Public Orator

The Public Orator is a traditional official post at universities, especially in the United Kingdom. The holder of this office acts as the voice of the university on public occasions.^[1]

The position at Oxford University dates from 1564.^[2] The Public Orator at the university presents honorary degrees, giving an oration for each person that is honoured. They may be required to compose addresses and letters as directed by the Hebdomadal Council 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 by Queen Elizabeth I in 1566. The Public Orator, Thomas Kingsmill, gave a very long historical speech. Sir Isaac Wake addressed King James I similarly in 1605.

At the University of Cambridge, the title for the position changed from "Public Orator" to "Orator" in 1926.^[3] Trinity College Dublin in Ireland also has a Public Orator.^[4] There is no equivalent position in American universities.^[5]

List of Public Orators

England

Oxford University

Thomas Kingsmill
Edmund Campion^[6]
William Strode (lived 1602–1644)
Henry Hammond (1645–1648)^[7]
Ralph Button (1648–1660)^[8]
William Crowe
Isaac Wake
William Walter Merry (1880–1910)
A.D. Godley (1910–1925)
Arthur Blackburne Poynton (1925–1932)
Cyril Bailey (1932–1939)
Thomas Farrant Higham (1939–1958)^[9]
A.N. Bryan-Brown (1958–1967)
Colin Hardie (1967–1973)
John G. Griffith (1973–1980)^[10]
Godfrey Bond (1980–1992)^[11]
Jasper Griffin (1992–2004)
Richard Henry Austen Jenkyns (2004–2016)
Jonathan Katz (2016 to present)

Cambridge University

Richard Croke (1522)^[12]
George Day (1528–1537)^[13]
John Redman (1537–1538)^[14]
Sir Thomas Smith (1538–1542)^[15]
Sir John Cheke (1544)^[16]
Roger Ascham (1546–1554)^[17]
Thomas Gardiner (1554–1557)^[18]
John Stokes (1557–1559)^[19]
George Ackworth (1559–1560)^[20]
Anthony Girlington (1560–1561)^[21]
William Masters (1563–1565)^[22]
Thomas Byng (1565–1570)^[23]
William Lewin (1570–1571)^[24]
John Becon (1571–1573)^[25]
Richard Bridgewater (1573–1581)^[26]
Anthony Wingfield (1580–1589)^[27]
Henry Mowtlow (1589–1594)^[28]
Sir Robert Naunton (1594–1611)^[29]
Sir Francis Nethersole (1611–1619)^[30]
George Herbert (1619–1627)^[31]
Robert Creighton (1627–1639)^[32]
Henry Molle (1639–1650)^[33]
Ralph Widdrington (1650–1673)^[34]
Henry Paman (1674–1681)^[35]
John Billers (1681–1688)^[36]
Henry Felton (1689–1696)^[24]
William Ayloffe (1696–1726)^[37]
Edmund Castle (1727–1730)^[38]
Philip Williams (1730–1741)^[39]
James Tunstall (1741–1746)^[24]
Philip Yonge (1746–1752)^[24]
John Skynner (1752–1762)^[40]
William Barford (1762–1768)^[24]
Richard Beadon (1768–1778)^[24]
William Pearce (1778–1788)^[24]
William Lort Mansel (1788–1798)^[41]
Edmund Outram (1798–1809)^[24]
Ralph Tatham (1809–1836)^[24]
Christopher Wordsworth (February–April 1836)^[42]
William Henry Bateson (1848–1857)^[43]
William George Clark (1857–1869)^[44]
Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (1869–1875)^[24]
Sir John Edwin Sandys (1875–1920; orator emeritus from 1920)^[24]
Terrot Reaveley Glover (1920–1939)^[24]
William Keith Chambers Guthrie (1939–1957)^[24]
Lancelot Patrick Wilkinson (1958–1974)^[24]
Frank Henry Stubbings (1974–1982)^[24]
James Diggle (1982–1993)^[24]
Anthony Bowen (1993^[24]–2007)^[45]
Rupert Thompson (2008^[46] to present)

Liverpool University

John Pinsent (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)^[47]
Arthur Palmer (1888 – no later than 1897)^[48]
Robert Yelverton Tyrrell (1899)
Louis Claude Purser (1904)
Sir Robert Tate, (1914 to 1952)^[49]
John V. Luce, (1972 to 2005)
Brian McGing, (2005 to 2008)
Anna Chahoud, (2008 to present)

Russia

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Alexei Solopov [ru] (1994 to present)

