# List of honorary fellows of Keble College, Oxford

Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It was founded in memory of the Anglican clergyman John Keble, who died in 1866, and was intended to cater for men whose financial resources were insufficient to enable them to study at one of the older Oxford colleges. After a public appeal for donations in John Keble's memory, the college opened in 1870. The college's buildings – which were quite unlike any previous Oxford college, with their use of coloured bricks in patterns – were designed by William Butterfield; there have been later additions as the college has grown.
The Governing Body of the college has the ability to elect "distinguished persons" to Honorary Fellowships. Under the current statutes of the college, Honorary Fellows cannot vote at meetings of the Governing Body and do not receive financial reward, but they receive "such other privileges as the Governing Body may determine." They can be called upon to help decide whether to dismiss or discipline members of academic staff (including the Warden of the college).
The first four Honorary Fellows were elected in 1931. Two of them (Edward Talbot and Walter Lock) were former Wardens of the college; the other two, Sir Wilmot Herringham (a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of London) and Sir Reginald Craddock (a former Lieutenant-Governor of Burma), had studied at Keble College before achieving prominence in public life. Honorary Fellows have included former students (Old Members), Fellows, and Wardens, as well as some with no previous academic connection to the college. In this latter group there are benefactors (for example Sir Anthony O'Reilly, elected 2002), and individuals of distinction such as former U.S. President Ronald Reagan (elected 1994) and the poet Sir John Betjeman (elected 1972). Betjeman, who studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, was involved in Keble's centenary appeal in 1970: The Times said in its obituary of him that the Honorary Fellowship was particularly appropriate because of the college's "architectural and Anglican connotations", Betjeman having strong interests in both areas. As of July 2011, the longest-serving Honorary Fellows are Raoul Franklin and Dennis Nineham, both of whom were elected in 1980. The three longest-serving Honorary Fellows are Sir John Forsdyke (Principal Librarian of the British Museum; appointed 1937, died 1979), Sir Thomas Armstrong (conductor; appointed 1955, died 1994) and Harry Carpenter (Warden, later Bishop of Oxford; appointed 1960, died 1993).

## Honorary Fellows

The abbreviations used in the "Link" column denote the person's connection with the college before election as an Honorary Fellow:
* C – A member of the college council: the Warden and Council governed the college between 6 June 1870 (the date of incorporation) and 9 April 1952 (the date when the college's statutes were amended to make the college self-governing with control passing to the Warden and Fellows).
* F – A former Fellow of the college
* OM – An Old Member of the college
* W – A former Warden of the college
A dash denotes that the person had no previous academic link with the college.
| Name | Year | Link | Notes |
| Eric Abbott | 1960 | W | Warden (1956–60); Dean of Westminster Abbey (1959–74) |
| Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis | 2008 | OM | Secretary of State for Transport (2009–10) |
| Sir Thomas Armstrong | 1955 | OM | Organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (1933–55); Principal of the Royal Academy of Music (1955–68) |
| Sir Christopher Ball | 1989 | W | Warden (1980–88) |
| Ed Balls | 2008 | OM | Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (2007–10) |
| Spencer Barrett | 1981 | F | Fellow and Tutor in Classics (1952–81) |
| Timothy Besley | 2013 | OM | Economist, School Professor of Economics and Political Science LSE |
| Sir John Betjeman | 1972 | – | Poet Laureate (1972–84); one of the "Friends" of the college's Centenary Appeal |
| Roger Boden | 2020 | F | Burser of Keble |
| Sir Walter Bodmer | 1982 | – | Human geneticist; Principal of Hertford College, Oxford (1996–2005) |
| John Bridcut | 2020 | OM | Documentary filmmaker |
| Edwin Cameron | 2003 | OM | South African Rhodes Scholar; Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa (2000–08) and of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 2009 |
| Harry Carpenter | 1960 | W | Warden (1939–55); Bishop of Oxford (1955–70) |
