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The Beit Professorship of Global and Imperial History is one of the senior professorships in
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
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 ...
. It was established in 1905 as the Beit Professorship of Colonial History, and was known as the Beit Professorship of Commonwealth History until July 2023. It is the first imperial professorship in the United Kingdom. The post is held in conjunction with a
fellowship 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 or professional societies, the term refers ...
at
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...
. The professorship's salary is principally drawn from the Beit fund, an endowment derived from
Alfred Beit Alfred Beit (15 February 1853 – 16 July 1906) was an Anglo-German gold and diamond magnate in South Africa, and a major donor and profiteer of infrastructure development on the African continent. He also donated much money to university ed ...
's donations to the university.


Beit Professors

* Hugh Egerton (1905–1920) * Sir Reginald Coupland (1920–1948) * Vincent T. Harlow (1950–1963) *
John Andrew Gallagher John Andrew Gallagher (1 April 1919 – 5 March 1980), known as Jack Gallagher, was an historian of the British Empire who between 1963 and 1970 held the Beit Professorship of Commonwealth History at the University of Oxford and from 1971 until ...
(1963–1971) *
Ronald Robinson Ronald "Robbie" Edward Robinson, CBE, DFC, FBA (3 September 1920 – 19 June 1999) was a distinguished historian of the British Empire who between 1971 and 1987 held the Beit Professorship of Commonwealth History at the University of Oxford. ...
(1971–1987) * Judith M. Brown (1990–2011) * James Belich (2011–2024) * Faisal Devji (2025–present)


References

Commonwealth History, Beit Commonwealth History, Beit Balliol College, Oxford 1905 establishments in England Lists of people associated with the University of Oxford {{history-stub