Regius Professor of Divinity

The Regius Professorships of Divinity are amongst the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. A third chair existed for a period at Trinity College Dublin.

The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by Henry VIII. The chair at Cambridge originally had a stipend of £40 per year (which is still paid to the incumbent by Trinity College), later increased by James I with the rectory of Somersham, Cambridgeshire.[citation needed]

## Professors at Oxford[edit]

* Richard Smyth, DD, Fellow of Merton, and Principal of St Alban Hall (1535)[citation needed]
* Peter Martyr, DD, of the University of Padua, Canon of Christ Church (1548)
* Richard Smyth again; Canon of Christ Church (1554)
* Juan de Villagarcia, known as Joannes Fraterculus (a Spanish Dominican), BD, Divinity Reader of Magdalen College (1556)
* Richard Smyth again (1559)
* Lawrence Humphrey, MA, Fellow, afterwards President, of Magdalen; DD (1560)
* Thomas Holland, DD, Fellow of Balliol; Rector of Exeter (1589)
* Robert Abbot, DD, Master of Balliol; afterwards Bishop of Salisbury (1612)
* John Prideaux, DD, Rector of Exeter; afterwards Bishop of Worcester (1615)
* Robert Sanderson, DD, sometime Fellow of Lincoln (1642)
* Robert Crosse, BD, Fellow of Lincoln (1648)
* Joshua Hoyle, DD, Master of University (1648)
* John Conant, DD, Rector of Exeter (1654)
* Robert Sanderson, DD, restored; afterwards Bishop of Lincoln (1660)
* William Creed, DD, sometime Fellow of St John's (1661)
* Richard Allestree, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1663)
* William Jane, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1680)
* John Potter, DD, Fellow of Lincoln; Bishop of Oxford; afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury (1707)
* George Rye, DD, sometime Fellow of Oriel; Archdeacon of Oxford (1737)
* John Fanshawe, DD, Student of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Greek (1741)
* Edward Bentham, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1763)
* Benjamin Wheeler, DD, Fellow of Magdalen (1776)
* John Randolph, DD, Student of Christ Church, Professor of Poetry, and Regius Professor of Greek; Bishop of London; afterwards Bishop of Bangor, then of London (1783)[1]
* Charles Henry Hall, DD, Canon of Christ Church; afterwards Dean (1807)
* William Howley, DD, Canon of Christ Church; afterwards Bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury (1809)
* William Van Mildert, DD, Queen's; afterwards Bishop of Llandaff and Dean of St Paul's, Bishop of Durham (1813)
* Frodsham Hodson, DD, Principal of Brasenose (1820)
* Charles Lloyd, Student of Christ Church; Bishop of Oxford (1822)
* Edward Burton, DD, Student of Christ Church (1829)
* Renn Dickson Hampden, DD, Principal of St Mary Hall; afterwards Bishop of Hereford (1836)
* William Jacobson, MA, Vice-Principal of Magdalen Hall and Public Orator, sometime Fellow of Exeter; DD, afterwards Bishop of Chester (1848)
* Robert Payne Smith, MA, Pembroke; DD; afterwards Dean of Canterbury (1865)
* James Bowling Mozley, BD, sometime Fellow of Magdalen; DD (1871)
* William Ince, MA, Fellow of Exeter; DD; Canon of Christ Church (1878)
* Henry Scott Holland, MA, Hon DLitt, sometime Student of Christ Church; DD; Canon of Christ Church (1911)
* Arthur Cayley Headlam, DD, sometime Fellow of All Souls; Canon of Christ Church (1918)
* Henry Leighton Goudge, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1923)
* Oliver Chase Quick, MA, Canon of Christ Church; afterwards DD (1939)
* Leonard Hodgson, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1944)
* Henry Chadwick, DD, Canon of Christ Church (MusB, DD Cantab.; Hon DD Glas) (1959)
* Maurice Wiles, DD, Canon of Christ Church (BD, MA Cantab.) (1970)
* Keith Ward, BLitt, MA, DD, Canon of Christ Church (BA Wales; MA Cantab.; DD Oxon.; DD Cantab.; HonDD Glas) (1991)
* Marilyn McCord Adams, AB Illinois; PhD Cornell; Th M Princeton Theological Seminary; Canon of Christ Church (2004)
* Graham Ward Canon of Christ Church (MA, PhD Cantab.) (2012–present)

