List of people associated with Balliol College, Oxford

See also: List of science, technology and mathematics people associated with Balliol College, Oxford

See also: List of historians, classicists and writers associated with Balliol College, Oxford

The following is a list of notable people associated with Balliol College, Oxford, including alumni and Masters of the college. When available, year of matriculation is provided in parentheses, as listed in the relevant edition of The Balliol College Register or in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Complete (or very nearly complete) lists of Fellows and students, arranged by year of matriculation, can be found in the published Balliol College Register; the 1st edition, 2nd edition and 3rd edition.

This list of notable alumni consists almost entirely of men, because women were admitted to the college only from 1979. To assist with verification, each name links to its Wikipedia page (except for those so ancient that no page exists). Each name only appears once in the lists, even though the person may have established themselves in more than one category.

Alumni

Philosophers

Image	Name	Join Date	Field of work	Comments	Refs
	Toby Ord	2003	Effective altruism	Founded Giving What We Can The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity
	Katherine Hawley	1989	metaphysics	How Things Persist 2002 How To Be Trustworthy 2020
	John Tasioulas	1989	moral philosophy	Rhodes Scholar Professor of Ethics and Legal Philosophy
	Herman Cappelen	1987	Philosophy of language	Professor of Philosophy, Hong Kong Bad Language (with Josh Dever) OUP 2019
	Michael Otsuka	1986	Political philosophy	Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers Libertarianism Without Inequality OUP 2003
	Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford	1986	Philosophy of language	Professor of Philosophy, Reading I: The Meaning of the First Person Term Clarendon 2006
	Stephen Mulhall	1984	German philosophy	Fellow, New College The Great Riddle: Wittgenstein and Nonsense, Theology and Philosophy, OUP 2015
	Cheryl Misak	1984	pragmatism	Rhodes Scholar, FRSC Professor of Philosophy, Toronto Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, OUP 2020
	Paul W. Franks	1983	Jewish philosophy	Professor of Philosophy, Yale All or Nothing: Skepticism, Transcendental Arguments and Systematicity in German Idealism, HUP 2005
	Ian Rumfitt	1983	Philosophy of language	FBA, Fellow, All Souls The Boundary Stones of Thought, Clarendon 2015
	Adrian William Moore	1979	Metaphysics	FBA, Professor of Philosophy, Oxford The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics: Making Sense of Things, CUP 2012
	Michael Sandel	1975	Political philosophy	Rhodes Scholar, Professor of Government, Harvard Justice: the right things to do, popular Harvard course
	Timothy Williamson	1974	Philosophical logic	Wykeham Professor of Logic, Fellow of New College Knowledge and Its Limits OUP 2000
	Hilary Lawson	1973	Anti-realism	Founded the Institute of Art and Ideas
	Joseph Raz	1972	Jurisprudence	FBA, Fellow The Concept of a Legal System: An Introduction to the Theory of a Legal System, 2nd Ed OUP 1980
	William Newton-Smith	1967	Philosophy of science	Fellow The Rationality of Science, Routledge 1981
	Arthur Prior	1967	temporal logic	Fellow Time and Modality, OUP 1957
	Kit Fine	1964	Philosophical logic	Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics, New York Vagueness: A Global Approach OUP 2020
	Sir Anthony Kenny	1964	Philosophy of mind	Master A New History of Western Philosophy OUP 2010
	Roy Bhaskar	1963	critical realism	Master A Realist Theory of Science, Verso 1975
	Sir Neil MacCormick	1963	Jurisprudence	FRS, FRSE, Fellow Regius Chair of Public Law, Edinburgh MEP Law, State and Practical Reason, OUP 2011
	Derek Parfit	1961	Moral philosophy	Fellow of All Souls widely considered one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, whose first book, Reasons and Persons (OUP 1984) has been described as the most significant work of moral philosophy since the 1800s
	Hans Sluga	1960	German philosophy	Professor, Berkeley The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein CUP 1996
	Alan Ryan	1959	Political philosophy	FBA, Professor of Politics, Oxford The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill MacMillan 1970
	Charles Taylor	1952	Political philosophy	FRSC, Rhodes Scholar, Professor at McGill The first president of the Oxford Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament A Secular Age HUP 2007
	Alan Montefiore	1948	European philosophy	Fellow A Modern Introduction to Moral PhilosophyRoutledge 1958
	John Lucas	1947	Philosophy of mathematics	FBA, Fellow at Merton College Minds, Machines and Gödel 1959
	Sir Bernard Williams	1947	Moral philosophy	FBA, Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy, Cambridge White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford "a good claim to be the leading British philosopher of his day (Martin Hollis)" Utilitarianism: For and Against CUP 1973 ||
	Ernest Gellner	1943	European philosophy	FBA, Fellow, Christ Church "the only Wittgensteinian to get Wittgenstein right"
	Richard Wollheim	1941	Philosophy of art	Grote Professor of Mind and Logic, UCL Art And Its Objects
	David Pears	1939	Ludwig Wittgenstein	Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE "one-man crusader for critical rationalism" Words and Things 1959
	R. M. Hare	1937	Moral philosophy	FBA,White's Professor of Moral Philosophy The Language of Morals 1952
	Peter Geach	1934	Philosophical logic	Hon. Fellow, Professor of Logic, Leeds married to philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe
	Sir Stuart Hampshire	1933	Philosophy of mind	FBA, Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, UCL Head of Philosophy, Princeton Warden, Wadham College Thought and Action
	J. L. Austin	1929	Philosophy of language	FBA, White's Professor of Moral Philosophy leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy How to Do Things with Words 1955
	John Niemeyer Findlay	1924	rational mysticism	Rhodes Scholar Professor of Philosophy, KCL/Yale/Boston
	Austin Marsden Farrer	1923	theology	FBA, Fellow, Trinity College, Oxford Warden, Keble College "one of the greatest figures of 20th-century Anglicanism"
	John Macmurray	1913	personalism	Fellow Grote Professor of Mind and Logic at UCL Professor of Moral Philosophy, Edinburgh
	Herbert James Paton	1908	German philosophy	FBA White's Professor of Moral Philosophy brains behind the Curzon Line 1919 splitting Poland
	Olaf Stapledon	1905	transhumanism	expressed philosophy through Science Fiction Last and First Men
	Sir W. D. Ross	1896	moral realism	FBA White's Professor of Moral Philosophy The Right and the Good
	Harold Joachim	1886	Coherence theory of truth	FBA Wykeham Professor of Logic The Nature of Truth 1906
	John Alexander Smith	1884	British idealism	FBA Waynflete Professor of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy Instigator of the new PPE degree
	F. C. S. Schiller	1882	pragmatism	FBA, Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Oxford Visiting Professor USC
	Samuel Alexander	1878	emergentist	OM, FBA Professor of Philosophy, Manchester Moral Order and Progress 1889
	David George Ritchie	1873	British idealism	Fellow Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, St Andrews Natural Rights 1895
	John Cook Wilson	1868	Logic	FBA, Fellow of New College Wykeham Professor of Logic Disputed the barbershop paradox with Lewis Carroll
	Bernard Bosanquet	1867	British idealism	FBA Husband of social theorist and reformer Helen Bosanquet The Philosophical Theory of the State 1899
	Richard Lewis Nettleship	1865	British idealism	Fellow The Theory of Education in Plato's Republic 1935 (43 years posthumous)
	William Wallace	1865	German philosophy	Fellow of Merton College White's Professor of Moral Philosophy The Logic and Prolegomena of Hegel 1873 Kant 1882
	Alfred Barratt	1862	panpsychism	Fellow, Brasenose College Physical Ethics 1869
	Edward Caird	1857	British idealism	FBA, FRSE Chair of Moral Philosophy, Glasgow Master of Balliol brother of theologian John Caird The Evolution of Religion 1893
	Thomas Hill Green	1855	British idealism	Whyte's Professor of Moral Philosophy Husband of Charlotte Byron Symonds who promoted women's education His teaching is considered the most potent philosophical influence in England during the last quarter of the 19th century, cited by many social liberal politicians, often Balliol alumni, such as Herbert Samuel and H. H. Asquith Prolegomena to Ethics 1884 postumously
	Sir William Hamilton	1807	metaphysics	Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Edinburgh Philosophy of the Unconditioned 1829

