The Erasmus Smith's Professor of Hebrew is a

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. A lectureship in Oriental Languages had been founded in 1637 and later endowed by Erasmus Smith's estate in 1724. The endowment was increased in 1762 to create a Professorship in Oriental Languages. The title of the chair changed to Professor of Hebrew in 1849. The chair was elevated to a

Regius Professorship A Regius Professor is a university professor who has, or originally had, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The first Regius Professorship was in the field of medicine, and f ...

in 1855 by Royal Statute. However, the Board of Trinity College did not issue a decree setting out the duties or salary of the Professorship and it was presumed that the Professorship did not actually exist until called into creation by decree. By 1878, the Board had postponed the regular creation of the Regius Professorship and the title reverted to Erasmus Smith's Professor of Hebrew.

Succession of professors since 1762

Erasmus Smith's Professors of Oriental Languages

* William Martin (1762) * Christopher Hudson (1764) * John Forsayeth (1764) * William Hales (1782) * Gerald Fitzgerald (1790) * John Barrett (1806) * Franc Sadleir (1822) * Charles William Wall (1825)

Erasmus Smith's Professor of Hebrew

James Henthorn Todd James Henthorn Todd (23 April 1805 – 28 June 1869) was a biblical scholar, educator, and Irish historian. He is noted for his efforts to place religious disagreements on a rational historical footing, for his advocacy of a liberal form of Prot ...

(1849)

Regius Professors of Hebrew

(1855) * George Longfield (1869)

Erasmus Smith's Professors of Hebrew

* Joseph Carson (1878) *

Thomas Kingsmill Abbott Reverend Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (26 March 1829 – 18 December 1913) was an Irish scholar and educator. Biography Abbott was born in Dublin and was educated at Trinity College. He was elected a scholar in 1848, graduated in 1851 as a senior ...

(1879) * George Wilkins (1900) * Robert Gwynn (1920) * Jacob Weingreen (1939) * Andrew Mayes (1992) Four Centuries of Biblical Studies at Trinity College Dublin
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