(Sources: Oxford Historical Register 1200-1900 and supplements; and the Oxford University Calendar)

* See also: Theology Faculty of the University of Oxford

## Professors at Cambridge[edit]

* Edward Wigan, alias Guy (1540)[2]
* John Madew (c.1545)[3]
* Martin Bucer (1550)[4]
* In 1553 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer offered the Regius Chair to Philip Melanchthon, who declined the offer
* John Young (1555)[5]
* Thomas Sedgwick (1557)[6]
* James Pilkington (1559)[7]
* Leonard Pilkington (1561)[8]
* Matthew Hutton (1562)[9]
* John Whitgift (1567)[10]
* William Chaderton (1569)[11]
* William Whitaker (1580)[12]
* John Overall (1596)
* John Richardson (1606)
* Samuel Collins (1617)
* John Arrowsmith (1651)
* Anthony Tuckney (1656)
* Peter Gunning (1661)
* Joseph Beaumont (1674)
* Henry James (1700)
* Richard Bentley (1717)
* John Whalley (1742)
* John Green (?)
* Thomas Rutherforth (1745)
* Richard Watson (1771)
* John Kaye (1816)
* Thomas Turton (1827)
* Alfred Ollivant (1843)
* James Amiraux Jeremie (1850)
* Brooke Foss Westcott (1870)
* Henry Barclay Swete (1890)
* Vincent Henry Stanton (1916)
* Alexander Nairne (1922)
* Charles Earle Raven (1932)
* Arthur Michael Ramsey (1950)[13]
* John Burnaby (1952)
* Edward Craddock Ratcliffe (1958)
* Dennis Eric Nineham (1964)[14]
* Geoffrey Hugo Lampe (1971)
* Henry Chadwick (1979)[15]
* Stephen Sykes (1985)[16]
* David Frank Ford (1991)
* Ian Alexander McFarland (2015)[17]
* David Fergusson (2021)[18]

## Professors at Dublin[edit]

The Regius Professor of Divinity at Trinity College Dublin was established in 1607 as the "Professor of Theological Controversies".[19][20] The endowment was increased in 1674 by letters patent of Charles II.[20] The title "Regius Professor" was specified in 1761 by letters patent of George III.[20][21] The School of Divinity was founded in the late 18th century with the Regius Professor as its head.[22] The School's link to the Church of Ireland was controversial after the Irish Church Act 1869 disestablished the church and the University of Dublin Tests Act 1873 allowed non-Anglican fellows.[23] The debate became dormant after 1911 letters patent altered the School's governance.[23][24] It reignited in the 1960s, after which vacancies in the School of Divinity went unfilled,[23][24] including the Regius Professorship in 1982.[25] The School of Divinity was replaced in 1978–81 by a non-denominational School of Hebrew, Biblical and Theological Studies (renamed the Department of Religions and Theology in 2004) although the statutes mandating a School and Regius Professor of Divinity remain unrepealed.[24][25][26]

Professors were:[20]

### Professors of Divinity[edit]

* 1: 1591– (Luke Challoner)[27]
* 2: 1607–21 James Ussher[28]
* 3: 1621–23 (Samuel Ward)
* 4: 1623–48 Joshua Hoyle[19]
* 5: 1662–70 Richard Lingard
* 6: 1670–78 Michael Ward
* 7: 1678–92 William Palliser
* 8: 1693–99 George Browne
* 9: 1699– Owen Lloyd
* 10: 1714– Richard Baldwin
* 11: 1722– Claudius Gilbert
* 12: 1743– Henry Clarke
* 13: 1746– John Pellisier
* 14: 1753– John Lawson
* 15: 1759– Brabazon Disney

