Sentence:  Sir Henry Acland, <WSD>regius professor</WSD> from 1857 to 1895, fought a series of good and largely successful fights to develop biological sciences at the university, overcoming the objections of anti-Darwinians, antivivisectionists, and others committed to tranquil inertia. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A professor who holds a position created by or filled by a royal patron.