Public Orator

File:William Crowe Dighton.jpg (1745–1829), Public Orator at the University of Oxford.]]

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.{{Cite web |year=1913 |title=Definition: public orator |url=http://dictionary.die.net/public%20orator |work=Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary |publisher=dictionary.die.net |accessdate=10 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426140016/http://dictionary.die.net/public%20orator |archive-date=26 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}

The position at Oxford University dates from 1564.{{Cite book |editor-last=Hibbert |editor-first=Christopher |editor-link=Christopher Hibbert |year=1988 |title=The Encyclopaedia of Oxford |publisher=Macmillan |chapter=Public Orator |page=341 |isbn=0-333-39917-X }} 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.{{cite web |title=Orator/Public Orator |url=http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/Documents/acad/lists/Orato.html |publisher=University of Cambridge |accessdate=11 August 2012}} Trinity College Dublin in Ireland also has a Public Orator.{{cite web |title=John Victor Luce, Public Orator 1972–2005 |url=http://www.tcd.ie/Classics/jvl/ |publisher=Trinity College Dublin |location=Dublin, Republic of Ireland |accessdate=10 August 2012 }} There is no equivalent position in American universities.{{cite news |last=Schilling |first=Bernard N. |date=June 1959 |title=The Public Orator and Gradum Honoris Causa |journal=AAUP Bulletin |volume=45 |number=2 |pages=260–271 |publisher=American Association of University Professors |jstor=40222429 }}

List of Public Orators

=England=

==Oxford University==

Thomas Kingsmill
Edmund CampionWaugh E 1935
William Strode (lived 1602–1644)
Henry Hammond (1645–1648){{acad|id=HMNT626H|name=Hammond, Henry}}
Ralph Button (1648–1660){{acad|id=BTN634R|name=Button, Ralph}}
William Crowe
Isaac Wake
William Walter Merry (1880–1910)
A.D. Godley (1910–1920)
Arthur Blackburne Poynton (1925–1932)
Cyril Bailey (1932–1939)
Thomas Farrant Higham (1939–1958)A selection of his speeches is available in Higham, Thomas Farrant. 1960. Orationes Oxonienses Selectae: Short Lat. Speeches on Distinguished Contemporaries. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

A.N. Bryan-Brown (1958–1967)
Colin Hardie (1967–1973)
John G. Griffith (1973–1980){{cite journal |last1=Diggle |first1=James |title=Sic Oxoniae Loquuntur |journal=The Classical Review |series=New Series |date=1987 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=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.

Godfrey Bond (1980–1992){{cite news |title=Obituary: Godfrey Bond |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-godfrey-bond-1278360.html |accessdate=15 February 2020 |work=The Independent |date=13 February 1997 |language=en}}
Jasper Griffin (1992–2004)
Richard Henry Austen Jenkyns (2004–2016)
Jonathan Katz (2016 to present)

==Cambridge University==

Richard Croke (1522){{acad|id=CRK506R|name=Croke, Richard}}
George Day (1528–1537){{acad|id=DY520G|name=Day, George}}
John Redman (1537–1538){{acad|id=CHK529J|name=Redman, John}}
Sir Thomas Smith (1538–1542){{acad|id=SMT526T|name=Smith, Thomas}}
Sir John Cheke (1544){{acad|id=RDMN525J|name=Cheke, John}}
Roger Ascham (1546–1554){{acad|id=ASCN533R|name=Ascham, Roger}}
Thomas Gardiner (1554–1557){{acad|id=GRDR542T|name=Gardiner, Thomas}}
John Stokes (1557–1559){{acad|id=STKS544J|name=Stokes, John}}
George Ackworth (1559–1560){{acad|id=ACWT548G|name=Acworth, George}}
Anthony Girlington (1560–1561){{acad|id=GRLN548A|name=Girlington, Anthony}}
William Masters (1563–1565){{acad|id=MSTS549W|name=Masters, William}}
Thomas Byng (1565–1570){{acad|id=BN552T|name=Byng, Thomas}}
William Lewin (1570–1571){{cite web|url=http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/acad/lists/Orato.html|title=List|publisher=|accessdate=5 February 2017}}
John Becon (1571–1573){{acad|id=BCN559J|name=Becon, John}}
Richard Bridgewater (1573–1581){{acad|id=BRGR555R|name=Bridgewater, Richard}}
Anthony Wingfield (1580–1589){{acad|id=WNGT569A|name=Wingfield, Anthony}}
Henry Mowtlow (1589–1594){{acad|id=MWTW571H|name=Mowtlowe, Henry}}
Sir Robert Naunton (1594–1611){{acad|id=NNTN578R|name=Naunton, Robert}}
Sir Francis Nethersole (1611–1619){{acad|id=NTRL603F|name=Nethersole, Francis}}
George Herbert (1619–1627){{acad|id=HRBT609G|name=Herbert, George}}
Robert Creighton (1627–1639){{acad|id=CRTN614R|name=Creighton, Robert}}
Henry Molle (1639–1650){{acad|id=ML612H|name=Mole, Henry}}
Ralph Widdrington (1650–1673){{acad|id=WDRN632R|name=Widdrington, Ralph}}
Henry Paman (1674–1681){{acad|id=PMN643H|name=Paman, Henry}}
John Billers (1681–1688){{acad|id=BLRS666J|name=Billers, John}}
Henry Felton (1689–1696)
William Ayloffe (1696–1726){{acad|id=ALF680W|name=Ayloffe, William}}
Edmund Castle (1727–1730){{acad|id=CSTL716E|name=Castle, Edmund}}
Philip Williams (1730–1741){{acad|id=WLMS710P|name=Williams, Philip}}
James Tunstall (1741–1746)
Philip Yonge (1746–1752)
John Skynner (1752–1762){{acad|id=SKNR740J|name=Skynner, John}}
William Barford (1762–1768)
Richard Beadon (1768–1778)
William Pearce (1778–1788)
William Lort Mansel (1788–1798){{acad|id=MNSL770WL|name=Lort, William Lort}}
Edmund Outram (1798–1809)
Ralph Tatham (1809–1836)
Christopher Wordsworth (February–April 1836){{acad|id=WRDT825C|name=Wordsworth, Christopher}}
William Henry Bateson (1848–1857){{acad|id=BT829WH|name=Bateson, William Henry}}
William George Clark (1857–1869){{acad|id=CLRK839WG|name=Clark, William George}}
Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (1869–1875)
Sir John Edwin Sandys (1875–1920; orator emeritus from 1920)
Terrot Reaveley Glover (1920–1939)
William Keith Chambers Guthrie (1939–1957)
Lancelot Patrick Wilkinson (1958–1974)
Frank Henry Stubbings (1974–1982)
James Diggle (1982–1993)
Anthony Bowen (1993–2007)Cf. Bowen, Anthony. 2009. Cambridge Orations, 1993–2007: A Selection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511609626.

Rupert Thompson (2008{{Cite web|url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2016-17/special/04/section2.shtml|title=PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY - Cambridge University Reporter Special No 4 (2016-17)}} 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){{Cite DNB12|wstitle=Webb, Thomas Ebenezer}}
Arthur Palmer (1888{{snd}}no later than 1897){{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Palmer, Arthur (1841-1897)|volume=3}}
Robert Yelverton Tyrrell (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.