There are two Merton Professorships of English in the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

: the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, and the Merton Professor of English Literature. The second was created in 1914 when Sir Walter Raleigh's chair was renamed. At the present day both professorships are associated with Merton College, but Dame Helen Gardner held her post in association with Lady Margaret Hall. The occupants of the chairs have been: Merton Professor of English Language and Literature *1885 – 1916: Arthur S. Napier *1916 – 1920: vacant *1920 – 1945: H. C. K. Wyld *1945 – 1959:

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

*1959 – 1980: Norman Davis *1980 – 1984: vacant *1984 – 2014:

Suzanne Romaine Suzanne Romaine (born 1951) is an American linguist known for work on historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. From 1984 to 2014 she was Merton Professor of English language at the University of Oxford. Background and career Romaine was bo ...

*2018 onwards:

Helen Small Helen Wenda Small (born 23 October 1964) is the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Merton College, Oxford. She was previously a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. Early life Small wa ...

Merton Professor of English Literature *1904 – 1922: Walter A. Raleigh *1922 – 1928:

George Stuart Gordon George Stuart Gordon (1881–12 March 1942) was a British literary scholar. Gordon was educated at the University of Glasgow and Oriel College, Oxford, where he received a First Class in Classical Moderations in 1904, '' Literae Humaniores'' in ...

*1929 – 1946:

David Nichol Smith David Nichol Smith FBA (16 September 1875 – 18 January 1962) was a Scottish literary scholar and Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford University. Background Smith was born in Edinburgh, educated at George Watson's College, the ...

*1947 – 1957:

F.P. Wilson Frank Percy Wilson (11 October 1889 – 29 May 1963) was a British literary scholar and bibliographer. Author of many works on Elizabethan drama and general editor of the ''Oxford History of English Literature'', Wilson was Merton Professor of ...

*1957 – 1966:

Nevill Coghill Nevill Henry Kendal Aylmer Coghill (19 April 1899 – 6 November 1980) was an English literary scholar, known especially for his modern English version of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. Life His father was Sir Egerton Coghill, 5th ...

*1966 – 1975: Helen Gardner *1975 – 2002: John Carey *2002 - 2014:

David Norbrook David Norbrook (born 1 June 1950) was Merton Professor of English literature at Oxford University from 2002 to 2014, and is a now an Emeritus Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He specializes in literature, politics and historiography in the ea ...

*2016–present:

Lorna Hutson Lorna Margaret Hutson, FBA (born 27 November 1958) is the ninth Merton Professor of English Literature and a fellow of Merton College, Oxford. Together with Professor John Hudson, she is a director of the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern L ...

References

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Sources

*''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. *''The Times''. Professorships at the University of Oxford Lists of people associated with the University of Oxford Merton College, Oxford