Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature

The position of Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford was founded in 1918 shortly after the end of the First World War.

The position of Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford was founded in 1918 shortly after the end of the First World War.

[3][5] The Times said that the name of the professorship was "most felicitously chosen", commemorating the "recent great events" and preparing for the "intellectual entente of the coming years.

During the debate, Sir Herbert Warren, the president of Magdalen College, Oxford, stated that the Professor was to be paid £500 annually (equivalent to £28,418 in 2023[2]), "making it a first-rate chair.

The first professor, Gustave Rudler (formerly of the University of London), took up the position in 1920; he was one of eight French applicants for the post, and also defeated five British candidates.

The University Council is now empowered to make appropriate arrangements for appointments and conditions of service, and the college to which any professorship is allocated (All Souls in this instance) has two representatives on the board of electors.

A gentleman with a handlebar-style moustache. He is wearing a peaked cap highly decorated with gold braiding. He wears a dark blue, high-collared jacket, with regularly spaced horizontal bands of dark braiding. On his left breast, he wears a medal attached to a red ribbon.
Marshal Foch , in whose honour the professorial chair is named