New honours boards installed at Barnard’s Inn Hall

Visitors to Barnard’s Inn Hall, the venue for most Gresham College’s lectures, will notice the installation of new honours boards. 

Gresham College has been offering free lectures for more than 400 years. While some lectures are given by guest speakers, the vast majority are from our Gresham Professors. Seven of them have the same titles specified by Sir Thomas Gresham: Astronomy, Divinity, Geometry, Law, Physic, Music, and Rhetoric.  

We have since added to the roster with three new professorships: The Frank Jackson Foundation Professor of the Environment, The Mercers’ Schol Memorial Professor of Business, and the IT Livery Company Professor of Information Technology.  

To be appointed as a professor is a great honour, and our current cohort follow in the footsteps of the likes of Sir Christopher Wren (Astronomy), Sir Roger Penrose (Geometry), Johnny Dankworth (Music), and Sir Richard Evans (Rhetoric).  

Each professor to have served under these titles is now named on these hand-crafted boards, offering visitors a unique opportunity to explore our heritage. We invite visitors to take a moment to appreciate the many, many people who have offered their insights and learning over the past four centuries. 

Just as Gresham College has moved over the years, the nature of the professorships has changed. The early cohort had to be unmarried men who lived on site and give lectures in Latin and English on a weekly basis. Now, each professor gives six lectures spread out over the academic year, and we don’t ask questions about marital status.   

The boards are welcomed by Richard Smith, Gresham College’s Executive Director.  

“We are delighted to have these hand-crafted honours boards installed in Barnard’s Inn Hall. As a Grade II listed building, we had to ensure they blended in,” he said. “We can trace our heritage back to 1597, and it is right and proper that we honour all Gresham College’s professors. 

“We look forward to visitors taking time to admire this roll call, and the craftmanship that has gone into them.”