Regius Professor of Divinity

Professorships at Oxford, Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin

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; ThM Princeton Theological Seminary; Canon of Christ Church (2004)
* Graham Ward Canon of Christ Church (MA, PhD Cantab.) (2012–2024)
* Andrew Paul Davison, Canon of Christ Church (2024–present)[2]

(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)[3]
* John Madew (c.1545)[4]
* Martin Bucer (1550)[5]
* In 1553 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer offered the Regius Chair to Philip Melanchthon, who declined the offer
* John Young (1555)[6]
* Thomas Sedgwick (1557)[7]
* James Pilkington (1559)[8]
* Leonard Pilkington (1561)[9]
* Matthew Hutton (1562)[10]
* John Whitgift (1567)[11]
* William Chaderton (1569)[12]
* William Whitaker (1580)[13]
* John Overall (1596)
* John Richardson (1607)[14]
* 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)[15]
* John Burnaby (1952)
* Edward Craddock Ratcliffe (1958)
* Dennis Eric Nineham (1964)[16]
* Geoffrey Hugo Lampe (1971)
* Henry Chadwick (1979)[17]
* Stephen Sykes (1985)[18]
* David Frank Ford (1991)
* Ian Alexander McFarland (2015)[19]
* David Fergusson (2021)[20]

### Official coat of arms

[edit]

According to a grant of 1590, the office of Regius Professor of "Devinity" at Cambridge has a coat of arms with the following blazon:[21]

Coat of arms of Regius Professor of Divinity  |

Crest
On a wreath "silver and gules," a dove volant argent, with an olive-branch vert in his beak.
Escutcheon
Gules, on a cross ermine, between four doves argent, a book of the first, the leaves or, charged in the midst with the Greek letter θ (Theta) sable.

|

## Professors at Dublin

[edit]

The Regius Professor of Divinity at Trinity College Dublin was established in 1607 as the "Professor of Theological Controversies".[22][23] The endowment was increased in 1674 by letters patent of Charles II.[23] The title "Regius Professor" was specified in 1761 by letters patent of George III.[23][24] The School of Divinity was founded in the late 18th century with the Regius Professor as its head.[25] 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.[26] The debate became dormant after 1911 letters patent altered the School's governance.[26][27] It reignited in the 1960s, after which vacancies in the School of Divinity went unfilled,[26][27] including the Regius Professorship in 1982.[28] 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.[27][28][29]

Professors were:[23]

### Professors of Divinity

[edit]

* 1: 1591– (Luke Challoner)[30]
* 2: 1607–21 James Ussher[31]
* 3: 1621–23 (Samuel Ward)
* 4: 1623–48 Joshua Hoyle[22]
* 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[32][33]
* 18: 1829–50 Charles Richard Elrington[34][35]
* 19: 1850–62 Joseph Henderson Singer
* 20: 1852–66 Samuel Butcher[36]
* 21: 1866–88 George Salmon
* 22: 1888–1917 John Gwynn[37]
* 23: 1917–30 Alan Hugh McNeile[38]
* 24: 1930–35 Newport John Davis White[39]
* 25: 1935–57 John Ernest Leonard Oulton[40][41][42]
* 26: 1957–62 Richard Randall Hartford[41]
* 27: 1964–82 Hugh Frederic Woodhouse[43]

## 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. ^ "No. 64530". The London Gazette. 2 October 2024. p. 19142.
3. ^ "Wigan, Edward (WGN508E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. ^ "Madew, John (MDW529J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
5. ^ "Bucer, Martin (BCR550M)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
6. ^ "Young, John (YN535J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
7. ^ "Sedgwick, Thomas (SGWK529T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
8. ^ "Pilkington, James (PLKN538J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
9. ^ "Pilkington, Leonard (PLKN544L)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
10. ^ "Hutton, Matthew (HTN546M)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
11. ^ "Whitgift, John (WHTT550J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
12. ^ "Chaderton, William (CHDN555W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
13. ^ "Whitaker, William (WHTR564W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
14. ^ Cooper, Thompson (1896). "Richardson, John (d.1625)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 48\. pp. 227–228.
15. ^ "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.)
16. ^ Harvey, Anthony (27 May 2016). "The Revd Professor Dennis Eric Nineham". Obituary. Church Times. London. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
17. ^ Williams, Rowan (19 June 2008). "Henry Chadwick". Obituary. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
18. ^ Thompson, David (24 October 2014). "The Rt Revd Stephen Whitefield Sykes". Obituary. Church Times. London. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
19. ^ "Elections, appointments, reappointments, and grants of title". Cambridge University Reporter (6382): 454. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
20. ^ "Professor David Fergusson OBE, DD, FRSE, FBA". 24 March 2021.
21. ^ A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1909), pp. 587-588.
22. ^ a b Dixon 1902, p.24
23. ^ a b c d "Regius Professor of Divinity". The Dublin University Calendar. 1867. pp. 247–249.
24. ^ 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.
25. ^ Dixon 1902, p.186
26. ^ 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.
27. ^ a b c Webb, David (1993). "Appendix 1 – Divinity School Council Prefatory Note" (PDF). Consolidated Statutes. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
28. ^ a b "The Gospel and CITC; A brief historical survey". Reform Ireland. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
29. ^ "About Us". Department of Religions and Theology. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
30. ^ 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.
31. ^ Gordon, Alexander (1899). "Ussher, James" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58\. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
32. ^ 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."
33. ^ 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 ..."
34. ^ The Dublin university magazine 1834 - Volume 4 - Page 352 "C. R. ELRINGTON, Regius Professor of Divinity."
35. ^ 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."
36. ^ Howard, Joseph Jackson & Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1898). Visitation of Ireland. Vol. II. Privately printed. p. 69.
37. ^ Comerford, Patrick (19 September 2013). "The Revd Professor RM Gwynn (1877-1962)". patrickcomerford.com. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
38. ^ "About". Trinity Centre for Biblical Studies. Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
39. ^ "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"
40. ^ "Obituary: John Ernest Leonard Oulton" (PDF). Trinity News. Trinity College Dublin. 7 February 1957. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
41. ^ a b "Academic who modernised the study of theology at Trinity". The Irish Times. 22 April 2000. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
42. ^ "J. E. L. Oulton". Harvard University Press. Harvard University. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
43. ^ 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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