Economists

Image	Name	Join date	Field of work	Comments	References
	Ian Goldin	2006	globalisation	Fellow Professor of Globalisation and Development founding Director of the Oxford Martin School
	Kitty Ussher	1990	public policy	former MP Chief Economist, Institute of Directors Group Head of Policy Development at Barclays
	Anusha Chari	1990	international economics	professor of economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
	Stephanie Flanders	1986	public economics
	Jonathan Ostry	1981	international economics	Professor of Economics, Georgetown University son of economist Sylvia Ostry
	Gavyn Davies	1972		Chair of the BBC
	Deepak Nayyar	1967	development economics	Rhodes Scholar
	Patrick Minford	1961	macroeconomics	Brexit advocate
	Andrew Graham	1960	political economics	Master of Balliol Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister founded the Oxford Internet Institute son of Winston Graham of Poldark fame
	Lester Thurow	1960	political economics	Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe and America
	John Crow	1958	central banking	Governor of the Bank of Canada
	Peter Donaldson	1953	economics education
	Michael Posner	1950	international trade	UK economic advisor
	Alexandre Kafka	1936	international economics	Executive Director, International Monetary Fund second cousin of Franz Kafka
	Walter Rostow	1936	economic growth	US National Security Advisor
	Sir Donald MacDougall	1931	public policy	Head Government Economic Service
	Sir John Hicks	1922	general equilibrium theory	Nobel Prize
	G. D. H. Cole	1908	co-operative movement
	Sir William Beveridge	1897	social policy	founder, welfare state in the United Kingdom
	William George Stewart Adams	1896	social science	created Oxford philosophy, politics and economics course
	Sir William Ashley	1878	economic history
	Francis Edgeworth	1868	utility theory	FBA
	Charles Stanton Devas	1867	political economy	Catholic apologist
	Adam Smith	1740	political economy	a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, regarded as "The Father of Economics" or "The Father of Capitalism" The Wealth of Nations

