Department receives original copy of Gerald Aylmer's dissertation
Aylmer was the first Head of Department of History at the University.
The Department was delighted to receive the original copy of Gerald Aylmer's DPhil dissertation this week.
Jamie Nugent (left) with Lawrence Black (right), holding two volumes of Aylmer's thesis.
Aylmer was the founding Head of the Department of History at the University from 1963, until he became Master of St. Peter's College, Oxford in 1979. The thesis was delivered to the current Head of Department, Lawrence Black, by Gerald's great nephew, Jamie Nugent. Jamie is currently a MA student in History at Queen's University, Belfast.
The thesis, "Studies in the Institutions and Personnel of English Central Administration, 1625-42" was submitted to Balliol College, Oxford in 1954 and supervised by Christopher Hill. It runs to 1209 pages and, legend has it, was the thesis that prompted Oxford's Modern History Faculty to institute a word limit for DPhils.
The Department hosts an annual Aylmer Lecture:
- Professor Joy Porter 'The American Environment: Histories of Conflict Over Energy, Water and Treatied Space', Thursday 13 June 2019, 5.30pm