Basil Willey, (25 July 1897 – 3 September 1978) was a British scholar of

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

and

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

. Having served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he rose to become King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge from 1946 and President of Pembroke College from 1958 to until his retirement in 1964.

Biography

He was born in London in 1897 and educated at

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

, Hampstead, and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

, where he won a scholarship in 1915; conscripted into the West Yorkshire Regiment soon after, he eventually graduated in 1921 with a first-class degree in History and English. He became a fellow of Pembroke College in 1935. He was appointed King Edward VII Professor of English Literature in 1946. He served as President of Pembroke College from 1958 to 1964. He retired from his position as King Edward VII Professor of English Literature in 1965. He was a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

(FBA) and a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(FRSL). He was a member of the Athenaeum Club in London.

Published works

*
Tendencies in Renaissance Literary Theory (1921-22 Le Bas Prize Essay)
' (1922) * '' The Seventeenth Century Background : Studies in the Thought of the Age in Relation to Poetry and Religion'' (1934) * '' The Eighteenth Century Background : Studies on the Idea of Nature in the Thought of the Period'' (1940) * '' Nineteenth Century Studies : Coleridge to Matthew Arnold'' (1949) * '' Christianity Past and Present'' (1952) * '' More nineteenth century studies: A group of honest doubters'' (1956) * ''The Religion of Nature'' (1957) * '' Darwin and Butler: Two Versions of Evolution: The Hibbert Lectures of 1959'' (1960) * '' The English Moralists'' (1964) * ''Cambridge and other Memories, 1920-1953'' (1968 - Published by Chatto and Windus,

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 ...

) * ''Religion to-day'' (1969) * ''

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

'' (1972)

Additional bibliography

* ''The English Mind: Studies in the English Moralists'' – Presented to Basil Willey by Hugh Sykes Davies and George Watson (1964) * '' Spots of Time: A Retrospect of the Years 1897-1920'' (First volume of autobiography) detail taken from ''Cambridge and other Memories'' by Chatto and Windus

1968.

Footnotes

References

* ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2007. Reproduced in ''Biography Resource Center''. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Willey, Basil Academics of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge English literary critics 1897 births 1978 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge 20th-century English historians Writers from London Place of death missing British Army personnel of World War I West Yorkshire Regiment soldiers King Edward VII Professors of English Literature Military personnel from London People educated at University College School