Politicians

Currently active

Members of Parliament

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	Yuan Yang	2008	PPE, LSE Foreign correspondent, Financial Times	Born in China, moved to England aged 4 Labour MP for the new seat of Earley & Woodley since July 2024
	Matthew Pennycook	2005	History and IntRel, LSE; MPhil Int Rel	Labour MP for Greenwich & Woolwich since 2015, Minister of State for Housing and Planning since July 2024
	Helen Hayes	1997	PPE town planner	Labour MP for Dulwich & West Norwood 2015-. Chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee from September 2024
	Yvette Cooper	1987	PPE Harvard LSE	Married to Ed Balls, also a senior Labour politician. MP from 1997. Former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Appointed Home Secretary July 2024
	Sir Julian Lewis	1970	PPE DPhil IntRel, St Antony's College	Conservative MP for New Forest East since 1997. A Privy Councillor since 2015 and knighted in 2023. An expert in foreign and military affairs and has twice won the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies essay prize

Members of the House of Lords

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	Jo Johnson	1991	Modern History	Conservative MP for Orpington 2010-19. Director No.10 Policy Unit 2013, Universities Minister 2015-18 and 2019. Life peer 2020. Brother of Prime Minister Boris Johnson
	Simon Stevens	1984	PPE	Senior government policy adviser 1997-2004 to Secs of State for Health, then No.10 Policy Unit in the era of Tony Blair. Labour councillor in Lambeth 1998-2002. Chief Executive of NHS England (a non-party role) 2014-21. Knighted 2020, life peer 2021
	Matilda Simon, 3rd Baroness Simon of Wythenshawe	1973	Engineering	Succeeded father 2002, and retained title although assigned male at birth. Green party.
	Ralph Palmer	1969	Physics	Succeeded as Lord Lucas and Dingwall 1991. Conservative Whip in Lords 1994-97. Owner and publisher of Good Schools Guide from 2000. Hereditary peer among those elected from their own number to continue to serve actively
	Chris Patten	1962	Modern History	Conservative MP for Bath 1979-92. Secretary of State for the Environment 1989-90. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chairman of the Conservative Party 1990-92. The final Governor of Hong Kong 1992-97. European Commissioner 1999-2004. Chancellor of Oxford University 2003-2024
	Alan Beith	1961	PPE	Liberal (Democrat) MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed 1973-2015 Deputy Leader of LDs 1992-2003 Life peer 2015
	Roger Freeman	1961	PPE	Conservative MP for Kettering 1983-97, Privy Council 1993, in Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1995. Oversaw privatisation of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Life peer 1997
	Dick Taverne	1947	Literae humaniores	Labour MP for Lincoln then re-elected as Democratic Labour, a precursor of the SDP (1973) 1962-74. Life Peer (1996), Liberal Democrat

MPs who completed service in 2024

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	Robin Walker	1997	Ancient and Modern History	Son of Peter Walker, minister under Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher. Conservative MP for Worcester 2010-24. Minister of State for School Standards 2021-22. Chair, House of Commons Education Select Committee 2022-24
	David Johnston	1991	Modern History and Politics	CEO Social Mobility Foundation 2009-2020 Conservative MP for Wantage 2019-2024. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing 2023-4
	Boris Johnson	1983	Literae Humaniores Journalist	Mayor of London 2008-16. Conservative MP for Henley 2001-8 and for Uxbridge & South Ruislip 2015-2023. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 2016-18. Prime Minister and Leader of Conservative party 2019-2022. "Got Brexit Done"
	Damian Green	1974	PPE BBC	Conservative MP for Ashford 1997-2004. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2016-17, First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office, in effect Deputy Prime Minister to Theresa May, 2017