| Hugh Cecil, 1st Baron Quickswood | 1952 | C | Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford (1892–1936); MP for Oxford University (1910–37); council member (1898–1952) |
| Lodwrick Cook | 1993 | – | American businessman and philanthropist; chief executive of ARCO, a college benefactor |
| Sir Reginald Craddock | 1931 | OM | Lieutenant-Governor of Burma (1917–22); MP for Combined English Universities (1931–37) |
| Sir Barrington Cunliffe | 2008 | F | Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford, and Fellow (1972–2007) |
| Adrian Darby | 1998 | F | Fellow and Tutor in Economics (1963–1985); a former Chairman of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, among other conservation roles |
| Cecil Davidge | 1968 | F | Fellow and Tutor in Jurisprudence (1933–68), also Bursar (1945–68) and Sub-Warden (1965–68) |
| Andre de Breyne | 1973 | – | College benefactor; his ashes are buried in the college quadrangle named after him. |
| Victoria de Breyne | 2002 | – | College benefactor, widow of Andre de Breyne; graduate scholarships are named after her. |
| Walter de la Mare | 1944 | – | Poet and novelist |
| Arthur Dickens | 1971 | F | Fellow and Tutor in History (1933–49); Professor of History at the University of London (1967–77) |
| Christopher Dobson | 2009 | OM | John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Chemical and Structural Biology at the University of Cambridge (2001 onwards); Master of St John's College, Cambridge (2007 onwards) |
| David Douglas | 1960 | OM | Professor of Medieval History at the University of Leeds (1939–45); Professor of History at the University of Bristol (1945–63) |
| Sir David Eastwood | 2006 | F | Junior Research Fellow in History (1983–86); former Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England; appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham in 2009 |
| Sir Donald Farquharson | 1989 | OM | High Court judge (1981–89); Court of Appeal judge (1989–95) |
| Sir John Forsdyke | 1937 | OM | Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum (1936–50) |
| Raoul Franklin | 1980 | F | Fellow and Tutor in Engineering (1963–78); Vice-Chancellor (1978–98) and Professor of Plasma Physics and Technology (1986–98) at City University London |
| Cyril Garbett | 1942 | OM | Bishop of Southwark (1919–32) and of Winchester (1932–42); Archbishop of York (1942–55) |
| Robin Geffen | 2010 | OM | Fund manager and founder of Neptune Investment Management who has donated more than £1,500,000 to Keble |
| Charles Green | 1935 | OM | Bishop of Bangor (1928–44); Archbishop of Wales (1934–44) |
| James Griffin | 1996 | F | Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy (1966–96); White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford (1996–2000) |
| Sir Roy Griffiths | 1987 | OM | Businessman and government advisor on the National Health Service |
| Jeremy Hardie | 1998 | F | Fellow and Tutor in Economics (1968–75) |
| Christopher Hawkes | 1972 | F | Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford and Fellow (1946–72) |
| John Hayes | 1984 | OM | Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London (1974–94) |
| Sir Charles Hayward | 1973 | – | Entrepreneur and philanthropist |
| Laurence Helsby, Baron Helsby | 1959 | OM | First Civil Service Commissioner (1954–59); joint Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and Head of the Home Civil Service (1963–68) |
| Sir Wilmot Herringham | 1931 | OM | Vice-Chancellor of the University of London (1912–15); Consulting Physician to the Forces in France (1914–19) |
| Nugent Hicks | 1934 | F | Dean of Keble (1901–09); Bishop of Gibraltar (1927–33); Bishop of Lincoln (1933–42) |
| Sir Geoffrey Hill | 1981 | OM | Poet; Professor of Literature and Religion at Boston University (1988–2006) |
| Paul Johnson | 2022 | OM | Economist, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies |
| Imran Khan | 1988 | OM | Played international cricket for Pakistan (1971–92); founder of the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf |
| Beresford Kidd | 1940 | W | Warden (1920–39) |
| Henry Ley | 1941 | OM | Organist and Choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (1909–26); a former organ scholar of the college |
| Robert Lloyd | 1990 | OM | Opera singer and broadcaster |
| Walter Lock | 1931 | W | Warden (1897–1920) |
| Sir Maurice Lyell | 1962 | OM | High Court judge (1962–71) |
| Bryan Magee | 1994 | OM | Writer and broadcaster; MP for Leyton (1974–83) |
