Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature

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)^[1][2]
• William Greenfield (1784 to 1798)^[2][3]
• Hugh Blair (reversion, 1798 to 1801)^[2]
• Andrew Brown (1801 to 1834)^[2][4]
• George Moir (1835 to 1840)^[2]
• William Spalding (1840 to 1845)^[2]
• William Edmonstoune Aytoun (1845 to 1865)^[5][6]
• David Mather Masson (1865 to 1895)^[6][7]
• George Saintsbury (1895 to 1915)^[8][9]
• Herbert John Clifford Grierson (1915 to 1935)^[9][10]
• John Dover Wilson (1935 to 1945)^[11]
• William Lindsay Renwick (1945 to 1959)^[12]
• John Everett Butt (1959 to 1965)^[13]
• Harold Jenkins (1966 to 1971)^[14][15]
• Alastair David Shaw Fowler (1971 to 1984)^[16][17]
• Vacant (1984 to 1990)^[18]
• Charles Ian Edward Donaldson (1990 to 1995)^[18][19]
• John Anthony Frow (2000 to 2004)^[20]
• Vacant (2004 to 2007)^[21]
• Laura Marcus (2007 to 2009)^[22]
• Greg Walker (2010 to present); incumbent^[23][24]

See also

• Regius Professor
• University of Edinburgh School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

References

1. Sir Alexander Grant, The Story of the University of Edinburgh During Its First Three Hundred Years, vol. 2 (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1883), p. 357.
2. Winifred Bryan Horner, Nineteenth-Century Scottish Rhetoric: The American Connection (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993), pp. 60–62.
3. Sarah Sloane, "Professor William Greenfield, Sad Successor to Professor Hugh Blair: A Study of the Second Regius Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at University of Edinburgh, 1784–1798", in Lynee Lewis Gaillet (ed.), Scottish Rhetoric and Its Influences (New York: Routledge, 1998), pp. 95–109.
4. Shepperson, George (2003). "Brown, Andrew". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
5. Theodore Martin, rev. David Finkelstein, "Aytoun, William Edmonstoune", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2011). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
6. 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.
7. The London Gazette, 7 March 1893 (issue 26380), p. 1475.
8. The Edinburgh Gazette, 4 October 1895 (issue 10715), p. 1317.
9. The Edinburgh Gazette, 21 September 1915 (issue 12854), p. 1458.
10. The Edinburgh Gazette, 13 August 1935 (issue 15199), p. 691.
11. "Wilson, John Dover", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2007). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
12. "Renwick, William Lindsay", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2007). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
13. "Butt, Prof. John Everett", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2007). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
14. The Edinburgh Gazette, 12 July 1966 (issue 18474), p. 549.
15. "Jenkins, Prof. Harold", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2007). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
16. The Edinburgh Gazette, 25 June 1971 (issue 19002), p. 483.
17. "Fowler, Prof. Alastair David Shaw", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2020). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
18. The London Gazette, 1 June 1990 (issue 52156), p. 9975.
19. "Donaldson, Prof. (Charles) Ian (Edward)", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2020). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
20. "Frow, Prof. John Anthony", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2020). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
21. "The Scottish Executive", The London Gazette, 4 May 2007 (issue 58319), p. 6516.
22. "Marcus, Prof. Laura", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2020). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
23. "Regius Chair: Greg Walker". Staff News. University of Edinburgh. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
24. "2010 Appointments - Regius Chair". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 22 January 2018.

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