Chichele Lectures


The Chichele Lectures are a prestigious series of lectures sponsored by All Souls College and are an example of the College's use of its income for the general benefit of the University of Oxford.

History

The series began formally in 1912, but the idea that All Souls College, Oxford might sponsor an independent series of academic lectures can be dated back to 1873, or even earlier. The College had already started to establish a series of professorships, the Chichele Professorships, beginning with the first two in 1859 and 1862, who delivered their own courses of "Chichele lectures". This series of lectures, separate from the professorships, can be traced to a proposal made in 1873 by Thomas Ryburn Buchanan that the College invite a distinguished foreign professor to lecture. He later withdrew his suggestion in the face of competing ideas. But on 1 June 1909, a proposal was approved that the College would set aside ₤300 for three "Chichele Lectures" in foreign history, along the lines of the already established Ford Lectures. The first lecture was held in 1912. In 1919, the College widened the lecture to include law, political theory, or economic, as well as foreign and British history. Nevertheless, the lectureship was dormant from 1920 until it was revived again briefly in 1933, but was dormant again until 1947. In recent years, lectures have been given by several lecturers on a common theme as well as continuing the tradition of having a single lecturer. The lectures have normally been given in the Old Library at All Souls, but in 1959 it was moved for the first time to accommodate the great crowd drawn by Field Marshall Montgomery.

Lecturers