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Paul Gerard O'Prey CBE is an academic leader and author who was Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Roehampton, London from 2004 until 2019. [1] In 2019 he was appointed chair of the Edward James Foundation, which owns a large rural estate in the South Downs and runs West Dean College of Arts and Conservation. [2] After working in various senior roles at the University of Bristol, in 2004 O'Prey was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Roehampton in south-west London, where he was also Professor of Modern Literature. [3]
O'Prey was born in Southampton, the youngest of five children. [4] He attended St George Catholic College until the age of 16, when he transferred to King Edward VI School, Southampton, then a grant-maintained grammar school. He won a place to study English language and literature at Keble College, Oxford. He obtained his PhD from the University of Bristol, where his supervisor was Charles Tomlinson.
In 1977, O'Prey left Oxford University to work for the author Robert Graves at his home in Deià, Mallorca. Professor O'Prey assisted him in various ways, most notably working with Graves' wife, Beryl (died 2003), [5] on the creation of a major archive of Graves's papers which is now housed at St John's College, Oxford. [6]
That work led him to publish a biographical study of Graves told through his letters with other eminent writers such as Siegfried Sassoon, T.S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein, published in two volumes: In Broken Images (Hutchinson, 1982) and Between Moon and Moon (Hutchinson, 1984). [7] O'Prey's edition of Graves's Selected Poems (Penguin Books, 1986), published just after Graves's death in 1985, reinstated a number of poems which Graves himself had previously suppressed, including some of his youthful war poetry written during World War I. [8]
O'Prey's other books include Fleet, a collection of poems tracing the course of the lost River Fleet that flows beneath the streets of North London, published by The Melos Press in 2021. [9]
O'Prey also writes about poetry and conflict. Counter-Wave: Poetry of Rescue in the First World War is the first anthology of poetry by volunteer workers who went to the war to save life rather than to take it. [10] First World War: Poems from the Front, was published in 2014 by the Imperial War Museum, to coincide with the centenary of the war. It takes a new approach in focusing on a small number of poets who saw active service on the Western Front, including three women. [11]
O'Prey translated with Lucia Graves the first English translation of the Spanish nineteenth century classic novel, The House of Ulloa by Emilia Pardo Bazan (Penguin Classics, 1991, reissued 2013). The book was later serialised by Channel 4. [12]
O'Prey wrote the first full critical study of the novels of Graham Greene, and edited the Penguin edition of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Penguin Books, 1983). He edited the first collection of poems by the American First World War nurse and novelist Mary Borden (Dare-Gale Press, 2015). His media appearances include BBC Two's War of Words: Soldier Poets of the Somme, broadcast in 2014 [13] and a Channel 4 programme on drugs and art. [14]
O'Prey has served on a number of bodies, the current or most recent of which include: University of Sussex Council (2021–present); [15] Universities UK Board and chair of the Longer Term strategy Group (2010–2019); [16] the Edward James Foundation and West Dean College trustee (2015–present), [17] Froebel Trust trustee (2013–19), [18] Higher Education Funding Council for England Strategic Advisory Committee on Leadership Governance and Management (2005–11); Higher Education Careers Services Unit Board (2006–13); London Higher Board (2006–09); Sport England Higher Education Stakeholder Group (2008–present); Putney High School, governor (2004–09); editorial board of Despatches, journal of the Imperial War Museum; the War Poets Association (Board member 2007–present; President 2007–13); [19] and Worldwide Universities Network Academic Board (2002–04).
Prior to joining the University of Roehampton as vice-chancellor and chief executive when it gained independent university status in 2004, O'Prey spent 16 years at the University of Bristol, where he worked in a variety of capacities, latterly as Director of Academic Affairs. [20]
In 2011, O'Prey received honorary doctorates from the University of Bristol [21] and Manhattanville College (New York). [22]
O'Prey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to higher education and the literary history of the First World War. [23]
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celticists and students of Irish mythology.
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirized the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war with his "Soldier's Declaration" of July 1917, which resulted in his being sent to the Craiglockhart War Hospital. During this period, Sassoon met and formed a friendship with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume, fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the Sherston trilogy.
Philip Edward Thomas was a British writer of poetry and prose. He is sometimes considered a war poet, although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences. He only started writing poetry at the age of 36, but by that time he had already been a prolific critic, biographer, nature writer and travel writer for two decades. In 1915, he enlisted in the British Army to fight in the First World War and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917, soon after he arrived in France.
