# List of presidents of the Oxford Union

Past elected presidents of the Oxford Union are listed below, with their college and the year/term in which they served. Iterum indicates that a person was serving a second term as president (which is not possible under the current Union rules).

## Key to colleges

* All Souls
* Balliol
* Brasenose
* Christ Church
* Corpus Christi
* Exeter
* Green Templeton
* Harris Manchester
* Hertford
* Jesus
* Keble
* Kellogg
* Lady Margaret Hall
* Linacre
* Lincoln
* Magdalen
* Mansfield
* Merton
* New College
* Nuffield
* Oriel
* Pembroke
* Queen's
* Regent's Park
* Reuben
* Somerville
* St Anne's
* St Antony's
* St Catherine's
* St Cross
* St Edmund Hall
* St Hilda's
* St Hugh's
* St John's
* St Peter's
* Trinity
* University
* Wadham
* Wolfson
* Worcester

## Presidents of the United Debating Society

These are the Presidents as listed
* 1823
** Donald Maclean
** A. W. Ashley
** J. C. Colquhoun
** John Wilson-Patten
** Thomas Powys
** John Bramston
** Henry Chetwynd-Talbot
** Richard Durnford
* 1824
** R. C. Dallas
** E. Vernon-Harcourt
** Harry Vane
** T. F. Hodges
** Henry Baring
** Viscount Mahon
** C. Des Voeux
** James Stuart-Wortley
** Robert Wilberforce
** Digby Wrangham
** A. J. Lewis
** Hassard Hume Dodgson
** John Chetwynd-Talbot
* 1825
** Norman Hilton Macdonald
** H. W. Torrens
** Samuel Wilberforce
** Richard Durnford (iterum)
** W. J. Blake
** Thomas Vesey
** E. E. Villiers
** Charles Murray
** Walter Trower
** R. A. Hornby
** Frederick Calvert
** J. R. Wood

## Presidents of the Oxford Union Society
### 1826–1850

These are the presidents as listed:
| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 1826 | — | Hassard Hume Dodgson Digby Wrangham | Richard Durnford E. E. Villiers (iterum) |
| 1826–27 | R. A. Hornby | Norman Hilton Macdonald Douglas Smith Henry Tufnell | J. Pearson Edward Twisleton |
| 1827–28 | William Courtenay Herman Merivale | Douglas Smith (iterum) | Thomas Hobhouse A. Grant |
| 1828–29 | Charles Baring | Henry Wilberforce Thomas Acland | H. W. Moncrieff |
| 1829–30 | Henry Manning Henry Wilberforce (iterum) | Sidney Herbert | James Gaskell |
| 1830–31 | James Gaskell William Gladstone | James Bruce Joseph Anstice | John Lyall |
| 1831–32 | Earl of Lincoln | G. K. Rickards | Roundell Palmer |
| 1832–33 | William Ward | Edward Cardwell | Archibald Tait |
| 1833–34 | Edward Massie | Robert Lowe Charles Marriott | William Sinclair |
| 1834–35 | J. Adams | William Ward (iterum) | J. M. Capes |
| 1835–36 | Edward Cardwell (iterum) | T. Brancker | John Cornish |
| 1836–37 | W. N. Tilson-Marsh | Henry Cripps | G. R. Moncrieff |
| 1837–38 | James Hessey | William Ridley | W. C. Lake |
| 1838–39 | Henry Highton | G. R. Moncrieff (iterum) | H. W. Sullivan |
| 1839–40 | William Buckley | J. B. Blackett | George Rawlinson |
| 1840–41 | C. T. Arnold | R. C. Powles | J. T. B. Landon |
| 1841–42 | Richard Congreve | Melville Portal | Drummond Chase |
| 1842–43 | Edward Plumptre | George Bowen | W. H. Scott |
| 1843–44 | John Coleridge | H. M. White | John Mackarness |
| 1844–45 | George Bowen(iterum) | Alfred Pott | John G. Cazenove |
| 1846–47 | Francis Sandford | John Conington | R. J. Simpson |
| 1848–49 | S. J. Hulme | C. H. Stanton | Earl of Dufferin W. B. Marriott |
| 1847–48 | George Hunt | Walter Congreve | Montagu Blackett |
| 1848–49 | G. R. Portal | F. Meyrick | George Boyle |
| 1849–50 | William Milman | J. R. K. Ralph | Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen |

### 1850–1875

| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 1850–51 | E. B. Lomer | Alexander Mitchell | Henry Smith |
| 1851–52 | Frederick Lygon | Walter Shirley | Henry Oxenham |
| 1852–53 | C. H. Pearson | J. Fitzgerald | Benjamin Rogers |
| 1853–54 | George Goschen | Arthur Butler | Godfrey Lushington |
| 1854–55 | George C. Brodrick | Robert Bartlett | J. H. Bridges |
| 1855–56 | D. C. Lathbury | Charles Turner | W. F. Wilberforce |
| 1856–57 | John Oakley | Philip Eliot | John Mitchinson |
| 1857–58 | T. R. Halcombe | Thomas Fowle | Charles Bowen |
| 1858–59 | E. K. Bennet | A. V. Dicey | A. O. Rutson |
| 1859–60 | Peter Fogg | Edward Moore | H. L. Harrison |
| 1860–61 | Francis Beaumont | Kenelm Digby | Thomas Green |
| 1861–62 | J. R. Magrath | Auberon Herbert A. H. Beesly | James Bryce |
| 1862–63 | O. W. Tancock | Reginald Smith | Reginald Abbot |
| 1863–64 | Alfred Robinson | William Fearon | Francis Jeune |
| 1864–65 | A. A. Clive | Alfred Robinson(iterum) | R. Robinson |
| 1865–66 | Courtenay Ilbert | Edward Talbot | George Simcox |
| 1866–67 | William Awdry | William Sanday | Lord Francis Hervey |
| 1867–68 | James Strachan-Davidson | Reginald Copleston | Edward Talbot (iterum) |
| 1868–69 | Mandell Creighton | C. T. Redington | Reginald Copleston (iterum) |
| 1869–70 | Charles Fyffe | William Duggan | A. H. Turner |
| 1870–71 | John Doyle | Thomas Grose | Herbert James |
| 1871–72 | Walter Lock | Annan Bryce | Henry Pope |
| 1872–73 | Charles Cruttwell | William M. Sinclair | Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett |
| 1873–74 | Robert Mowbray | M. H. Gould | H. H. Asquith |
| 1874–75 | H. A. Venables | Thomas Raleigh | Arthur Sloman |

### 1875–1900

| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 1875–76 | Herbert Paul | George Savery | Alfred Milner |
| 1876–77 | Robert Haddon | Dunbar Barton | Viscount Lymington Arthur Baumann |
| 1877–78 | Robert Horton | William St John Brodrick | Robert Germaine |
| 1878–79 | Nathaniel Micklem | Edward Poulton | F. R. Burrows |
| 1879–80 | Edward Cook | Richard Dawson | B. R. Wise |
| 1880–81 | George Curzon | John Sargeaunt | Charles White |
| 1881–82 | Edward Horsburgh | John Hamilton | A. N. Cumming |
| 1882–83 | Michael Sadler | W. H. Shaw | Halford Mackinder |
| 1883–84 | John Pemberton | A. Dyson Williams | William Worsley |
| 1884–85 | Cosmo Lang | George Vidal | George Bellewes |
| 1885–86 | Robert Cecil | Anthony Hawkins | C. Emmott |
| 1886–87 | / Walter Phillips | Charles Green | C. J. Blacker |
| 1887–88 | H. M. Godfray | A. J. McGregor | A. J. Carlyle |
| 1888–89 | Arthur Griffith-Boscawen | Spurrier Parmiter | Herbert Snowden |
| 1889–90 | George Mortimer | George Peel | Frank Coller |
| 1890–91 | Carl Knaus | William Cozens-Hardy | Lord Ampthill |
| 1891–92 | A. E. Ripley | John Magee | James Galbraith |
| 1892–93 | Robert Charles Phillimore | C. H. Eliot | William Lygon |
| 1893–94 | H. W. Liversidge | Lord Balcarres | F. E. Smith |
| 1894–95 | Herbert Morrah | Hilaire Belloc | P. J. Macdonell |
| 1895–96 | R. C. Phillimore (iterum) | John Simon | Archibald Boyd-Carpenter |
| 1896–97 | Francis Hirst | Robert Johnson | James Cleland |
| 1897–98 | F. Lenwood | Edmund Bentley | Cyril Garbett |
| 1898–99 | L. R. F. Oldershaw | John Buchan | Arthur Steel |
| 1899–1900 | G. M. Gathorne-Hardy | Robert Ensor | Raymond Asquith |