### Regius Professors of Divinity[edit]

* 15: 1761– Brabazon Disney
* 16: 1790–1819 James Drought
* 17: 1819–29 Richard Graves, D.D. Dean of Ardagh[29][30]
* 18: 1829–50 Charles Richard Elrington[31][32]
* 19: 1850–62 Joseph Henderson Singer
* 20: 1852–66 Samuel Butcher[33]
* 21: 1866–88 George Salmon
* 22: 1888–1917 John Gwynn[34]
* 23: 1917–30 Alan Hugh McNeile[35]
* 24: 1930–35 Newport John Davis White[36]
* 25: 1935–57 John Ernest Leonard Oulton[37][38][39]
* 26: 1957–62 Richard Randall Hartford[38]
* 27: 1964–82 Hugh Frederic Woodhouse[40]

## See also[edit]

* Regius Professor

## References[edit]

### Citations[edit]

1. ^ "Randolph, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23120. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ "Wigan, Edward (WGN508E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. ^ "Madew, John (MDW529J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. ^ "Bucer, Martin (BCR550M)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
5. ^ "Young, John (YN535J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
6. ^ "Sedgwick, Thomas (SGWK529T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
7. ^ "Pilkington, James (PLKN538J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
8. ^ "Pilkington, Leonard (PLKN544L)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
9. ^ "Hutton, Matthew (HTN546M)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
10. ^ "Whitgift, John (WHTT550J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
11. ^ "Chaderton, William (CHDN555W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
12. ^ "Whitaker, William (WHTR564W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
13. ^ "Ramsey, (Arthur) Michael, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40002. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
14. ^ Harvey, Anthony (27 May 2016). "The Revd Professor Dennis Eric Nineham". Obituary. Church Times. London. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
15. ^ Williams, Rowan (19 June 2008). "Henry Chadwick". Obituary. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
16. ^ Thompson, David (24 October 2014). "The Rt Revd Stephen Whitefield Sykes". Obituary. Church Times. London. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
17. ^ "Elections, appointments, reappointments, and grants of title". Cambridge University Reporter (6382): 454. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
18. ^ "Professor David Fergusson OBE, DD, FRSE, FBA". 24 March 2021.
19. ^ a b Dixon 1902, p.24
20. ^ a b c d "Regius Professor of Divinity". The Dublin University Calendar. 1867. pp. 247–249.
21. ^ MacDonnell, Hercules Henry Graves (1844). Chartæ et statuta collegii Sacrosanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis reginæ Elizabethæ juxta Dublin. [Edited by H. H. G. Mac Donnell.] (in Latin). M.H. Gill. p. 147. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
22. ^ Dixon 1902, p.186
23. ^ a b c Hanily, Sean (1 October 2016). "Church of Ireland Divinity Hostel – A Summary of RCBL MS1043". Archive of the Month. Church of Ireland. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
24. ^ a b c Webb, David (1993). "Appendix 1 – Divinity School Council Prefatory Note" (PDF). Consolidated Statutes. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
25. ^ a b "The Gospel and CITC; A brief historical survey". Reform Ireland. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
26. ^ "About Us". Department of Religions and Theology. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
27. ^ Commissioners to inquire into certain matters relating to the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin (1878). Report. Command papers. Vol. C.2045. Dublin: HMSO. p. 6. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
28. ^ Gordon, Alexander (1899). "Ussher, James" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58\. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
29. ^ Curry, William, jun. The picture of Dublin: or, Stranger's guide to the Irish metropolis 1835- Page 34 "The Divinity School consists of the Regius Professor of Divinity, and Archbishop King's Lecturer, each of whom has his assistants."
30. ^ Dublin University magazine: a literary and political journal 1841- Volume 17 - Page 634 "The whole Works of Richard Graves, D.D. late Dean of Ardagh, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Dublin, now first collected, with a Memoir of his Life and Writings, by his son, Richard Hastings Graves, D.D., Rector of Brigown ..."
31. ^ The Dublin university magazine 1834 - Volume 4 - Page 352 "C. R. ELRINGTON, Regius Professor of Divinity."
32. ^ The Irish Archaeological Society - Irish Archaeological Society 1841- Volume 1 - Page 118 "Rev. Charles R. Elrington, D.D., M.R.I.A., Regius Professor of Divinity, Dublin."
33. ^ Howard, Joseph Jackson & Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1898). Visitation of Ireland. Vol. II. Privately printed. p. 69.
34. ^ Comerford, Patrick (19 September 2013). "The Revd Professor RM Gwynn (1877-1962)". patrickcomerford.com. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
35. ^ "About". Trinity Centre for Biblical Studies. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
36. ^ "Prizes and other Awards" (PDF). Calendar 2006–07. Trinity College Dublin. Newport White Prize. Retrieved 22 March 2017. "This prize was founded in 1935 by a gift from N. J. D. White, Regius Professor of Divinity 1930–35"
37. ^ "Obituary: John Ernest Leonard Oulton" (PDF). Trinity News. Trinity College Dublin. 7 February 1957. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
38. ^ a b "Academic who modernised the study of theology at Trinity". The Irish Times. 22 April 2000. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
39. ^ "J. E. L. Oulton". Harvard University Press. Harvard University. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
40. ^ Semple, Patrick (2007). The Rector who Wouldn't Pray for Rain. Mercier Press Ltd. p. 89\. ISBN 9781856355605. Retrieved 22 March 2017.