Edmund Charles Blunden was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was also a reviewer for English publications and an academic in Tokyo and later Hong Kong. He ended his career as Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature six times.
Isaac Rosenberg was an English poet and artist. His Poems from the Trenches are recognized as some of the most outstanding poetry written during the First World War.
Robert Laurence Binyon, CH was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. Born in Lancaster, England, his parents were Frederick Binyon, a clergyman, and Mary Dockray. He studied at St Paul's School, London and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry in 1891. He worked for the British Museum from 1893 until his retirement in 1933. In 1904 he married the historian Cicely Margaret Powell, with whom he had three daughters, including the artist Nicolete Gray.
Roger Joseph McGough is an English poet, performance poet, broadcaster, children's author and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please, as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one of the leading members of the Liverpool poets, a group of young poets influenced by Beat poetry and the popular music and culture of 1960s Liverpool. He is an honorary fellow of Liverpool John Moores University, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and President of the Poetry Society.
The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The University traces its roots to four institutions founded in the 19th century, which today make up the university's constituent colleges, around which student accommodation is centred: Digby Stuart College, Froebel College, Southlands College and Whitelands College.
Sir Geoffrey William Hill, FRSL was an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to be among the most distinguished poets of his generation and was called the "greatest living poet in the English language." From 2010 to 2015 he held the position of Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford. Following his receiving the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in 2009 for his Collected Critical Writings, and the publication of Broken Hierarchies , Hill is recognised as one of the principal contributors to poetry and criticism in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Alfred Charles Tomlinson, CBE was an English poet, translator, academic, and illustrator. He was born in Penkhull, and grew up in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Geoffrey Edward Harvey Grigson was a British poet, writer, editor, critic, exhibition curator, anthologist and naturalist. In the 1930s he was editor of the influential magazine New Verse, and went on to produce 13 collections of his own poetry, as well as compiling numerous anthologies, among many published works on subjects including art, travel and the countryside. Grigson exhibited in the London International Surrealist Exhibition at New Burlington Galleries in 1936, and in 1946 co-founded the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Grigson's autobiography The Crest on the Silver was published in 1950. At various times he was involved in teaching, journalism and broadcasting. Fiercely combative, he made many literary enemies.
Michael Longley,, is an Irish poet.
Ursula Askham Fanthorpe CBE FRSL was an English poet, who published as U. A. Fanthorpe. Her poetry comments mainly on social issues.
Froebel College is one of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton.
Mary Borden was an American-British novelist and poet whose work drew on her experiences as a war nurse. She was the second of the three children of William Borden, who had made a fortune in Colorado silver mining in the late 1870s.
Fiona Ruth Sampson is a British poet, writer, editor, translator and academic who was the first woman editor of Poetry Review since Muriel Spark. She received a MBE for services to literature in 2017.
Sir Steven George West is a British podiatrist, the vice-chancellor, president and chief executive officer of the University of the West of England since 2008. He holds a number of national and international advisory appointments in higher education, healthcare policy and regional government.
Geraldine Emma May Jebb CBE, known as Gem Jebb, was the daughter of Heneage Horsley Jebb and Geraldine Croker Russell. The Jebbs were a distinguished Irish family, prominent in both the Church of Ireland and the legal profession: her paternal grandparents were Robert Jebb QC and Harriet Horsley, a descendant of Bishop Samuel Horsley. Her mother was a daughter of John Russell, Archdeacon of Clogher and his wife Frances Story. She was the Principal of Bedford College, University of London, from 1930 to 1951, the first higher education women's college in the United Kingdom. She was unmarried.
Daniel Karlin is a British literary scholar. He was educated at St Paul's School, London (1967-1970) and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied for his BA (1971-1974) and PhD (1975-1978). He was a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College, Oxford (1978-1980), and held appointments at University College London (1980-2004), Boston University (2005-2006), University of Sheffield (2006-2010), and University of Bristol (2010-2020), where he was Winterstoke Professor of English Literature. He retired in 2020 and was appointed Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Bristol. In the same year he was elected to a Fellowship of the British Academy. His research interests include Romantic and Victorian poetry; Robert Browning; Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Henry James; Rudyard Kipling; Marcel Proust; and Bob Dylan.
Fredoon Kabraji was an Indian poet, writer, journalist, and artist of Parsi descent.