UK politicians active in era 1979-2020

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	Charlotte Leslie	1997	Literae Humaniores	Conservative MP for Bristol NW 2010-17, Spectator backbencher of the year 2013. Director of the Conservative Middle East Council from 2017
	Rory Stewart	1992	History/PPE diplomat, author The Rest is History podcast	Conservative MP for Penrith & The Border 2010-19 Minister for Environment (2015–16), International Development (2015–16), Africa (2016–18), Prisons (2018–19). Secretary of State for International Development (2019). In 2019, stood for Leader of the Conservative Party/Prime Minister following the resignation of Theresa May
	Kitty Ussher	1990	PPE Chief Economist, Institute of Directors	Labour MP for Burnley 2005-10. Economic Secretary to the Treasury, 2007-08. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2008-09. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury 2009
	James Purnell	1988	PPE Vice Chancellor, University of the Arts	Labour MP for Stalybridge & Hyde 2001-10. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 2007-08 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2008 -09
	Stephen Twigg	1985	PPE President, National Union of Students	Labour MP for Enfield Southgate 1997-2005, defeating Michael Portillo in 1997, then for Liverpool West Derby 2010-19. Deputy Leader of the House of Commons 2002-2, Minister for School Standards 2004-5, Shadow Sec of State for Education 2011-13
	David Faber	1980	Modern Languages Headmaster, Summer Fields School	Conservative MP for Westbury 1992-2001. Grandson of former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Parliamentary private secretary to the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1994-96, and to the Secretary of State for Health, 1996-97
	Ian Pearson	1977	PPE @2024 Chairman of EQTEC PLC	Labour MP for Dudley (West then South) 1994-2010. Economic Secretary of the Treasury 2008-10
	Dr Charles Tannock MEP	1976	Medicine psychiatrist	MEP (Conservative) 1999-2019. UK Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman 2002–2019. Vice-President of the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Parliament 2004–07. Vice-President of the EP Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly 2009–14
	Tony Wright	1971	LSE, Harvard DPhil 1977	Labour MP for Cannock & Burntwood then Cannock Chase 1992-2010. Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee 1999-2010
	Neil MacCormick MEP	1963	Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations at the University of Edinburgh from 1972 until 2008	MEP for Scottish National Party 1999-2004. Died 2009
	Stuart Holland	1960	History	Labour MP for Vauxhall 1979-89. Shadow minister for development co-operation from 1983 to 1987

Members of the House of Lords who have died since 2000

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	James Douglas-Hamilton	1961 Died 2023	Modern History Law, Edinburgh	Conservative MP for Edinburgh West 1974-79 Minister of State for Health and Home Affairs 1995-97. Life peer 1998
	Robert Maclennan	1955 died 2020	Modern History barrister	Labour, SDP (party leader), Alliance and Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness & Sutherland 1966-2001. Life peer 2001
	Peter Brooke	1953 died 2023	Literae Humaniores	Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster 1979-2001. Chairman of the C party 1987-89. Sec of State for N Ireland 1989-92. Life peer 2001

