Agnes Headlam-Morley (10 December 1902 – 21 February 1986) was a British historian and academic. From 1948 to 1971, she was

Montague Burton Professor of International Relations The Montague Burton Professorship of International Relations is a named chair at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Created by the endowment of Montague Burton in UK universities, the Oxford chair w ...

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 ...

. Upon her appointment in October 1948, she became the first woman to be appointed to a chair at Oxford.

Early life and education

Headlam-Morley was born on 10 December 1902 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, England, the only daughter of

James Wycliffe Headlam Sir James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, CBE (24 December 1863 – 6 September 1929) was a British academic historian and classicist, who became a civil servant and government advisor on current foreign policy. He was known as James Wycliffe Headlam unti ...

, an academic and civil servant who was involved in drafting the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

, and Else (née Sonntag), a musician and composer who was born and brought up in Germany. In 1918 her father changed his name to Headlam-Morley. Unlike others of her generation, she had "no secret sense of shame in being half-German". Headlam-Morley was educated at

Wimbledon High School Wimbledon High School is an independent girls' day school in Wimbledon, South West London. It is a Girls' Day School Trust school and is a member of the Girls' Schools Association. History Wimbledon High School was founded by the Girls' Publ ...

, an all-girls independent school in

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. She studied modern history at Somerville College, Oxford, graduating with a second class

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1924. She then undertook research in modern European political history, and completed a

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...

(BLitt) degree in 1926. As per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (Oxon) degree.

Academic career

In 1932, Headlam-Morley was elected a

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 ...

of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Until her retirement, she was a

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in history and politics at St Hugh's. In October 1948, she was appointed

, which made her the first woman to be appointed a chair 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 ...

. She specialised in Anglo-German relations and

diplomatic history Diplomatic history deals with the history of international relations between states. Diplomatic history can be different from international relations in that the former can concern itself with the foreign policy of one state while the latter deals ...

. She belonged to the traditional school of international relations in which the subject was considered a subfield of history and not a

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

. In 1971, she stepped down from the chair and retired from full-time academia. In 1948, Headlam-Morley 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 Somerville College, Oxford (her alma mater). She was made an honorary fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1970; the year before her retirement. Headlam-Morley died on 21 February 1986, aged 83 years.

Personal life

Headlam-Morley was a

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to Roman Catholicism and was received into the Catholic Church in 1948. She was a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, and stood as a candidate in the 1936 election to Durham County Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Headlam-Morley, Agnes 1902 births 1986 deaths 20th-century British historians British women historians Montague Burton Professors of International Relations (University of Oxford) Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford People educated at Wimbledon High School Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Conservative Party (UK) people 20th-century British women writers