View source for Regius Professor of English Language and Literature

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{distinguish|text=the [[Regius Professor of English Literature]] at the University of Aberdeen}}
{{Infobox official post
| post           = Regius Chair
| body           = English Language and Literature<br/>{{small|[[University of Glasgow]]}}
| image          = Glasgowuniversity.jpg
| alt            =
| incumbent      = [[Nigel Leask]]
| incumbentsince = 2004
| formation      = 1861
| founder        = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]]
| first          = [[John Nichol (biographer)|John Nichol]]
| notable        = [[A. C. Bradley]], [[William Macneile Dixon]]
| website        = [http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/englishliterature/ www.gla.ac.uk/englishliterature]
}}
The '''Regius Chair of English Language and Literature''' at the [[University of Glasgow]] was founded in 1861 by [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]], and is the only [[Regius Professor]]ship in the Faculty of Arts.
==History==
The first professor appointed was [[John Nichol (biographer)|John Nichol]], a graduate of the university and [[Snell Exhibition]]er at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], and son of [[John Pringle Nichol]], former [[Regius Professor of Astronomy, Glasgow|Regius Professor of Astronomy]] at the university. Nichol had formerly been a coach at the [[University of Oxford]], where along with [[A. V. Dicey]], [[Vinerian Professor of English Law]], philosopher [[Thomas Hill Green]] and poet [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]] he formed the Old Mortality Society, a literary discussion society. Whilst at Glasgow, Nichol maintained his strong reputation in literary criticism, lecturing at the same time at Oxford as well as tutoring privately across the country. He was also a supporter of [[Queen Margaret College (Glasgow)|the higher education of women]]. He left the chair in 1889 and died in 1894.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Nichol|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH0209&type=P|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=6 August 2008|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref>  In 1885, the Nichol Prize for the most distinguished woman student in the Ordinary class of English Literature was founded by his sister, Lucy Jack.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nichol Memorial Prize|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/award/?id=277&l=n|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=7 August 2007|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref>
Nichol was succeeded in 1889 by [[A. C. Bradley|Andrew Cecil Bradley]], a highly respected literary critic and noted scholar of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], and brother of philosopher [[F. H. Bradley|Francis Bradley]]. Bradley had studied at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], and was at the time of his appointment a lecturer at University College Liverpool, now the [[University of Liverpool]]. In 1892, Bradley described his Glasgow students as "a set of savages whom it is a loathsome drudgery to teach,"<ref>{{cite web|title=Andrew Cecil Bradley|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH0028&type=P|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=29 May 2008|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref> although he remained at the university until 1900, and in 1901 was elected [[Oxford Professor of Poetry|Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford]]. He delivered the 1907-1908 [[Gifford Lectures]] at the university. The Bradley Chair of English Literature was named after him, and his name was placed on the [[University of Glasgow Memorial Gates|Memorial Gates]] erected to mark the university's quincentenary in 1951.<ref>{{cite web|title=Memorial Gates|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/memorial-gate/|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref>
The Gifford Lectures, a series of which Bradley delivered at the university, were instituted by the will of [[Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford]], and it was his nephew, [[Walter Raleigh (professor)|Walter Raleigh]], who succeeded Bradley in the Regius Chair in 1900. Raleigh had studied at [[University College London]] and [[King's College, Cambridge]], where he was president of the [[Cambridge Union Society|Cambridge Union]], and was appointed the first Professor of English Literature at the [[Aligarh Muslim University|Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College]] in [[Aligarh]], [[India]]. He then worked as Professor of Modern Literature at [[University of Liverpool|University College, Liverpool]] before being appointed to the Regius Chair in 1900. He remained in the chair for only four years, being appointed [[Merton Professors|Merton Professor of English Literature]] in 1904. He was knighted in 1911.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir Walter Raleigh|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2089&type=P|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=16 July 2008|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref>
In 1904, the celebrated Scottish author, [[William Macneile Dixon]], was appointed to the chair. He studied at [[Trinity College, Dublin]] and had previously been Professor of English Literature at the [[University of Birmingham]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Walter Macneile Dixon|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2062&type=P|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=21 April 2008|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref> He was succeeded in 1935 by Peter Alexander, who had been the Queen Margaret Lecturer in English Literature. He retired in 1963 and was awarded a [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|title=Peter Alexander|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2255&type=P|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=12 August 2008|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref> In 1965, Peter Butter was appointed to the chair, having previously been Professor of English at [[Queen's University Belfast]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Peter Butter|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2064&type=P|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=11 August 2008|accessdate=14 April 2010}}</ref> He retired in 1986 and was succeeded in 1990 by Alexander Prickett. Prickett was a [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright Scholar]] in 1979 and has taught at a number of institutions, including the [[University of Sussex]], [[University of Minnesota]] and [[Australian National University]], [[Canberra]]. He retired in 2001.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alexander Prickett|url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/englishliterature/staff/stephenprickett/#d.en.34114|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|accessdate=14 April 2009}}</ref> In 2004, [[Nigel Leask]], Reader in Romantic Literature at the [[University of Cambridge]], was appointed to the chair.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nigel Leask|url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/englishliterature/staff/nigelleask/|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|accessdate=14 April 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305201936/http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/englishliterature/staff/nigelleask/|archivedate=5 March 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Regius Professors of English Language and Literature==
*[[John Nichol (biographer)|John Nichol]] (1862 – 1889)
*[[A. C. Bradley]] (1889 – 1900)
*[[Walter Raleigh (professor)|Sir Walter Raleigh]] (1900 - 1904)
*[[William Macneile Dixon]] (1904 – 1935)
*[[Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar)|Peter Alexander]] (1935 – 1963)
*Peter Herbert Butter (1965 – 1986)
*Stephen Prickett (1990 – 2001)
*[[Nigel Leask]] (2004 – )
==See also==
*[[List of Professorships at the University of Glasgow]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{University of Glasgow}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regius Professor Of English Language And Literature, Glasgow}}
[[Category:Professorships at the University of Glasgow|English Language and Literature]]
[[Category:Professorships in literature]]
[[Category:1861 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Regius Professorships|English Language and Literature]]