UK politicians active between World War II and the Millenium

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	Mike Woodin	1990	Manchester, Wolfson College Balliol Lecturer in Psychology 1990-2004.	Oxford City councillor for Central ward (Green party) 1994-2004. Principal Speaker (in effect joint leader) of the Green Party of England and Wales 1997-2000 and 2003-4
	Bryan Gould	1962	Rhodes Scholar New Zealand Law	Labour MP 1974-79 and 1983-94, Shadow Cabinet and contended leadership of party 1992, finishing second to John Smith
	Lord Gowrie	1959	English	Minister of State in Thatcher government 1979-84, Chancellor Duchy of Lancaster 1984-5. Died 2021
	Sir George Gardiner	1955	PPE	MP for Reigate (Conservative 1974-97, Referendum party 1997 – the only MP that party ever had.) Died 2002
	Toby Jessel	1954	PPE	Conservative MP for Twickenham 1970-97. Died 2018
	Leif Mills	1954	PPE	Trade union leader. National Union of Bank Employees (later renamed the Banking Insurance and Finance Union - BIFU): Assistant General Secretary in 1962, then Deputy General Secretary in 1968, and finally General Secretary in 1972-96. Died 2020
	Mark Hughes	1953	Modern History	Labour MP for City of Durham 1970-83. MEP 1975-79.Died 1993.
	John Mackintosh	1950	Edinburgh PPE	Labour MP for Berwick & East Lothian. Died 1978
	Ian Gilmour	1947	Modern History	Conservative MP 1962-92. Defence Sec 1974. Lord Privy Seal 1979-81. Life peer 1992. Died 2007
	Sir Nicholas Ridley	1946	Mathematics, English	Conservative MP for Cirencester & Tewkesbury 1959-1992. Life peer 1992. Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1981-83. Secretary of State for Transport 1983-86. Secretary of State for the Environment 1986-89. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 1989-90. Died 1993
	David Ginsburg	1939	PPE	Labour MP for Dewsbury 1959-81, SDP 1981-83. Chairman Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. Died 1994
	David James	1938	Modern History Wartime honorary degree	Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown 1959-64 and North Dorset 1970-70. Died 1986
	Maurice Macmillan	1938	Classical History	Only son of Harold Macmillan (Prime Minister). Conservative MP for Halifax 1955-64 and for Farnham and South West Surrey 1966-84 (his death). Economic Secretary to the Treasury 1963–64. Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1970–72, Secretary of State for Employment 1972–73 and Paymaster General 1973–74
	Roy Jenkins	1938	PPE	Labour MP for Birmingham Stechford 1950-77, Home Secretary 1965-67 overseeing liberalisation of law relating to divorce, homosexuality and capital punishment abolition, and 1974-76, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1967-70, President of the European Commission 1977-81. SDP MP for Glasgow Hllhead 1982-87. Prospective Prime Minister for the Liberal-SDP Alliance in the 1983 election. Life peer (Liberal Democrat) 1987. Chancellor of Oxford University 1987-2003 (his death)
	Julian Amery	1937	Modern History	Conservative MP for Preston North 1950-66, for Brighton Pavilion 1969-92. Secretary of State for Air 1960-62, Minister of Aviation 1962-64 (involved in the planning stage of the Concorde airliner), Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1972-74
	Madron Seligman MEP	1937	PPE	Conservative MEP for Sussex West 1979-94
	Hugh Fraser	1936	Modern History	Conservative MP for Stone then Stafford & Stone then Stafford 1945-84 (his death). Secretary of State for Air 1962-64
	Denis Healey	1936	Literae Humaniores	Labour MP for Leeds SE then East 1952-92 Secretary of State for Defence 1964-70, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1974-79, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party 1980-83. Life peer 1992. Died 2015
	Sir Edward Heath Prime Minister	1935	PPE organ scholar	Conservative MP for Bexley then Old Bexley & Sidcup 1950-2001.C Chief Whip 1955-60, :Lord Privy Seal in charge of negotiations to enter the European Economic Community 1961, President of the Board of Trade 1963. Leader of the C party 1965-75. Prime Minister 1970-74. Died 2005
		Sir Anthony Kershaw	1934	Modern History	Conservative MP for Stroud 1955-87. Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee 1979-87. Died 2008
	Jo Grimond	1932	PPE	Liberal MP for Orkney & Shetland 1950-83, Leader of the Liberal party 1956-67. Life peer 1983. Died 1993
	Anthony Greenwood	1930	PPE	Labour MP for Heywood & Radcliffe 1946-50, Rossendale 1950-70. Secretary of State for the Colonies 1964-65, Minister of Overseas Development 1965-66, Minister of Housing and Local Government 1966-70. Died 1982
	John Boyd-Carpenter	1927	Modern History	Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames 1945-72. Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1962-64. Life peer 1972. Died 1998
	James MacColl	1927	PPE Chicago	Labour MP for Widnes 1950-71 Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Housing and Local Government 1964-69. High Anglican. Benefactor of the College. Died 1971
	Sir Dingle Foot	1924	Modern History	Liberal MP for Dundee 1931-45 and Labour MP for Ipswich 1957-70. Solicitor General for England and Wales 1964-67. Died 1978
	George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk	1924	PPE	Succeeded as earl 1940. A Scottish representative peer 1945-63. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1955 -1957, and First Lord of the Admiralty 1957-1959. Died 1994
	Sir Hamilton Kerr	1922	Modern History	Conservative MP for Oldham 1935-50, Cambridge 1950-66. PPS to Harold Macmillan 1954. Died 1974
	Henry Brooke	1922	Literae Humaniores	MP for Lewisham West 1938-45 and Hampstead 1950-66. Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1961-62, Home Secretary 1962-64. Life peer 1966. Died 1984
	Christopher Hollis	1920	Literae Humaniores	Conservative MP for Devizes 1945-55. Died 1977
	Harold Macmillan (Prime Minister)	1912	Literae Humaniores	Conservative MP for Stockton 1924-29 and 1931-45, Bromley 1945-64. Secretary of State for Air 1945. Minister of Housing and Local Government 1951-54. Minister of Defence 1954-55. Chancellor of the Exchequer 1955-57. Leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister 1957-63. Earl of Stockton 1984. Chancellor of Oxford University 1960-86 (his death)
	Sir Frank Soskice	1920	PPE	Labour MP for Birkenhead West 1945-50, for Sheffield Neepsend 1951-55 and for Newport 1956-66. Life peer 1966. Solicitor-General for England 1945-51. Attorney-General for England 1951. Home Secretary 1964-65. Lord Privy Seal 1965-66
	Walter Monckton	1910	Modern History	Conservative MP for Bristol West 1951-57, Minister of Labour and National Service, 1951-55. Minister of Defence 1955 -56. Paymaster General 1956-57. Created Viscount 1957. Died 1965

UK politicians active between World War I and World War II

Lord Curzon

H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	Leo Amery
	H. H. Asquith			Prime Minister
	George Nathaniel Curzon
	Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton
	R Palme Dutt
	Aubrey Herbert
	Alfred Milner
	Harold Nicolson
	Herbert Samuel
	Arthur Steel-Maitland
	Tom Wintringham		did not graduate

UK politicians pre-World War I

Image	Name	Join Date	Background	Politics	Refs
	Victor Bruce
	Edward Cardwell
	Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon
	Stafford Northcote
	Arthur Peel
	Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice
	Robert Reid
	Arnold Sandwith Ward
	William Wickham	1853

