The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of the Rolls is second in seniority in England and Wales only to the Lord Chief Justice. The position dates from at least 1286, although it is believed that the office probably existed earlier than that.
The Vice-Chamberlain of the Household is a member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The officeholder is usually a senior government whip in the British House of Commons ranking third or fourth after the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip. The Vice-Chamberlain is the Deputy to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household and, like the Lord Chamberlain, carries a white staff of office when on duty on state occasions.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), established in 1938, is Britain's oldest independent economic research institute. The institute is a London-based independent UK registered charity that carries out academic research of relevance to business and policy makers, both nationally and internationally.
There are two Merton Professorships of English in the University of Oxford: the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, and the Merton Professor of English Literature. The second was created in 1914 when Sir Walter Raleigh's chair was renamed. At the present day both professorships are associated with Merton College, but Dame Helen Gardner held her post in association with Lady Margaret Hall. The occupants of the chairs have been:
The Civil Service Commission regulates recruitment to the United Kingdom Civil Service, providing assurance that appointments are on merit after fair and open competition, and hears appeals under the Civil Service Code. The commission is independent of government and the Civil Service.
The British Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently on the advice of the prime minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions. The origins of the laureateship date back to 1616 when a pension was provided to Ben Jonson, but the first official holder of the position was John Dryden, appointed in 1668 by Charles II. On the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who held the post between November 1850 and October 1892, there was a break of four years as a mark of respect; Tennyson's laureate poems "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" were particularly cherished by the Victorian public. Four poets, Thomas Gray, Samuel Rogers, Walter Scott and Philip Larkin turned down the laureateship. Historically appointed for an unfixed term and typically held for life, since 1999 the position has been for a term of ten years. The holder of the position as at 2024 is Simon Armitage who succeeded Carol Ann Duffy in May 2019 after 10 years in office.
The Lieutenant of the Tower of London serves directly under the Constable of the Tower. The office has been appointed at least since the 13th century. There were formerly many privileges, immunities and perquisites attached to the office. Like the Constable, the Lieutenant was usually appointed by letters patent, either for life or during the King's pleasure.
The position of Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture was established at the University of Oxford in 1847. This professorship in the critical interpretation or explanation of biblical texts, a field known as exegesis, was instituted by John Ireland, who was Dean of Westminster from 1816 until his death in 1842. He founded scholarships in his lifetime at the University of Oxford, which are still awarded after an examination to undergraduates "for the promotion of classical learning and taste". In his will, he left £10,000 to the university, with the interest arising to be applied to the professorship. The first professor, Edward Hawkins, was appointed in 1847. The second Dean Ireland's Professor, Robert Scott, had won an Ireland scholarship in 1833 while studying at Christ Church.
The position of Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford was founded in 1918 shortly after the end of the First World War. Ferdinand Foch, or "Marshal Foch", was supreme commander of Allied forces from April 1918 onwards. The chair was endowed by an arms trader, Basil Zaharoff, in Foch's honour; he also endowed a post in English Literature at the University of Paris in honour of the British Field Marshal Earl Haig. Zaharoff wanted the University of Paris to have a right of veto over the appointment, but Oxford would not accept this. The compromise reached was that Paris should have a representative on the appointing committee. In advance of the first election, Stéphen Pichon unsuccessfully attempted to influence the decision. The first professor, Gustave Rudler, was appointed in 1920. As of 2015, the chair is held by Catriona Seth. The position is held in conjunction with a Fellowship of All Souls College.
The position of Savilian Professor of Geometry was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton College, reacting to what has been described by one 20th-century mathematician as "the wretched state of mathematical studies in England" at that time. He appointed Henry Briggs as the first professor. Edward Titchmarsh said when applying that he was not prepared to lecture on geometry, and the requirement was removed from the duties of the post to enable his appointment, although the title of the chair was not changed. The two Savilian chairs have been linked with professorial fellowships at New College, Oxford, since the late 19th century. Before then, for over 175 years until the middle of the 19th century, the geometry professors had an official residence adjoining the college in New College Lane.
The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages is a department of the University of Oxford, England. It is part of the university's Humanities Division.
The election in 1860 for the position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford was a competition between two candidates offering different approaches to Sanskrit scholarship. One was Monier Williams, an Oxford-educated Englishman who had spent 14 years teaching Sanskrit to those preparing to work in British India for the East India Company. The other, Max Müller, was a German-born lecturer at Oxford specialising in comparative philology, the science of language. He had spent many years working on an edition of the Rig Veda and had gained an international reputation for his scholarship. Williams, in contrast, worked on later material and had little time for the "continental" school of Sanskrit scholarship that Müller exemplified. Williams regarded the study of Sanskrit as a means to an end, namely the conversion of India to Christianity. In Müller's opinion, his own work, while it would assist missionaries, was also valuable as an end in itself.
The Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professorship is an endowed chair in American history at the University of Oxford, tenable for one year. The Harmsworth Professorship was established by Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868–1940) in memory of his son Harold Vyvyan Alfred St George, who was killed in the First World War, and whose favourite subject was history. Lord Rothermere also established a Harmsworth Professorship in imperial and naval history at Cambridge University in honour of his son Vere, who was killed in the same war. The King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University was endowed by Sir Harold Harmsworth in memory of King Edward VII, who died in 1910.
The Sherardian Chair of Botany is a professorship at the University of Oxford that was established in 1734. It was created following an endowment by William Sherard on his death in 1728. In his will, Sherard stipulated that the first holder of the chair was to be Johann Jacob Dillenius. The Sherardian Professor is also a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford
The Corpus Christi Professorship of the Latin Language and Literature, also known simply as the Corpus Christi Professorship of Latin and previously as the Corpus Professorship of Latin, is a chair in Latin literature at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. The chair was created after the Oxford University Act of 1854.
The Professorships of Engineering are several established and personal professorships at the University of Cambridge.
The Professorship of Medieval German is one of the permanent chairs at the University of Oxford. It was established in 1972 for the germanist Peter Ganz. It is associated with a fellowship at St Edmund Hall and belongs to the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages.
