Paul Langford FBA

FRHistS The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

(20 November 1945,

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

– 27 July 2015) was a British historian. From 2000 until late 2012 he was the

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, succeeded by professor

Henry Woudhuysen Henry Ruxton Woudhuysen, (born 24 October 1954), is a British academic specialising in Renaissance English literature. He is the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, having been appointed in 2012. He was previously Dean of the Faculty of Arts and ...

. Educated at

Monmouth School Monmouth School for Boys is a public school (independent day and boarding school) for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a bequest from William Jones, a successful merchant and trader. The School is run as a trust, t ...

and

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

, Langford was elected to a junior research

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 ...

ship in

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 ...

at Lincoln College in 1969, becoming a tutorial fellow in 1970. He was a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

at 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 ...

from 1971 to 1994, being elected a

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in modern history in 1994 and becoming a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

in 1996. Having served as a member of the Humanities Research Board from 1995, in 1998 he was appointed chairman and chief executive of the newly established

Arts and Humanities Research Board The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

, "dashing around the country, successfully selling the idea that research in the arts and humanities should be as fully and imaginatively funded as research in the social or natural sciences." He held this post until returning to Oxford to take up the rectorship of Lincoln College in 2000. Langford was a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

from 1979, a fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

from 1993 and was made an

honorary fellow Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

of Hertford College in 2000. In 2002, the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

awarded him an honorary

doctor of letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

. His notable publications include ''A Polite and Commercial People. England 1727-1783'', the first volume to be published in the ''

New Oxford History of England The ''New Oxford History of England'' is a book series on the history of the British Isles. It was commissioned in 1992 and produced eleven volumes by 2010, but as of September 2022, no more volumes. It is the successor to the '' Oxford History of ...

''. Langford married Margaret Edwards in 1970 and they had one son: Hugh. He was a

freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

Worshipful Company of Haberdashers The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, is an ancient merchant guild of London, England associated with the silk and velvet trades. History and functions The Haberdashers' Company follows the M ...

Selected writings

* P. Langford, The First Rockingham Administration, 1765–6 (Oxford, 1973) * P. Langford, The Excise Crisis: Society and Politics in the Age of Walpole (Oxford, 1975) * P. Langford, The Eighteenth Century, 1688–1815 (London, 1976) * P. Langford and W. B. Todd (eds.), The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, vol. 2 “Party, Parliament, and the American War, 1766–1774.” (Oxford, 1981) * P. Langford, A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727–1783 (Oxford, 1989) * P. Langford, Public Life and the Propertied Englishman 1689–1798 (Oxford, 1991) * P. Langford, Eighteenth-Century Britain: a Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2000)

References

External links

Paul Langford profile

''Debrett's People of Today''

''Biographical Memoir of Paul Langford as Fellow of the British Academy''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langford, Paul 1945 births 2015 deaths People educated at Monmouth School for Boys Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford Rectors of Lincoln College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Historical Society