rev'd Charles Kingsley 1860
- Sir John Seeley KCMG 1869
- John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton KCVO 1895[3]
- John Bury 1902
- George Trevelyan OM CBE 1927
- Sir George Clark 1943
- Sir James Butler 1947
- Rev'd M. David Knowles OSB 1954
- Sir Herbert Butterfield 1963
- Rev'd William Owen Chadwick OM KBE 1968
- Sir Geoffrey Elton 1983
- Patrick Collinson CBE 1988
- Quentin Skinner 1996
- Sir Richard J. Evans 2008
Regius Professors of History
- Sir Richard J. Evans 2010
- Sir Christopher Clark 2014
See also
References
- ↑
Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1891). "Harris, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography 25. London: Smith, Elder & Co. - ↑ The London Gazette: no. 21003. p. 2351. 27 July 1849.
- ↑ Gronbacher, Gregory (2008). "Acton, Lord (1834–1902)". In Hamowy, Ronald. The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE; Cato Institute. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-1-4129-6580-4. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024.