The Public Orator is a traditional official post at universities, especially in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The holder of this office acts as the voice of the university on public occasions. The position at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a 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 second-oldest continuously operating u ...

dates from 1564. The Public Orator at the university presents

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s, giving an

oration Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...

for each person that is honoured. They may be required to compose addresses and letters as directed by the

Hebdomadal Council The Hebdomadal Council was the chief executive body for the University of Oxford from its establishment by the Oxford University Act 1854 until its replacement, in the Michaelmas term of 2000, by the new University Council. Chaired by the Vice- ...

of the university. Speeches when members of the royal family are present may also be required. The post was instituted for a visit to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

in 1566. The Public Orator, Thomas Kingsmill, gave a very long historical speech. Sir

Isaac Wake Sir Isaac Wake (1580/81 – 1632Vivienne Larminie‘Wake, Sir Isaac (1580/81–1632)’ ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 10 November 2008) was an English diplomat and political commentator. He ...

addressed King James I similarly in 1605. At the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, the title for the position changed from "Public Orator" to "Orator" in 1926.

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 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

also has a Public Orator. There is no equivalent position in American universities.

List of Public Orators

England

Oxford University

Edmund Campion Edmund Campion, SJ (25 January 15401 December 1581) was an English Jesuit priest and martyr. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Anglican England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason, he was ...

* William Strode (lived 1602–1644) *

Henry Hammond Henry Hammond (18 August 1605 – 25 April 1660) was an English churchman, church historian and theologian, who supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. Early life He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the y ...

(1645–1648) * Ralph Button (1648–1660) * William Crowe *

William Walter Merry William Walter Merry (1835–1918) was an English classical scholar, clergyman, and educator. Life William Merry was born in Evesham, Worcestershire, and was educated at Cheltenham College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained the Chan ...

(1880–1910) * A.D. Godley (1910–1920) * Arthur Blackburne Poynton (1925–1932) * Cyril Bailey (1932–1939) * Thomas Farrant Higham (1939–1958) * A.N. Bryan-Brown (1958–1967) *

Colin Hardie Colin Graham Hardie (16 February 1906 – 17 October 1998) was a British classicist and academic. From 1933 to 1936, he was Director of the British School at Rome. From 1936 to 1973, he was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and a tutor in cl ...

(1967–1973) * John G. Griffith (1973–1980) * Godfrey Bond (1980–1992) *

Jasper Griffin Jasper Griffin (29 May 1937 – 22 November 2019) was a British classicist and academic. He was Public Orator and Professor of Classical Literature in the University of Oxford from 1992 until 2004. Early life Griffin was born on 29 May 1937. He ...

(1992–2004) * Richard Henry Austen Jenkyns (2004–2016) *

Jonathan Katz Jonathan Paul Katz (born December 1, 1946) is an American actor and comedian best known for his starring role in the animated sitcom ''Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist'' as Dr. Katz. He is also known for voicing Erik Robbins in the UPN/Adult Sw ...

(2016 to present)

Cambridge University

See also :Cambridge University Orators. *

Richard Croke Richard Croke (or Crocus) (c. 1489–1558) was an English classical scholar and a royal tutor and agent. Early life and education He was educated at Eton College.''Concise Dictionary of National Biography''. He took his BA at King's College, C ...

(1522) * George Day (1528–1537) * John Redman (1537–1538) * Sir Thomas Smith (1538–1542) * Sir

John Cheke Sir John Cheke (or Cheek; 16 June 1514 – 13 September 1557) was an English classical scholar and statesman. One of the foremost teachers of his age, and the first Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, he played a great pa ...

(1544) *

Roger Ascham Roger Ascham (; 30 December 1568)"Ascham, Roger" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 617. was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, his pr ...

(1546–1554) * Thomas Gardiner (1554–1557) * John Stokes (1557–1559) * George Ackworth (1559–1560) * Anthony Girlington (1560–1561) * William Masters (1563–1565) *

Thomas Byng Thomas Byng (or Bynge) (died 1599) was an English academic and lawyer, Master of Clare Hall, Cambridge from 1571. Life He matriculated as a sizar at Peterhouse in May 1552, and proceeded B.A. in 1556. He was admitted fellow of his college 7 Feb ...

(1565–1570) * William Lewin (1570–1571) * John Becon (1571–1573) * Richard Bridgewater (1573–1581) *

Anthony Wingfield Sir Anthony Wingfield (died 15 August 1552) Order of the Garter, KG, Parliament of England, MP, of Letheringham, Suffolk, was an English soldier, politician, courtier and member of parliament. He was the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk from 1551 ...

(1580–1589) * Henry Mowtlow (1589–1594) * Sir

Robert Naunton Sir Robert Naunton (1563 – 27 March 1635) was an England, English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons at various times between 1606 and 1626. Family Robert Naunton was the son of Henry Naunton of ...

(1594–1611) * Sir

Francis Nethersole Sir Francis Nethersole (1587–1659) was an English diplomat, secretary to the Electress Elizabeth, Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle, and a Civil War political pamphleteer. Early life Francis Nethersole was second son of John Nethersole o ...

