David Gwilym James (25 September 1905 – 10 December 1968)[1] was the second vice chancellor of the University of Southampton joining in October 1952 and remaining till 1965, the year being marked by university expansion in the United Kingdom following the strong increase in the post-war birth rate in the late 1940s peaking in 1947.
[1] He became warden of Merthyr Settlement and then a tutor in Worcester for the University of Birmingham from 1934 to 1937.
It had been founded 50 years earlier in 1902, and its origin was as the Hartley Institution formed in 1862.
During James' tenure, in 1963 the Nuffield Theatre was opened on the main Highfield campus for both visiting and university performers.
[2] After Southampton he was a visiting lecturer at several institutions including Yale University from 1965 to 1966.