List of Masters of Balliol College, Oxford


, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, is governed by the Master and Fellows of the college. The Master, when elected, must be "the person who is, in their judgement, most fit for the government of the College as a place of religion, learning, and education". Although the rules in no way suggest a preference for an alumnus/alumna or Fellow of the college to be chosen, there have been few who were not: only one Master in the 20th century had no previous connection with the college and the previous non-member to hold the post before that was Theophilus Leigh, elected in 1726. However the current Master of Balliol, Helen Ghosh, studied at St Hugh's and Hertford colleges.
NameDateDetails
Walter de Fodringeye1282-
Hugh de Warkenby1296-
Stephen de Cornubia1303-
Richard de Chickwell1309-
Thomas de Waldeby1321-
Henry de Seton1323-
Nicholas de Luceby1327-
John Poclynton1332-
Hugh Corbrygge1340-
Robert de Derby1356-
John Wycliffe1360-
John Hugate1366-
Thomas Tyrwhit1371-
Hamond Haskman1397-
William Lambert1406-
Thomas Chace1412-
Robert Burley1428-
Richard Stapilton1429-
William Brandon1429-
Robert Twaytes1450-
William Lambton1461-
John Segden1472-
Robert Abdy1477-
William Bell1496-
Richard Barningham1504-
Thomas Cisson1511-
Richard Stubbys1518-
William White1525-
George Coote1539-
William Wright1545-
James Brooks1547Bishop of Gloucester
William Wright1555-
Francis Babington1559-
Antony Garnet1560-
Robert Hooper1563-
John Piers1570-
Adam Squier1571-
Edmund Lilly1580-
Robert Abbots1609Later Bishop of Salisbury
John Parkhurst1616-
Thomas Laurence1637-
George Bradshaw1646-
Henry Savage1650-
Thomas Good1672-
John Venn1678-
Roger Mander1687-
John Baron1704-
Joseph Hunt1721-
Theophilus Leigh1726Longest incumbent in office
John Davey1785-
John Parsons1798Bishop of Peterborough from 1813
Richard Jenkyns1819-
Robert Scott1854Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at Oxford
Dean of Rochester
Benjamin Jowett1870-
Edward Caird1893–1907Snell Exhibitioner 1860
Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow 1866
First lay Master.
James Leigh Strachan Davidson1907–16-
Arthur Lionel Smith1916–24-
Alexander Dunlop Lindsay1924–49Vice-Chancellor in 1935. Founder of the University of Keele
David Lindsay Keir1949–65Fellow of University Coll. 1921
Vice-Chancellor, Queens University, Belfast 1939.
Christopher Hill1965–78-
Sir Anthony Kenny1978–89-
Baruch Blumberg1989–94George Eastman Visiting Professor 1983
Co-recipient of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Colin Lucas1994–2001Vice-Chancellor
Andrew Graham1997–2001
2001–2011
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Drummond Bone2011–18Byron Scholar, Snell Exhibitioner 1968
Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool
Helen GhoshFrom April 2018-