The Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1597 when it created seven professorships; this was later increased to ten. Rhetoric is one of the original professorships as set out by the will of Thomas Gresham in 1575.
The title is a broad one; Professors of Rhetoric have included historians, poets, educators and literary critics. The Professor of Rhetoric is appointed in partnership with the Worshipful Company of Mercers.
List of Gresham Professors of Rhetoric
Note, years given as, for example 1596 / 1597, refer to Old Style and New Style dates.
Name Started1 Caleb Willis March 1596 / 15972 Richard Ball 15983 Charles Croke 14 January 1613 / 16144 Henry Croke 26 May 16195 Edward Wilkinson 13 April 16276 John Goodridge 6 November 16387 Richard Hunt 29 November 1654 8 William Croune FRS 8 June 1659 9 Henry Jenkes 21 October 167010 John King 2 October 167611 Charles Gresham 20 August 168612 Edward Martyn 4 December 169613 John Ward 1 September 1720 14 Joseph Whateley 19 January 175915 Joseph Thomas Waugh 11 April 179716 F Newnham 7 January 1808 17 Edward Owen 13 November 181718 Charlton Lane 23 April 186319 Thomas Francis Dallin 9 July 1875 20 J E Nixon 4 February 1881 21 Foster Watson 22 January 1915 22 Oliver Elton 19 April 1929 23 George Stuart Gordon 2 May 1930 24 Arthur William Reed 8 December 1933 1939–1945 Lectures in abeyance 25 Rowland Walter Jepson 6 June 1946 26 Lord David Cecil 27 June 1947 27 Nevill Coghill 14 October 1948 28 William Empson 1953 29 Richard Hughes 1954 30 Bonamy Dobrée 1957 31 Stephen Spender 1961 32 John Wain 1963 (Hilary term) 33 Cecil Day-Lewis 1963–1964 34 Patric Dickinson 1965–1967 35 Sir Robert Birley 1968–19821983–1984 vacant 36 John Morley Pick 1985 37 Jan Kott 1986 38 John Morley Pick 1987 39 John Malcolm Rae 1988 40 Sir Andrew Derbyshire 1990 41 Peter G. Moore 1 September 1992 42 Peter Hennessy 1 September 1994 43 Lynette Hunter 1 September 1997 44 Richard Sorabji CBE FBA1 September 2000 45 Kathleen Burk1 September 2003 46 Rodney Barker1 September 2006 47 Sir Richard J. Evans 1 September 2009 48 Belinda Jack1 September 2013 49 Sir Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL1 September 201750Joanna Bourke FBA201951Melissa Lane2023
Notes
References Gresham College old website, Internet Archive List of professors Gresham Professor of Rhetoric - page on the Gresham College website
Further reading