(1611–1619) *

George Herbert George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotio ...

(1619–1627) *

Robert Creighton Robert Creighton or Crichton (1593–1672) was a Scottish royalist churchman who became Bishop of Bath and Wells. Life He was son of Thomas Creighton and Margaret Stuart, who claimed kinship with the ancient Lords of Ruthven, and was born at Du ...

(1627–1639) * Henry Molle (1639–1650) * Ralph Widdrington (1650–1673) * Henry Paman (1674–1681) * John Billers (1681–1688) * Henry Felton (1689–1696) * William Ayloffe (1696–1726) * Edmund Castle (1727–1730) * Philip Williams (1730–1741) *

James Tunstall James Tunstall (1708?–1762) was an English cleric and classics scholar. Life The son of James Tunstall, an attorney at Richmond, Yorkshire, he was born about 1708. He was educated at Slaidburn grammar school under Bradbury, and was admitted a s ...

(1741–1746) * Philip Yonge (1746–1752) * John Skynner (1752–1762) * William Barford (1762–1768) *

Richard Beadon Richard Beadon (15 April 1737 – 21 April 1824) was Master of Jesus College, Cambridge 1781–1789 and later Vice-Chancellor of the University, Bishop of Gloucester and Bishop of Bath and Wells. Life Beadon was born at Pinkworthy in Devon, so ...

(1768–1778) * William Pearce (1778–1788) * William Lort Mansel (1788–1798) * Edmund Outram (1798–1809) * Ralph Tatham (1809–1836) *

Christopher Wordsworth Christopher Wordsworth (30 October 180720 March 1885) was an English intellectual and a bishop of the Church of England. Life Wordsworth was born in London, the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth (divine), Christopher Wordsworth, Master ...

(February–April 1836) * William Henry Bateson (1848–1857) * William George Clark (1857–1869) * Sir

Richard Claverhouse Jebb Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (27 August 1841 – 9 December 1905) was a British classical scholar and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP for Cambridge. Life Jebb was born in Dundee, Scotland, to Robert, a well-known Irish barrister, an ...

(1869–1875) * Sir

John Edwin Sandys Sir John Edwin Sandys ( "Sands"; 19 May 1844 – 6 July 1922) was an English classical scholar. Life Born in Leicester, England on 19 May 1844, Sandys was the 4th son of Rev. Timothy Sandys (1803–1871) and Rebecca Swain (1800–1853). Livin ...

(1875–1920; orator emeritus from 1920) *

Terrot Reaveley Glover Terrot Reaveley Glover (1869–1943) was a Cambridge University lecturer of classical literature. He was a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. He was also a Latinist, and is known for translating Robert Louis Stevenson's '' A Child's Garden ...

(1920–1939) *

William Keith Chambers Guthrie William Keith Chambers Guthrie (1August 190617May 1981) was a Scottish classical scholar, best known for his ''History of Greek Philosophy'', published in six volumes between 1962 and his death. He served as Laurence Professor of Ancient Philos ...

(1939–1957) * Lancelot Patrick Wilkinson (1958–1974) * Frank Henry Stubbings (1974–1982) *

James Diggle James Diggle, (born 1944) is a British classical scholar. He was Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Cambridge between 1995 and 2011. Early life and education Born in 1944, Diggle was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge; he ...

(1982–1993) * Anthony Bowen (1993–2007) * Rupert Thompson (2008 to present)

Liverpool University

John Pinsent John Pinsent (2 November 1922 – 3 February 1995 in Liverpool, England) was an English classical scholar, especially in the area of Greek mythology. He founded and edited an academic journal on classical antiquity, the '' Liverpool Classical Mont ...

(1983 to 1987)

Durham University

* Sir Ian Richmond (1949 to 1951)

Birkbeck, University of London

* Steven Connor (2001 to 2012) * Joanna Bourke (2012 to present)

Ireland

Trinity College, Dublin

* Caesar Williamson (1660) * Thomas Ebenezer Webb (1879 to 1887) * Arthur Palmer (1888no later than 1897) *

Robert Yelverton Tyrrell Robert Yelverton Tyrrell ( ; 21 January 1844 – 19 September 1914) was an Irish classics, classical scholar who was Regius Professor of Greek (Trinity), Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College Dublin. He was a prominent figure in the "Du ...

(1899) * Louis Claude Purser (1904) * Sir Robert Tate, (1914 to 1952)A selection of his speeches is published in Tate, Robert William. 1941. ''Orationes et epistolae Dublinenses: (1914 - 40)''. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis. * John V. Luce, (1972 to 2005) *

Brian McGing Brian C. McGing is a papyrologist and ancient historian, who specialises in the Hellenistic period. He is Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College, Dublin. He is editor of the college's journal of the classical world, '' Hermathena''.

, (2005 to 2008) * Anna Chahoud, (2008 to present)

Russia

Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

* (1994 to present)

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=November 2016 Public speaking Academic terminology Academia in the United Kingdom Terminology of the University of Oxford Terminology of the University of Cambridge