Ford Lectures

[2] Ford was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1797.

In his will, Ford left a number of bequests, some of which were held in trust for the support of his surviving siblings.

After they had all died, Oxford University received his bequest of £2,000 to fund a professorship of English history, which was to be established when the principal had grown to support payment of £100 per year.

The first Ford's Lecturer in English History was S. R. Gardiner, elected for the academic year beginning in 1896.

[citation needed] As the lectures may be given in either the Michaelmas or Hilary terms (or partly in both), confusion can arise on publication because either calendar year may be stated.

Samuel Rawson Gardiner (1829–1902), who delivered the first Ford Lectures in 1896–7