Gray, Douglas, 1930-2017
by Professor Vincent Gillespie FBA, Professor Helen Barr, Dr Jane Bliss and Professor Janet M. Wilson
- Date
- 20 Mar 2025
Douglas Gray, the first J.R.R. Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language at Oxford, was widely esteemed as a pre-eminent medievalist, who transformed scholarly understanding of the little known late medieval English period, the ‘long 15th century’, and the early modern one, through his many publications and editions. He held the chair with great distinction from 1980 to his retirement in 1997, while also a Professorial Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall. Before that, he had been a Fellow of Pembroke College (1961–1980) and University Lecturer in English Language (1976–1980).
Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 22