### 1900–1925

| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 1900–01 | Harold Baker | Algernon Cecil | T. Cuthbertson |
| 1901–02 | George Tomlinson | Sandie Lindsay | Eric Macfadyen |
| 1902–03 | Herbert du Parcq | Herbert Asquith | F. W. Curran |
| 1903–04 | John Brooke | William Temple | W. A. Moore |
| 1904–05 | E. S. Jose | John Heath | Alexander Shaw |
| 1905–06 | M. H. Woods | H. M. Paul | Henry Lygon |
| 1906–07 | Gervais Rentoul | Neville Talbot | Will Gladstone |
| 1907–08 | W. S. Armour | Charles Le Quesne | Hugh Hallett |
| 1908–09 | M. H. Richmond | Ronald Knox | Edgar Swain |
| 1909–10 | Robert Laffan | Robert S. A. Palmer | Leonard Stein |
| 1910–11 | A. W. Cockburn | Nathaniel Micklem | Raymond Bevir |
| 1911–12 | Philip Guedalla | Frank Griffith | Robert Barrington-Ward |
| 1912–13 | G. S. Woodhouse | Walter Monckton | W. J. Bland |
| 1913–14 | Godfrey Talbot | Ernest Roberts | Alexander Wedderburn |
| 1914–15 | Arthur Wiggin | N/A | N/A |
| 1915–16 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1916–17 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1917–18 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1918–19 | N/A | N/A | Leslie Hore-Belisha |
| 1919–20 | Thomas Earp | Constantine Gallop | John Russell |
| 1920–21 | Beverley Nichols | Alec Beechman | Cecil Ramage |
| 1921–22 | Kenneth Lindsay | John Evans | Ralph Carson |
| 1922–23 | Edward Marjoribanks | J. Douglas Woodruff | Gordon Bagnall |
| 1923–24 | Christopher Hollis | Christopher Scaife | Gerald Gardiner |
| 1924–25 | Henry Scrymgeour-Wedderburn | Robert Bernays | Vincent Lloyd-Jones |

### 1925–1950

| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 1925–26 | Hugh Molson | Gyles Isham | Lindley Fraser |
| 1926–27 | Alan Lennox-Boyd | Roger Fulford | John Playfair Price |
| 1927–28 | Malcolm Brereton | Dingle Foot | Aubrey Herbert |
| 1928–29 | Somerset Stopford Brooke | Roger Wilson | Quintin Hogg |
| 1929–30 | Michael Stewart | Edgar Lustgarten | J. P. W. Mallalieu |
| 1930–31 | John Boyd-Carpenter | John Foot | Geoffrey Wilson |
| 1931–32 | Toby O'Brien | Arthur Irvine | Brian Davidson |
| 1932–33 | Christopher Smuts | Frank Hardie | Tony Greenwood |
| 1933–34 | Michael Foot | Dosoo Karaka | Keith Steel-Maitland |
| 1934–35 | W. G. Murray | David Lewis | James Hickerton |
| 1935–36 | Brian Farrell | Ian Harvey | Bill Shebbeare |
| 1936–37 | James Brown | Christopher Mayhew | Patrick Anderson |
| 1937–38 | Alan Fyfe | Raymond Walton | Philip Toynbee |
| 1938–39 | Alan Wood | Edward Heath | Hugh Fraser |
| 1939–40 | A. F. Giles Nicholas Henderson | Madron Seligman | Robin Edmonds |
| 1940–41 | James Comyn | Indar Bahadoorsingh | Kenneth Riddle |
| 1941–42 | Michael Kinchin-Smith | Gershon Hirsch | F. P. R. Hinchliffe |
| 1942–43 | James Cameron Tudor | Herbert Clarke | Courtney Blackmore |
| 1943–44 | Godfrey le Quesne | Kenneth Lamb | Fernando Henriques |
| 1944–45 | Tony Pickford | Alan Gibson Rudi Weisweiller | Anthony Walton |
| 1945-46 | John Long | Basil Wigoder | Anthony Crosland |
| 1946-47 | Ronald Brown | Roger Gray | Anthony Wedgwood Benn |
| 1947–48 | Peter Kroyer | Clive Wigram | Edward Boyle |
| 1948–49 | Seymour Hills | Peter Kirk | Rodney Donald |
| 1949–50 | Dick Faber | Uwe Kitzinger | Robin Day |

