Chambers , Raymond Wilson , 1874-1942 , Professor of English Language and Literature

Raymond Wilson Chambers studied at University College London (UCL), 1891-1899, and was appointed Quain Student in English there in 1899. He stayed at UCL and was Librarian from 1901 to 1922. He was also Assistant Professor in the English Department, 1904-1914. In 1915 he became Reader in English. From 1915 to 1917 he served for a time with the Red Cross in France, and with the YMCA with the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium. In 1922 he became Quain Professor of English at UCL in succession to W P Ker. In 1933 he visited the USA to deliver the Turnbull lectures in Baltimore. He published Widsith: a study in Old English herioc legend in 1912, Beowulf: an introduction to the study of the poem, with a discussion of the stories of Offa and Finn in 1921, Life of More in 1932, Thomas More in 1935, and Man's unconquerable mind in 1939. Chambers retired in 1941 and died in 1942. The fullest account of Chambers' life is given by C J Sisson in the Proceedings of the British Academy, vol xxx (1944), pp 427-39, with a bibliography by H Winifred Husbands.