The Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College

Gresham College

Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.-History:Sir Thomas Gresham,...

, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1596 / 7, when it appointed seven professors; this has since increased to eight and in addition the college now has visiting professors.

The Professor of Rhetoric is always appointed by the Mercers’ School Memorial Trust, which is administered by the Worshipful Company of Mercers

Worshipful Company of Mercers

The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in order of precedence. It is the first of the so-called "Great Twelve City Livery Companies". It was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1394...

. The title is a broad one, and Professors of Rhetoric have included historians, poets, educators and literary critics.

(Years given as, say, 1596 / 7 refer to Old Style and New Style dates

Old Style and New Style dates

Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...

.)

1	Caleb Willis	March 1596 / 7
2	Richard Ball	1598
3	Charles Croke Charles Croke -Life:He was the third son of Sir John Croke, and was admitted student of Christ Church, Oxford, on 5 January 1604. He proceeded B.A. , M.A., B.D. and D.D. . He was tutor of his college, and held the professorship of rhetoric at Gresham College, London, from 1613 to 1619...	14 Jan 1613/ 4
4	Henry Croke	26 May 1619
5	Edward Wilkinson	13 April 1627
6	John Goodridge	6 Nov 1638
7	Richard Hunt	29 Nov 1654
8	William Croune FRS	8 June 1659
9	Henry Jenkes Henry Jenkes Henry Jenkes , was a Gresham Professor of Rhetoric.Jenkes was descended from a Prussian family, was a native of England, and received his early education at King's College, Aberdeen, where he was admitted in 1642, and graduated M.A. in 1646. On 21 March 1646 he was admitted a member of Emmanuel...	21 Oct 1670
10	John King	2 Oct 1676
11	Charles Gresham	20 August 1686
12	Edward Martyn	4 Dec 1696
13	John Ward John Ward (academic) John Ward was an English teacher, supporter of learned societies, and biographer, remembered for his work on the Gresham College professors, of which he was one.-Life:...	1 Sept 1720
14	Joseph Whateley	19 Jan 1759
15	Joseph Thomas Waugh	11 April 1797
16	F Newnham	7 Jan 1808
17	Edward Owen	13 Nov 1817
18	Charlton Lane	23 April 1863
19	Thomas Francis Dallin	9 July 1875
20	J E Nixon	4 Feb 1881
21	Foster Watson	22 Jan 1915
22	Oliver Elton Oliver Elton Oliver Elton was an English literary scholar whose works include A Survey of English Literature in six volumes, criticism, biography, and translations from several languages including Icelandic and Russian...	19 April 1929
23	George Stuart Gordon George Stuart Gordon George Stuart Gordon was a British literary scholar.Gordon was educated at Glasgow University, Oriel College, Oxford ....	2 May 1930
24	Arthur William Reed	8 Dec 1933
1939–45 Lectures in abeyance
25	Rowland Walter Jepson	6 June 1946
26	Lord David Cecil Lord David Cecil Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil, CH , was a British biographer, historian and academic. He held the style of 'Lord' by courtesy, as a younger son of a marquess.-Early life and studies:...	27 June 1947
27	Nevill Coghill Nevill Coghill Nevill Coghill was a British literary scholar, known especially for his modern English version of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.-Life:...	14 Oct 1948
28	William Empson William Empson Sir William Empson was an English literary critic and poet.He was known as "燕卜荪" in Chinese.He was widely influential for his practice of closely reading literary works, fundamental to the New Critics...	1953
29	Richard Hughes	1954
30	Bonamy Dobrée Bonamy Dobrée Bonamy Dobrée , British academic, was Professor of English Literature at the University of Leeds from 1936 to 1955....	1957
31	Stephen Spender Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...	1961
32	John Wain John Wain John Barrington Wain was an English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with the literary group "The Movement". For most of his life, Wain worked as a freelance journalist and author, writing and reviewing for newspapers and the radio. He seems to have married in 1947, since C. S...	1963 (Hilary term)
33	Cecil Day-Lewis Cecil Day-Lewis Cecil Day-Lewis CBE was an Irish poet and the Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake...	1963–64
34	Patric Dickinson Patric Dickinson Patric Thomas Dickinson was a British poet, translator from the Greek and Latin classics, and playwright. He also worked for the BBC, from 1942 to 1948. He wrote full time from 1948....	1965–67
35	Sir Robert Birley Robert Birley Sir Robert Birley was an English educationalist who was head master of Charterhouse School, then Eton College, and an anti-apartheid campaigner.-Biography:...	1968–82
1983–84 vacant
36	John Morley Pick	1985
37	Jan Kott Jan Kott Jan Kott was a well-known Polish critic and theoretician of the theatre.Born in Warsaw in 1914, Kott moved to the United States in 1966 and lectured at Yale and Berkeley. A poet, translator, and critic, he was also one of the finest essayists of the Polish school...	1986
38	John Morley Pick	1987
39	J M Rae	1988
40	Sir Andrew Derbyshire	1990
41	Peter G Moore	1 Sept 1992
42	Peter Hennessy Peter Hennessy Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA is an English historian of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London.-Early life:...	1 Sept 1994
43	Lynette Hunter	1 Sept 1997
44	Richard Sorabji Richard Sorabji Richard Rustom Kharsedji Sorabji CBE, FBA is a British historian of ancient Western philosophy and Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at King's College London. He has written his own 'Intellectual Autobiography' in his Festschrift: R. Salles ed., Metaphysics, Soul and Ethics in Ancient Thought , 1-36...  CBE FBA	1 Sept 2000
45	Kathleen Burk	1 Sept 2003
46	Rodney Barker Rodney Barker Professor Rodney Barker is a British academic and political commentator. He is currently the Professor of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science and he was the Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College in London from September 2006 to September 2009.After gaining his BA...	1 Sept 2006
47	Richard J. Evans Richard J. Evans Richard John Evans is a British academic and historian, prominently known for his history of Germany.-Life:Evans was born in London, of Welsh parentage, and is now Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge and President of Wolfson College...	1 Sept 2009