| James Martin | 2005 | OM | Benefactor of the college and the university, described as Oxford's "most generous benefactor in modern times" |
| Andreas Michaelis | 2020 | OM | German ambassador to the United Kingdom |
| Michael Mingos | 1999 | F | Fellow and Tutor in Chemistry (1976–92); Principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1999–2009); Professor of Chemistry at Oxford (2000 onwards) |
| Sir Peter Morrison | 1989 | OM | MP for City of Chester (1974–92); Minister of State in the Department of Employment (1983–85), Department of Trade and Industry (1985–86) and Department of Energy (1987–90) |
| Robert Mortimer | 1951 | OM | Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford (1944–49); Bishop of Exeter (1949–73) |
| Yasumasa Nagamine | 2022 | - | Japanese ambassador to the United Kingdom and justice of the Supreme Court of Japan |
| Dennis Nineham | 1980 | W | Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1964–69); Warden of Keble (1969–79); Professor of Theology at the University of Bristol (1980–86) |
| Howard Nixon | 1980 | OM | Bibliographer; Librarian of Westminster Abbey (1974–83) |
| David Owen Norris | 2006 | OM | Pianist, composer and broadcaster |
| Sir Peter North | 1984 | F/OM | Fellow and Tutor in Law (1965–76); Law Commissioner (1976–84, retaining his Fellowship); Principal of Jesus College, Oxford (1984–2005); Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1993–97) |
| Sir Anthony O'Reilly | 2002 | – | Benefactor, after whom the O'Reilly Theatre is named |
| Sir Peter Pears | 1978 | OM | Singer and partner of Benjamin Britten; studied at Keble for one year without obtaining a degree |
| Sir Jonathan Phillips | 2022 | W | Civil servant and warden of Keble |
| Sir Ghillean Prance | 1994 | OM | Botanist and ecologist; scientific director of the Eden Project |
| David Lewis Prosser | 1949 | OM | Bishop of St David's (1927–50) and Archbishop of Wales (1944–49) |
| Gordon Rawcliffe | 1976 | OM | Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Bristol (1944–75) |
| Geoffrey Raynor | 1972 | OM | Metallurgist; Professor at the University of Birmingham (1949–69) |
| Ronald Reagan | 1994 | – | President of the United States (1981–89); visited the college in 1992 and was principal guest at a lunch |
| George Richardson | 1994 | W | Economist; Warden (1989–94) |
| Sir Ivor Roberts | 2001 | OM | Diplomat, serving as British ambassador to Yugoslavia, Ireland and Italy; President of Trinity College, Oxford since 2006 |
| George Robinson | 2002 | OM | Hedge fund manager and college benefactor, after whom the Sloane Robinson building is named |
| Angela Saini | 2022 | OM | Journalist and broadcaster |
| Sir Larry Siedentop | 2020 | F | Political philosopher |
| Sir Frank Stenton | 1947 | OM | Professor of Modern History at Reading University (1912–46), Vice-Chancellor of Reading (1946–50) |
| Robert Stevens | 1983 | OM | Lawyer and academic; Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz (1987–91) and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford (1993–2001) |
| Donald Stokes, Lord Stokes of Leyland | 1986 | – | British industrialist, who was chairman and managing director of British Leyland Motor Corporation (1968–75) |
| Edward Talbot | 1931 | W | First Warden (1870–88); thereafter Bishop of Rochester (1895–1905), of Southwark (1905–11) and of Winchester (1911–23) |
| John Terraine | 1986 | OM | Military historian, with a particular interest in Douglas Haig and the First World War |
| Richard Thornton | 1986 | OM | International investment manager and company director; supporter of the college chapel |
| Chad Varah | 1981 | OM | Founder of The Samaritans |
| Alfred von Engel | 1982 | F | Physicist and Research Fellow at the college |
| Desmond Watkins | 1994 | OM | College benefactor; former director of Shell Oil |
| J. R. H. Weaver | 1939 | OM | Professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin (1911–13); editor of the Dictionary of National Biography (1928–37); President of Trinity College, Oxford (1938–54) |
| Sir Andreas Whittam Smith | 1990 | OM | Co-founder of The Independent; former president of the British Board of Film Classification |
| Sir David Williams | 1992 | OM | Academic at the University of Cambridge – President of Wolfson College, Cambridge (1980–92), Rouse Ball Professor of English Law, (1983–92) and Vice-Chancellor (1989–96) |
| David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn | 1987 | OM | Governor of Hong Kong (1987–92); Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge (2002–08) |