Monarchs, statesmen, politicians and public servants in non-UK countries

Richard von Weizsäcker

• Australia
  • Kim Beazley
• Botswana
  • Seretse Khama
• Canada
  • Vincent Massey
  • Bob Rae
• Germany
  • Adam von Trott zu Solz
  • Richard von Weizsäcker
• Hong Kong SAR
  • Carson Wen
• India
  • * Hardit Malik Indian Ambassador to France
• Japan
  • Masako Owada
• Kenya
  • Wambu Mathu
• Jordan
  • Nada al-Nashif
• Norway
  • Harald V
  • Olav V
• Malaysia
  • Tuanku Jaafar
• South Africa
  • Jan Hofmeyr
• Sri Lanka
  • Lakshman Kadirgamar
• United States
  • Luke Bronin
  • James Burnham
  • Christopher Dell
  • Nancy-Ann DeParle
  • E. J. Dionne
  • Philip Mayer Kaiser
  • Matthew Nimetz
  • Michael Sandel
  • Paul Sarbanes
  • Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall 1981 Homeland Security Advisor
  • George Stephanopoulos
• International
  • Ngaire Woods

Banking and finance, businesss

• Charles R. Conn (c1982) Rhodes Scholar, business creator
• Nicola Horlick (1979) fund manager "superwoman"
• Martin Taylor (c1971) CEO Barclays Bank
• Sir Adam Ridley 1961 director of several banks
• Grigor McClelland 1946 Professor of Management Studies
• James Robertson 1946 Director, Inter-Bank Research Organisation
• Sir Otto Niemeyer 1902 Bank of England director
• Oswald Toynbee Falk 1898 stockbroker

Public intellectuals

• David Aaronovitch (1972) did not graduate, communist, Orwell Prize winner
• Christopher Hitchens 1967 New Atheist
• Richard Dawkins 1959 FRS "The Selfish Gene"
• C. E. M. Joad 1910 "It all depends on what you mean by.."
• Arnold J. Toynbee 1907 FBA "A Study of History"

Law

Judges

Thomas Bingham

John Marshall Harlan II Supreme Court of the United States Associate Justice

• Julian Knowles (c1987) High Court Judge
• Robert Reed (c1978) FRSE President of the Supreme Court
• Alan Rodger (1969) FBA FRSE Justice of the Supreme Court
• William Nimmo Smith 1961 Judge of Supreme Courts of Justice, Scotland
• Mathew Thorpe 1957 Lord Justice of Appeal
• Sir Henry Brooke 1957 Lord Justice of Appeal
• Thomas Bingham 1954 FBA Lord Chief Justice
• Brian Hutton 1950 Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
• Alan Stewart Orr 1933 Lord Justice of Appeal
• John Marshall Harlan II 1921 Rhodes Scholar (started 1922), Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court
• Charles Bowen 1853 FRS Fellow, Visitor, Lord Justice of Appeal
• Joseph William Chitty 1846 High Court Justice
• John Coleridge 1838 Lord Chief Justice
• Henry Bathurst 1730 Lord High Chancellor
• Thomas Coventry 1592 Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
• John Popham (c1549) Lord Chief Justice c. 1531–1607 The claim that he was at Balliol is in ONDB. The college does not have an extant record of his being a student and the university has no record of his receiving a degree.

Lawyers

• Gautam Bhatia 2011 Indian scholar of Constitutional law
• Jennifer Robinson (2006) Human rights barrister
• Rose-Marie Belle Antoine 1994 pro-vice chancellor, graduate studies, University of the West Indies
• Clare Moriarty 1982 Chief Executive Citizens Advice
• Joel Bakan (c1981) Constitutional law
• Simon Walsh (c1980) Police law
• Jane Stapleton 1980 FBA, Fellow, Ernest E. Smith Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin. Master of Christ's College, Cambridge
• Hugh Tomlinson (c1973) Media law
• George Carman 1949 Celebrity defence barrister
• Peter Benenson 1939 Human rights barrister, founder Amnesty International
• Charles Isaac Elton 1957 Property Lawyer, "The Great Book Collectors"
• Nicholas Katzenbach 1947 Rhodes Scholar, US Attorney General
• Courtenay Ilbert 1860
• Albert Venn Dicey 1854 "the rule of law"

Music

• Miron Fyodorov (2004) Russian hip hop artist Oxxxymiron
• Nicholas Kenyon (1969) BBC Radio 3, BBC Proms
• Vernon Handley 1951 Conductor
• John Farmer 1885 College organist, composer and keyboardist
• George Malcolm 1934 harpsichordist
• Richard Buckle 1934 Left after a year. Founded Ballet magazine
• Sydney Carter 1933 "Lord of the Dance"
• Inglis Gundry 1923 Composer
• Victor Hely-Hutchinson 1920 switched to RCM after one year, "Carol Symphony"
• F. S. Kelly 1900 Musician and composer. Olympic gold medallist in rowing
• Harold Boulton 1878 "Skye Boat Song"
• Julian Sturgis 1868 "the best serious librettist of the day" (W.S.Gilbert) FA Cup Final winner

Chess

• Raaphi Persitz 1953 chess master, financial journalist and chess writer
• Leonard Barden 1949 chess master, activist and journalist
• Sir Theodore Tylor 1918 Fellow, blind, jurisprudence don, chess master
• H. J. R. Murray 1887 school inspector, chess historian, "The History of Chess", son of the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary

Political journalists

Robert Peston, ITV Political editor

• Stephen Bush (2008) Financial Times
• Gary Gibbon (1983) Channel 4
• Robert Peston (c1978) BBC then ITV
• Charles Krauthammer (c1971) Commonwealth Scholar, US conservative
• Martin Kettle 1967 The Guardian, Marxist
• Peter Snow 1958 Current affairs TV presenter
• Hugo Young 1958 The Guardian
• Peter Usborne 1953 co-founder, Private Eye, founder Usborne publishers

Poets

Hilaire Belloc

Gerard Manley Hopkins

• Christopher Ricks 1953 literary critic
• F. T. Prince 1931 WW2 "Soldiers Bathing"
• Laurence Whistler (1930) poet and glass engraver
• Patrick Shaw-Stewart 1907 WW1 war poet "Achilles in the Trench"
• Julian Grenfell 1906 WW1 war poet
• Walter Lyon 1905 WW1 war poet
• Hilaire Belloc 1893 Catholic literary revival
• Eric Stenbock 1879 (did not graduate) Baltic Swedish poet
• Henry Charles Beeching 1878 Dean of Norwich
• William Money Hardinge 1873 homosexual novels
• Andrew Cecil Bradley 1869 "Shakespearean Tragedy" 1904
• Andrew Lang 1865 FBA folklorist
• Gerard Manley Hopkins 1863 sprung rhythm, Jesuit
• Algernon Charles Swinburne 1856 (rusticated 1859) (did not graduate) poet-novelist-critic
• Charles Stuart Calverley (born Blayds) 1850 (expelled after one year) The university school of humour
• Francis Turner Palgrave 1842 anthologist, Golden Treasury
• Matthew Arnold 1840 sage writer
• John Campbell Shairp 1840 pastoral poet
• Arthur Hugh Clough 1837 secretarial assistant to Florence Nightingale
• Robert Southey 1792 (did not graduate) "Goldilocks and the three bears"
• Sir Edward Dyer (1561) Courtier and Poet Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. According to Anthony Wood (quoted in ONDB) he went to either Balliol or Broadgates Hall. He is listed as a student at Oxford in Fosters, but no college is given. From this evidence, there is no more than a 50% chance he was at Balliol.

Literary scholars

Image	Name	Join date	Field of work	Comments	Refs
	George Steiner	1950	comparative literature	Rhodes Scholar, Hon. Fellow Professor at Geneva, Oxford, Harvard Polyglot and polymath
	David Daiches	1934	literary history	Fellow A Critical History of English Literature The Penguin Companion to Literature
	John Livingston Lowes	1930	Samuel Taylor Coleridge Geoffrey Chaucer	Eastman Professor taught at Washington University St Louis, and Harvard
	Cyril Connolly	1922	literary critic	Enemies of Promise
	Logan Pearsall Smith	1888	essayist	Words and Idioms "The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists in the circulation of their blood."
	Henry Watson Fowler	1877	lexicographer	A Dictionary of Modern English Usage Concise Oxford English Dictionary "a lexicographical genius" (The Times)
	Henry Sweet	1869	phoneticist	A Handbook of Phonetics
	John Churton Collins	1868	literary critic	Professor, Birmingham The Study of English Literature "a louse in the locks of literature" (Tennyson)
	John Nichol	1855	literary critic	Regius Professor of English Literature, Glasgow Byron, Burns, Carlyle
	Herbert Coleridge	1847	philologist	editor Oxford English Dictionary

Newspaper editors

• Richard Lambert 1963 The Financial Times
• Andrew Knight 1958 The Economist
• William Rees-Mogg 1946 The Times
• David Astor 1931 CH Did not graduate, The Observer
• Henry Vincent Hodson 1925 The Sunday Times

Television and film

Peter Snow, television presenter

• Chadwick Boseman (1998 summer school) Superhero actor (US)
• Vanessa Engle (c1980) Documentary maker
• John Schlesinger 1947 Film director "Midnight Cowboy"
• Roger Mayne 1947 Photographer
• Maurice Gorham 1920 Controller of BBC TV
• Raymond Massey 1919 Hollywood actor "Seven Angry Men"
• Michael Winterbottom

Security, Military and Intelligence

John Aidan Liddell VC MC

• Cressida Dick, (1979) commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police and daughter of Balliol Senior Tutor Marcus Dick
• Lieutenant-General Simon Mayall (c1975) Defence Senior Advisor Middle East
• Nigel Sheinwald (1972) Ambassador to the United States
• John Holmes Chairman of the Electoral Commission
• Martin Fido 1963 Fellow, True crime writer
• John Keegan 1953 Military historian
• Sir Nigel Foulkes, 1938 Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority
• R. V. Jones 1934 FRS "the father of scientific intelligence"
• Sir John Rennie 1932 Director MI6
• Group Captain Archie Hope 1930 DFC, RAF pilot WW2
• Hon Richard Gilbert Hare Head of Russian propaganda, Ministry of Information WW2
• Lieutenant Arthur Rhys-Davids 1916 MC declined scholarship to join the Royal Flying Corps
• Captain John Aidan Liddell 1908 VC MC Royal Flying Corps
• Lieutenant-General Adrian Carton de Wiart 1899 VC left before graduating to fight in Boer War
• Vice-Admiral William Monson 1581 his Naval Tracts describe Navy life

