Thomas Winstanley (1749 – 2 September 1823) was an academic at the University of Oxford, who held the positions of Camden Professor of Ancient History, Laudian Professor of Arabic, and principal of St Alban Hall.
Winstanley was born in the town of Winstanley, in what was then Lancashire, and was baptised on 11 November 1749. After an education at Manchester Grammar School, he matriculated at the University of Oxford as a member of Brasenose College in 1768, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1771 and his Master of Arts degree in 1774. He was appointed to a fellowship at Hertford College and succeeded Thomas Warton as Camden Professor of Ancient History in 1790. He was elected principal of St Alban Hall in 1797, and appointed as Laudian Professor of Arabic in 1814 (holding this in addition to the Camden chair). He was rector of Steyning, Sussex, between 1790 and 1792; prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral from 1794 to 1810; and vicar of St Nicholas and St Clements, Rochester, Kent, from 1812. His writings included Aristotelous peri poiētikēs: Aristotelis de poetica liber (1780), and an edition of the works of Daniel Webb (1802).
Winstanley died on 2 September 1823. [1] He is buried in St Peter's-in-the-East in Oxford with a monument by Robert Blore. [2]
Thomas Warton was an English literary historian, critic, and poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1785, following the death of William Whitehead.
Edward Cardwell was an English theologian also noted for his contributions to the study of English church history. In addition to his scholarly work, he filled various administrative positions in the University of Oxford.
Thomas Hyde was an English linguist, historian, librarian, classicist, and orientalist. His chief work was the 1700 De Vetere Religione Persarum [On the Ancient Religion of the Persians], the first attempt to use Arab and Persian sources to correct the errors of Greek and Roman historians in their descriptions of Zoroastrianism and the other beliefs of the ancient Persians.
St Mary Hall was a medieval academic hall of the University of Oxford. It was associated with Oriel College from 1326 to 1545, but functioned independently from 1545 until it was incorporated into Oriel College in 1902.
Peter Elmsley was an English classical scholar.
Henry Francis Pelham, FSA, FBA was an English scholar and historian. He was Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford from 1889 to 1907, and was also President of Trinity College, Oxford, from 1897 to 1907.
St Alban Hall, sometimes known as St Alban's Hall or Stubbins, was one of the medieval halls of the University of Oxford, and one of the longest-surviving. It was established in the 13th century, acquired by neighbouring Merton College in the 16th century but operated separately until the institutions merged in the late 19th century. The site in Merton Street, Oxford, is now occupied by Merton's Edwardian St Alban's Quad.
The Camden Professorship of Ancient History at the University of Oxford was established in 1622 by English antiquary and historian William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, and endowed with the income of the manor of Bexley, becoming the first and oldest chair of history in England. Since 1877 it has been attached to Brasenose College, and since 1910 it has been limited to Roman history.
John Prideaux was an English academic and Bishop of Worcester.
Joseph White (1745–1814) was an English orientalist and theologian, Laudian Professor of Arabic and then Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford.
The position of Laudian Professor of Arabic, now known as the Abdulaziz Saud AlBabtain Laudian Professor, at the University of Oxford was established in 1636 by William Laud, who at the time was Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Archbishop of Canterbury. The first professor was Edward Pococke, who was working as a chaplain in Aleppo in what is now Syria when Laud asked him to return to Oxford to take up the position. Laud's regulations for the professorship required lectures on Arabic grammar and literature to be delivered weekly during university vacations and Lent. He also provided that the professor's lectures were to be attended by all medical students and Bachelors of Arts at the university, although this seems not to have happened since Pococke had few students, despite the provision for non-attenders to be fined. In 1881, a university statute repealed Laud's regulations and provided that the professor was to lecture in "the Arabic, Syriac, and Chaldee Languages", and attached the professorship to a fellowship at St John's College.
John Wallis was Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford from 1703 until his death.
Wyndham Knatchbull was a British clergyman and academic who was Laudian Professor of Arabic from 1823 until 1840.
Robert Gandell was a British academic and biblical scholar, who was Laudian Professor of Arabic from 1861 until his death.
Stephen Reay was a Scottish academic and clergyman, who was Laudian Professor of Arabic from 1840 until his death.
Gerard Jan Henk van Gelder FBA is a Dutch academic who was the Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford from 1998 to 2012.
Thomas Hunt FRS was an English academic, who was Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford from 1738 until his death.
Hugh Macilwain Last was Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford and Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.
Julia Margaret Bray is a British scholar of Oriental studies who specialises in Medieval to Early Modern Arabic literature. Since 2012, she has been the Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. She previously taught Arabic and Arabic literature at the universities of Manchester, Edinburgh and St Andrews, and was Professeur de littérature arabe médiévale at the Paris 8 University from 2003 to 2012.
Thomas Robinson was an English churchman and academic. He became Archdeacon of Madras in 1826, Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge in 1837, and Master of the Temple in 1845.