Keith Thomas (historian)


Sir Keith Vivian Thomas, is a Welsh historian of the early modern world based at Oxford University. He is best known as the author of Religion and the Decline of Magic and Man and the Natural World. From 1986 to 2000, he was President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

Early life and education

Thomas was born on 2 January 1933 in Wick, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Barry County Grammar School, a state grammar school in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. Having been awarded the Brackenbury Scholarship, he studied modern history at Balliol College, Oxford. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1955; as per tradition, his BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts.

Academic career

He was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford from 1955 until 1957, when he was elected Fellow of St John's College. He was Reader in Modern History in the University of Oxford 1978–85, and Professor of Modern History in 1986, in which year he became President of Corpus Christi College. He retired in 2000, at the statutory age of 67, and the following year he was once more elected Fellow of All Souls College. He served for some time as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University and a Delegate to the University Press. He was a consultant editor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and an editor, with J. S. Weiner, of the Oxford Paperback University Series published by the Oxford University Press.
He was a member of the Economic and Social Research Council 1985–90, and of the Reviewing Committee on Exports of Works of Art 1990–93, and, since 1992, of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. From 1991 until 1998, he was a Trustee of the National Gallery and since 1997 he has been Chairman of the British Library Advisory Committee for Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Personal life

He is married to Valerie, Lady Thomas and has two children.
He is a distinguished supporter of Humanists UK.

Honours

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1970 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1979. In 1983, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1993, he was elected to the Academia Europaea. He is also a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
He is an Honorary Fellow of Balliol and St John's, and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford, and of Cardiff University. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by University of Kent, University of Wales, Williams College, University of Sheffield, University of Cambridge, University of Hull, University of Leicester, University of Sussex, Oglethorpe University, and University of Warwick.
In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor and in 1991, he was honoured with the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
In the 2020 New Year Honours, he was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to the study of history.
Portraits of Sir Keith Thomas hang at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and the British Academy and National Portrait Gallery, London.

Publications

Works authored
Works edited
Works jointly edited