Agnes Headlam-Morley (10 December 1902 – 21 February 1986) was a British historian and academic. From 1948 to 1971, she was

Montague Burton Professor of International Relations The Montague Burton Professorship of International Relations is a named chair at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, and a former chair at the University of Edinburgh. Created by the endowment of Montague Burton in UK un ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Upon her appointment in October 1948, she became the first woman to be appointed to a

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

at Oxford.

Early life and education

Headlam-Morley was born on 10 December 1902 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England, the only daughter of

James Wycliffe Headlam Sir James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, CBE (24 December 1863 – 6 September 1929) was a British academic historian and classicist. He became a civil servant and government advisor on current foreign policy. He was known as James Wycliffe Headlam until ...

, an academic and civil servant who was involved in drafting the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

, and Else (née Sonntag), a musician and composer who was born and brought up in Germany. In 1918 her father changed his name to Headlam-Morley. Unlike others of her generation, she had "no secret sense of shame in being half-German". Headlam-Morley was educated at

Wimbledon High School Wimbledon High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private girls' day school in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, South West (London sub region), South West London. It is a Girls' Day School Trust school and is a member of the Girls' ...

, an all-girls

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She studied modern history at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, graduating with a second class

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 1924. She then undertook research in modern European political history, and completed a

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second bachelor's degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been touched on in ...

(BLitt) degree in 1926. As per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (Oxon) degree.

Academic career

In 1932, Headlam-Morley was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

. Until her retirement, she was a

tutor Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...

in history and politics at St Hugh's. In October 1948, she was appointed

, which made her the first woman to be appointed a chair at the

. She specialised in Anglo-German relations and diplomatic history. She belonged to the traditional school of international relations in which the subject was considered a subfield of history and not a

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

. In 1971, she stepped down from the chair and retired from full-time academia. In 1948, Headlam-Morley was made an

honorary fellow Honorary titles (professor, president, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as ...

(her

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

). She was made an honorary fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1970; the year before her retirement. Headlam-Morley died on 21 February 1986, aged 83 years.

Personal life

Headlam-Morley was a convert to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and was received into the Catholic Church in 1948. She was a member of the Conservative Party, and stood as a candidate in the 1936 election to

Durham County Council Durham County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of County Durham (district), County Durham in North East England. The council is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, bein ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Headlam-Morley, Agnes 1902 births 1986 deaths 20th-century British historians British women historians Montague Burton Professors of International Relations (University of Oxford) Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford People educated at Wimbledon High School Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Conservative Party (UK) people 20th-century British women writers