Robert Jeremy Adam Inch Catto (27 July 1939 – 17 August 2018) was a British historian who was a

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes (regional unit), Rhodes regional unit, w ...

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

and

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in c ...

Modern History The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, w ...

, where he was also senior

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles ...

. Catto was a

Brackenbury Scholar Hannah Brackenbury (1795–1873) was an English philanthropist. She was unmarried and had inherited wealth from James Brackenbury, a solicitor from Manchester, England, who had made money through involvement with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railwa ...

in History at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, where he graduated with first-class honours. He held a master's degree (

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

) and a doctorate (

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

) From 1964 to 1969 he was employed as a tutor at

Hatfield College, Durham , motto_English = Either the first or with the first , scarf = , named_for = Thomas Hatfield , established = , senior_tutor = , master = Ann MacLarnon (2017–) , undergraduates = 1010 (2017/18) , postgrad ...

. During this time he became acquainted with Mark Lancaster and

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ''The Independent'', Ferry and ...

, who were then art students in nearby

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. His research interests lay in the politics and religion of later medieval England. In a piece in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' to commemorate his retirement in June 2006,

Alan Duncan Sir Alan James Carter Duncan (born 31 March 1957) is a British former Conservative Party politician who served as Minister of State for International Development from 2010 to 2014 and as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas from 20 ...

MP described him as "the quintessential Oxford don ... if one were to devour

C. P. Snow Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English novelist and physical chemist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Service and briefly in the UK government.''The Columbia Encyclop ...

Goodbye, Mr. Chips ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' is a novella about the life of a school teacher, Mr. Chipping, written by English writer James Hilton and first published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 1934. It has been adapted into two feature films and two televi ...

and

Porterhouse Blue ''Porterhouse Blue'' is a novel written by Tom Sharpe, first published in 1974. A satirical look at Cambridge life and the struggle between tradition and reform, ''Porterhouse Blue'' tells the story of Skullion, the Head Porter of Porterhous ...

, there is a smattering of Catto in each."Duncan, Alan (10 June 2006)
The don who embodies Oxford
''

'' (volume 301 no. 9279) p. 16. He died on 17 August 2018 at the age of 79.

Publications

* (ed. with T. A. R. Evans)
''The History of the University of Oxford Volume I: The Early Oxford Schools''
(28 June 1984)

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

* (ed. with T. A. R. Evans)
''The History of the University of Oxford Volume II: Late Mediaeval Oxford''
(17 December 1992)

* "The King's Government and the Fall of Pecock 1457–58" in ''Rulers and Ruled in Late Mediaeval England'' (ed. R. E. Archer and Simon Walker), (Hambledon, 1995) pp. 201–222 * (ed. with L. Mooney), ''The Chronicle of John Somer'', OFM (Camden Miscellany 34, 1997) * 'Currents of religious thought and expression' in Cambridge Medieval History (ed. M. C. E. Jones), Vol 6 (Cambridge, 2000) pp. 42–65

References

Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford 1939 births 2018 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Academics of Durham University {{UK-historian-stub