References

^ "Definition: public orator". Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. dictionary.die.net. 1913. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
^ Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Public Orator". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. p. 341. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
^ "Orator/Public Orator". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
^ "John Victor Luce, Public Orator 1972–2005". Dublin, Republic of Ireland: Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
^ Schilling, Bernard N. (June 1959). "The Public Orator and Gradum Honoris Causa". AAUP Bulletin. Vol. 45, no. 2. American Association of University Professors. pp. 260–271. JSTOR 40222429.
^ Waugh E 1935
^ "Hammond, Henry (HMNT626H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Button, Ralph (BTN634R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ A selection of his speeches is available in Higham, Thomas Farrant. 1960. Orationes Oxonienses Selectae: Short Lat. Speeches on Distinguished Contemporaries. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Diggle, James (1987). "Sic Oxoniae Loquuntur". The Classical Review. New Series. 37 (1): 92–95. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00100496. S2CID 162873572.. Some orations are printed in Griffith, John G. 1985. Oratiunculae Oxonienses selectae: being the Latin texts and English paraphrases of sixty-four speeches delivered in the Sheldonian Theatre when presenting recipients of Honorary Degrees, together with some additional but not unrelated matter. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
^ "Obituary: Godfrey Bond". The Independent. 13 February 1997. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
^ "Croke, Richard (CRK506R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Day, George (DY520G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Redman, John (CHK529J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Smith, Thomas (SMT526T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Cheke, John (RDMN525J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Ascham, Roger (ASCN533R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Gardiner, Thomas (GRDR542T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Stokes, John (STKS544J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Acworth, George (ACWT548G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Girlington, Anthony (GRLN548A)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Masters, William (MSTS549W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Byng, Thomas (BN552T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "List". Retrieved 5 February 2017.
^ "Becon, John (BCN559J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Bridgewater, Richard (BRGR555R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Wingfield, Anthony (WNGT569A)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Mowtlowe, Henry (MWTW571H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Naunton, Robert (NNTN578R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Nethersole, Francis (NTRL603F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Herbert, George (HRBT609G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Creighton, Robert (CRTN614R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Mole, Henry (ML612H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Widdrington, Ralph (WDRN632R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Paman, Henry (PMN643H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Billers, John (BLRS666J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Ayloffe, William (ALF680W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Castle, Edmund (CSTL716E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Williams, Philip (WLMS710P)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Skynner, John (SKNR740J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Lort, William Lort (MNSL770WL)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Wordsworth, Christopher (WRDT825C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Bateson, William Henry (BT829WH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Clark, William George (CLRK839WG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ Cf. Bowen, Anthony. 2009. Cambridge Orations, 1993–2007: A Selection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511609626.
^ "PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY - Cambridge University Reporter Special No 4 (2016-17)".
^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Webb, Thomas Ebenezer" . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1901). "Palmer, Arthur (1841-1897)" . Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
^ A selection of his speeches is published in Tate, Robert William. 1941. Orationes et epistolae Dublinenses: (1914 - 40). Dublin: Hodges, Figgis.

[1] "Definition: public orator". Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. dictionary.die.net. 1913. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2012.

[hibbert-2] Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Public Orator". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. p. 341. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.

[3] "Orator/Public Orator". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 11 August 2012.

[4] "John Victor Luce, Public Orator 1972–2005". Dublin, Republic of Ireland: Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 10 August 2012.

[5] Schilling, Bernard N. (June 1959). "The Public Orator and Gradum Honoris Causa". AAUP Bulletin. Vol. 45, no. 2. American Association of University Professors. pp. 260–271. JSTOR 40222429.

[6] Waugh E 1935

[7] "Hammond, Henry (HMNT626H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[8] "Button, Ralph (BTN634R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[9] A selection of his speeches is available in Higham, Thomas Farrant. 1960. Orationes Oxonienses Selectae: Short Lat. Speeches on Distinguished Contemporaries. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[10] Diggle, James (1987). "Sic Oxoniae Loquuntur". The Classical Review. New Series. 37 (1): 92–95. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00100496. S2CID 162873572.. Some orations are printed in Griffith, John G. 1985. Oratiunculae Oxonienses selectae: being the Latin texts and English paraphrases of sixty-four speeches delivered in the Sheldonian Theatre when presenting recipients of Honorary Degrees, together with some additional but not unrelated matter. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

[11] "Obituary: Godfrey Bond". The Independent. 13 February 1997. Retrieved 15 February 2020.

[12] "Croke, Richard (CRK506R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[13] "Day, George (DY520G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[14] "Redman, John (CHK529J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[15] "Smith, Thomas (SMT526T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[16] "Cheke, John (RDMN525J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[17] "Ascham, Roger (ASCN533R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[18] "Gardiner, Thomas (GRDR542T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[19] "Stokes, John (STKS544J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[20] "Acworth, George (ACWT548G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[21] "Girlington, Anthony (GRLN548A)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[22] "Masters, William (MSTS549W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[23] "Byng, Thomas (BN552T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[Cam_list-24] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "List". Retrieved 5 February 2017.

[25] "Becon, John (BCN559J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[26] "Bridgewater, Richard (BRGR555R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[27] "Wingfield, Anthony (WNGT569A)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[28] "Mowtlowe, Henry (MWTW571H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[29] "Naunton, Robert (NNTN578R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[30] "Nethersole, Francis (NTRL603F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[31] "Herbert, George (HRBT609G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[32] "Creighton, Robert (CRTN614R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[33] "Mole, Henry (ML612H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[34] "Widdrington, Ralph (WDRN632R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[35] "Paman, Henry (PMN643H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[36] "Billers, John (BLRS666J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[37] "Ayloffe, William (ALF680W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[38] "Castle, Edmund (CSTL716E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[39] "Williams, Philip (WLMS710P)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[40] "Skynner, John (SKNR740J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[41] "Lort, William Lort (MNSL770WL)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[42] "Wordsworth, Christopher (WRDT825C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[43] "Bateson, William Henry (BT829WH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[44] "Clark, William George (CLRK839WG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[45] Cf. Bowen, Anthony. 2009. Cambridge Orations, 1993–2007: A Selection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511609626.

[46] "PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY - Cambridge University Reporter Special No 4 (2016-17)".

[DNBWebb-47] Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Webb, Thomas Ebenezer" . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[DNBPalmer-48] Lee, Sidney, ed. (1901). "Palmer, Arthur (1841-1897)" . Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[49] A selection of his speeches is published in Tate, Robert William. 1941. Orationes et epistolae Dublinenses: (1914 - 40). Dublin: Hodges, Figgis.

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