### Sources[edit]

* Dixon, W. Macneile (1902). Trinity College, Dublin. College Histories. London: F. E. Robinson & Co. ASIN B000J2LZNK. LCCN 02021239. OCLC 2572402. OL 1091957W. Retrieved 22 August 2015.

* v
* t
* e

Regius Professors of Divinity

University of Oxford|

* Richard Smyth
* Peter Martyr
* Richard Smyth
* Juan de Villagarcia
* Richard Smyth
* Lawrence Humphrey
* Thomas Holland
* Robert Abbot
* John Prideaux
* Robert Sanderson
* Robert Crosse
* Joshua Hoyle
* John Conant
* Robert Sanderson
* William Creed
* Richard Allestree
* William Jane
* John Potter
* George Rye
* John Fanshawe
* Edward Bentham
* Benjamin Wheeler
* John Randolph
* Charles Henry Hall
* William Howley
* William Van Mildert
* Frodsham Hodson
* Charles Lloyd
* Edward Burton
* Renn Hampden
* William Jacobson
* Robert Payne Smith
* James Bowling Mozley
* William Ince
* Henry Scott Holland
* Arthur Headlam
* Henry Leighton Goudge
* Oliver Chase Quick
* Leonard Hodgson
* Henry Chadwick
* Maurice Wiles
* Keith Ward
* Marilyn McCord Adams
* Graham Ward

University of Cambridge|

* Edward Wigan
* John Madew
* Martin Bucer
* John Young
* Thomas Sedgwick
* James Pilkington
* Leonard Pilkington
* Matthew Hutton
* John Whitgift
* William Chaderton
* William Whitaker
* John Overall
* John Richardson
* Samuel Collins
* John Arrowsmith
* Anthony Tuckney
* Peter Gunning
* Joseph Beaumont
* Henry James
* Richard Bentley
* John Whalley
* John Green
* Thomas Rutherforth
* Richard Watson
* John Kaye
* Thomas Turton
* Alfred Ollivant
* James Amiraux Jeremie
* Brooke Foss Westcott
* Henry Barclay Swete
* Vincent Henry Stanton
* Alexander Nairne
* Charles Earle Raven
* Arthur Michael Ramsey
* John Burnaby
* Edward C. Ratcliff
* Dennis Eric Nineham
* Geoffrey Hugo Lampe
* Henry Chadwick
* Stephen Sykes
* David Frank Ford
* Ian Alexander McFarland
* David Fergusson

Trinity College Dublin|

* Luke Challoner
* James Ussher
* Samuel Ward
* Joshua Hoyle
* Richard Lingard
* Michael Ward
* William Palliser
* George Browne
* Owen Lloyd
* Richard Baldwin
* Claudius Gilbert
* Henry Clarke
* John Pellisier
* John Lawson
* James Drought
* Richard Graves
* Charles Richard Elrington
* Joseph Henderson Singer
* Samuel Butcher
* George Salmon
* John Gwynn
* John Ernest Leonard Oulton
* Richard Randall Hartford
* Hugh Frederic Woodhouse

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