### 1950–1975

| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 1950–51 | Godfrey Smith | Jeremy Thorpe | William Rees-Mogg |
| 1951–52 | Ivan Yates | Peter Blaker | Howard Shuman |
| 1952–53 | Patrick Mayhew | Bryan Magee | John Peters |
| 1953–54 | Andrew Cuninghame | Tyrell Burgess | Raghavan N. Iyer |
| 1954–55 | Michael Heseltine | Jeremy Isaacs | Anthony Howard |
| 1955–56 | Desmond Watkins | Alec Grant | Roy Dixon |
| 1956–57 | Edmund Ions | Jeremy Lever | Peter Brooke |
| 1957–58 | Brian Walden | Lalith Athulathmudali | Stuart Griffiths |
| 1958–59 | Ron Owen | Lakshman Kadirgamar | Anthony Newton |
| 1959–60 | Joe Trattner | Ian Lyon | Peter Jay |
| 1960–61 | Robert Rowland | Phillip Whitehead | Paul Foot |
| 1961–62 | Howard Preece | Hugh Stephenson | John McDonnell |
| 1962–63 | Michael Beloff | Girish Karnad | Jeffrey Jowell |
| 1963–64 | Anthony Hart | Garth Pratt | Lord James Douglas-Hamilton |
| 1964–65 | Eric Abrahams | Neil MacCormick | Tariq Ali |
| 1965–66 | Douglas Hogg | Joshua Bamfield | Jeremy Beloff |
| 1966–67 | Montek Singh Ahluwalia | Ronald Cohen | Stephen Marks |
| 1967–68 | Robert Jackson | Geraldine Jones | William Waldegrave |
| 1968–69 | Ian Glick | David Walter | Colin Youlden |
| 1969–70 | Gyles Brandreth | Guy Harkin | Stephen Milligan |
| 1970–71 | Eric Parsloe | Michael House | Susan Richards |
| 1971–72 | Christopher Tookey | Julian Priestley Pradeep Mitra | Patric Dickinson |
| 1972–73 | Philip McDonagh | Michael Austerberry | Colin Maltby |
| 1973–74 | David Warren | Simon Walker | Michael Soole |
| 1974–75 | Robert McDonagh | Robert Scoble | Victor van Amerongen |

### 1975–2000

| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 1975–76 | David Soskin | Andrew Bell | Colin Moynihan |
| 1976–77 | Richard Norton | Benazir Bhutto | Victoria Schofield |
| 1977–78 | Damian Green | Nicholas O'Shaughnessy | John Harrison |
| 1978–79 | Daniel Moylan | Alan Duncan | Philip May |
| 1979–80 | Michael Crick | Warwick Lightfoot | Nicholas Prettejohn |
| 1980–81 | Rupert Soames | Andrew Sutcliffe | Alexandra Jones |
| 1981–82 | William Hague | Kevin Brennan | Paul Thompson |
| 1982–83 | Christopher Wortley | Hilali Noordeen | Andrew Sullivan |
| 1983–84 | Neale Stevenson | Malcolm Bull | Melvyn Stride |
| 1984–85 | Laurence Grafstein | Roland Rudd | Neil Sherlock |
| 1985–86 | Anthony Goodman | Jeya Wilson | Boris Johnson |
| 1986–87 | Angus McCullough | Simon Stevens | Jessica Pulay |
| 1987–88 | Anthony Frieze | Michael Gove | Duncan Gray |
| 1988–89 | Andrew McCulloch | Adam Bruce | Stefan Green |
| 1989–90 | Diana Gerald | Ed Lazarus | Jeremy Quin |
| 1990–91 | Melanie Johnson | Oliver Campbell KC | Damian Hinds |
| 1991–92 | Nicholas Edgar | Graeme Halkerston | Adrian Gannon |
| 1992–93 | Christopher Hall | James Robertson | Katherine Wade |
| 1993–94 | Toby Lewis | Kate Wilson | Peter Gowers |
| 1994–95 | Jeremy Green | Robert Palmer | David Pinto-Duschinsky |
| 1995–96 | Matt Guy | Jonathan Wolf | Paul Kenward |
| 1996–97 | Jenny Carter-Manning | Rob Harrington | Oli Evans |
| 1997–98 | Sam Gyimah | Clare Dixon | Ellie Blagbrough |
| 1998–99 | Helen Eastman | Theo Mills | Nicky Black |
| 1999–2000 | Ben Seifert | Lucy Aitkens | Jeff Bell |

