The Regius Chair of Rhetoric and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh was established in 1762 (as the Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres). It is arguably the first professorship of English Literature established anywhere in the world. Its first holder was Professor Hugh Blair.
List of Regius Professors of Rhetoric and English Literature
* Hugh Blair (1762 to 1784)
[Winifred Bryan Horner, ''Nineteenth-Century Scottish Rhetoric: The American Connection'' (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993), pp. 60–62.]
*William Greenfield (minister), William Greenfield (1784 to 1798)
*Hugh Blair (reversion, 1798 to 1801)
*Andrew Brown (minister), Andrew Brown (1801 to 1834)
*George Moir (1835 to 1840)
*William Spalding (writer), William Spalding (1840 to 1845)
*William Edmondstoune Aytoun, William Edmonstoune Aytoun (1845 to 1865)
[G. G. Smith, rev. Sondra Miley Cooney]
"Masson, David Mather"
''Dictionary of National Biography, The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2010). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
*David Masson, David Mather Masson (1865 to 1895)
*George Saintsbury (1895 to 1915)
The Edinburgh Gazette
', 21 September 1915 (issue 12854), p. 1458.
*Herbert John Clifford Grierson (1915 to 1935)
*John Dover Wilson (1935 to 1945)
* William Lindsay Renwick (1945 to 1959)
* John Everett Butt (1959 to 1965)
* Harold Jenkins (Shakespeare scholar), Harold Jenkins (1966 to 1971)
* Alastair David Shaw Fowler (1971 to 1984)
*''Vacant'' (1984 to 1990)
The London Gazette
', 1 June 1990 (issue 52156), p. 9975.
* Charles Ian Edward Donaldson (1990 to 1995)
* John Anthony Frow (2000 to 2004)
*''Vacant'' (2004 to 2007)
* Laura Marcus (2007 to 2009)
* Greg Walker (academic), Greg Walker (2010 to present); incumbent
[ ]
See also
* Regius Professor
*University of Edinburgh School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
References
http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/gwalker5
http://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Foundation_of_Chair_of_Rhetoric_and_Belles_Lettres,_1760
{{University of Edinburgh
Regius Professorships, Rhetoric and English Literature
Professorships in literature
Professorships at the University of Edinburgh