The Regius Chair of Rhetoric and English Literature at the
University of Edinburgh was established in 1762 (as the Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres). It is arguably the first professorship of English Literature established anywhere in the world. Its first holder was Professor
Hugh Blair.
List of Regius Professors of Rhetoric and English Literature
*
Hugh Blair (1762 to 1784)
[Winifred Bryan Horner, ''Nineteenth-Century Scottish Rhetoric: The American Connection'' (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993), pp. 60–62.]
*
William Greenfield
William Greenfield (died 6 December 1315) served as both the Lord Chancellor of England and the Archbishop of York. He was also known as William of Greenfield.
Early life
Greenfield was born in the eponymous Lincolnshire hamlet of Greenfiel ...
(1784 to 1798)
*Hugh Blair (reversion, 1798 to 1801)
*
Andrew Brown (1801 to 1834)
*
George Moir (1835 to 1840)
*
William Spalding (1840 to 1845)
*
William Edmonstoune Aytoun
William Edmondstoune Aytoun FRSE (21 June 18134 August 1865) was a Scottish poet, lawyer by training, and professor of rhetoric and belles lettres at the University of Edinburgh. He published poetry, translation, prose fiction, criticism and s ...
(1845 to 1865)
[G. G. Smith, rev. Sondra Miley Cooney]
"Masson, David Mather"
'' The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2010). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
*
David Mather Masson (1865 to 1895)
*
George Saintsbury
George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, FBA (23 October 1845 – 28 January 1933), was an English critic, literary historian, editor, teacher, and wine connoisseur. He is regarded as a highly influential critic of the late 19th and early 20th centu ...
(1895 to 1915)
The Edinburgh Gazette
', 21 September 1915 (issue 12854), p. 1458.
*
Herbert John Clifford Grierson (1915 to 1935)
*
John Dover Wilson (1935 to 1945)
*
William Lindsay Renwick (1945 to 1959)
*
John Everett Butt (1959 to 1965)
*
Harold Jenkins (1966 to 1971)
*
Alastair David Shaw Fowler
Alastair David Shaw Fowler CBE FBA (1930 – 9 October 2022) was a Scottish literary critic, editor, and an authority on Edmund Spenser, Renaissance literature, genre theory, and numerology.
Life and career
Alastair Fowler was born in Glasgow, ...
(1971 to 1984)
*''Vacant'' (1984 to 1990)
The London Gazette
', 1 June 1990 (issue 52156), p. 9975.
*
Charles Ian Edward Donaldson
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...
(1990 to 1995)
*
John Anthony Frow (2000 to 2004)
*''Vacant'' (2004 to 2007)
*
Laura Marcus (2007 to 2009)
*
Greg Walker (2010 to present); incumbent
[ ]
See also
*
Regius Professor
A Regius Professor
is a university Professor (highest academic rank), professor who has, or originally had, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Republic ...
*
University of Edinburgh School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
References
http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/gwalker5
http://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Foundation_of_Chair_of_Rhetoric_and_Belles_Lettres,_1760
{{University of Edinburgh
Rhetoric and English Literature
Professorships in literature
Professorships at the University of Edinburgh