### 2000–present

| Year | Michaelmas | Hilary | Trinity |
| 2000–01 | Richard Silcock | Nick Mason | Amy Harland |
| 2001–02 | Neil Mahapatra | Charlotte Keenan | Karen Price |
| 2002–03 | David Watson | Fraser Campbell | Ambrose Faulks |
| 2003–04 | Marcus Walker | Edward Tomlinson | Georgina Costa |
| 2004–05 | Ruzwana Bashir | Laura Poots | Richard Tydeman |
| 2005–06 | Chris Farmer | Sapana Agrawal | David Powell |
| 2006–07 | James Wise | Theo Roos | Alex Just |
| 2007–08 | Luke Tryl | Emily Partington | Ben Tansey |
| 2008–09 | Josh Roche | Charlie Holt | Corey Dixon |
| 2009–10 | James Dray | Stuart Cullen | Laura Winwood |
| 2010–11 | James Kingston | James Langman | Ashvir Sangha |
| 2011–12 | Isabelle Westbury | Lauren Pringle | Isabel Ernst |
| 2012–13 | Seung-yoon Lee | Maria Rioumine | Joseph D'Urso |
| 2013–14 | Parit Wacharasindhu | Polina Ivanova | Ben Sullivan |
| 2014–15 | Mayank Banerjee | Lisa Wehden | Olivia Merrett |
| 2015–16 | Charles Vaughan | Stuart Webber | Robert Harris |
| 2016–17 | Noah Lachs | Nikolay Koshikov | Michael Li |
| 2017–18 | Chris Zabilowicz | Laali Vadlamani | Gui Cavalcanti |
| 2018–19 | Stephen Horvath | Daniel Wilkinson | Genevieve Athis |
| 2019–20 | Brendan McGrath Sara Dube (Acting) | Sara Dube | Mahi Joshi |
| 2020–21 | Beatrice Barr | James Price | Adam Roble |
| 2021–22 | Chengkai Xie | Molly Mantle | Michael-Akolade Ayodeji |
| 2022–23 | Ahmad Nawaz Charlie Mackintosh (Acting) | Charlie Mackintosh | Matthew Dick |
| 2023–24 | Disha Hegde | Hannah Edwards | Louis Wilson |
| 2024–25 | Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy | Israr Khan | Anita Okunde |
| 2025–26 | Moosa Harraj | | |

## Other notable officeholders

The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was Union Secretary in Michaelmas 1848.
Harold Macmillan was Secretary of the Union in Hilary 1914, then Junior Treasurer (elected unopposed, which was then very unusual) in Trinity 1914; but for the war he would "almost certainly" have been President.
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was Treasurer in Trinity 1924.
Humayun Kabir was Librarian in 1931.
Roy Jenkins served as Librarian and Secretary and lost two Presidential elections.
Norman St John-Stevas was Secretary of the Oxford Union but never became President despite his ambition to be the first person to be President of both Oxford and Cambridge Unions; he had been President of the Cambridge Union during his undergraduate years, before he studied at Oxford.
Ann Widdecombe was Treasurer in 1972, after having served as Secretary the previous year.
Jacob Rees-Mogg was Librarian in 1990, losing the election for the presidency to future Education Secretary Damian Hinds.

## In fiction

* Simon Kerslake (early 1950s), protagonist of the Jeffrey Archer novel First Among Equals invites sitting Prime Minister Winston Churchill to propose the motion during Eights Week that "This House Would Rather be a Commoner than a Lord". His future rival, The Hon. Charles Seymour listens from the floor and resolves to enter politics also. Archer himself was elected to Standing Committee for one term in 1965.