Educators and school teachers

Image	Name	Join date	Field of work	Comments	Refs
	Nick Bevan	1960	Shiplake College	headmaster
	Alec Peterson	1926	International Baccalaureate	head of Oxford University Department of Education
	John Fulton	1923	British Council	chair of British Council
	Robert Birley	1922	Eton College	headmaster
	Sir Henry Marten	1891	Eton College	Provost of Eton tutor to Princess Elizabeth later Queen Elizabeth II
	Richard Powell Francis	1879	Brisbane Grammar School	first Australian to graduate from Balliol
	George Ferris Whidborne Mortimer	1823	City of London School	headmaster Abolitionist
	Richard Jenkyns	1800	Balliol College	Master, educational innovator

Social and political theorists

• Raj Patel (1991) social justice
• Geoff Mulgan 1979 Collective intelligence
• Graeme Garrard (1990) political thought
• Stephen Macedo (1980) liberalism
• Alex Callinicos (1968) Trotskyist political theorist
• Aly Kassam-Remtulla (1999) cultural anthropologist and non-profit executive
• David Miller 1967 social justice
• Robert Putnam 1963 Fulbright Fellow, two-level game theory, "Bowling Alone"
• Steven Lukes FBA 1958 Fellow, sociology
• Peter Sedgwick 1952 The politics of psychiatric services
• Norman O. Brown 1932 Freudo-Marxism
• Sir Leon Simon 1900 Zionist
• Sir Ernest Barker 1893 FBA political science
• Robert Ranulph Marett 1885 cultural anthropology

Philanthropists

• Matthew Westerman 1983 funded Pathfinder scheme and extended it to Asia
• John Templeton 1934 Rhodes Scholar, Fund Manager
• J. Irwin Miller American industrialist, modern architecture
• Cecil Jackson-Cole 1928 (external student) founder of OXFAM
• William A Coolidge 1924 Set up Pathfinder scheme for students to visit USA
• Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead 1874 arts and crafts movement
• Hannah Brackenbury 1865 major donor to Balliol College for scholarships and buildings
• Dervorguilla of Galloway 1282 endowed Balliol College as a "college for the poor"

Colonial administrators

• Crawford Murray MacLehose Joined 1936. Diplomat: ambassador to South Vietnam 1967-9, to Denmark 1969-71, Governor of Hong Kong 1971-82 (longest serving ever) .Life peer 1982 (crossbench). Died 2000.
• Cyril George Fox Cartwright
• Sir Lionel Barnett Abrahams 1888 Senior civil servant, India Office
• Shyamji Krishna Varma 1879 India
• George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston 1878 viceroy of India
• Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin (c1867) viceroy of India
• Henry Primrose private secretary to the Viceroy of India, chair Inland Revenue
• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne 1863 listed as Lord Kerry viceroy of India
• Roger Ludlow 1609 (spelt Ludlowe) US Colonial lawmaker

Theologians and clergy

John Wycliffe

Cardinal Manning

Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, head of the Baháʼí Faith (1921–1957)

• George Abbot
• Mirza Nasir Ahmad
• Archibald Alison 1775
• John Bell
• Lionel Blue
• Thomas Bradwardine
• Alexander Briant
• Israel Brodie
• Thomas Byles
• John Douglas
• Shoghi Effendi
• Frederick William Faber
• Austin Farrer
• Cardinal Heard
• Ronald Knox
• Cosmo Lang
• Arnold Lunn Catholic apologist and inventor of the slalom ski run
• Henry Manning
• Thomas More (suggested but undocumented)
• John Morton
• George Neville
• Henry Oxenham
• John Coleridge Patteson
• Hardwicke Rawnsley (1870) Founder, National Trust
• Michael Sadgrove (1968)
• Arthur Penrhyn Stanley
• Bill Sykes
• Archibald Campbell Tait
• Frederick Temple
• William Temple
• Godfrey Thring
• Joseph Wood
• John Wycliffe
• David Young (bishop)

Sport

• Matthew Syed (1992) table tennis Commonwealth champion, columnist and broadcaster
• Richard Sharp 1959 England rugby union captain
• Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi 1959 India cricket captain
• Alan Rotherham 1881 England rugby union captain

Other

• Johnny Acton (1989) cook
• Ghislaine Maxwell, socialite and convicted child sex trafficker
• Aly Kassam-Remtulla Rhodes Scholar

Fictional

• Sir Humphrey Appleby
• The Rev Francis Arabin (from Barchester Towers)
• John Blaylock (from Whitley Streiber's The Hunger)
• Captain Hook
• Sir Arnold Robinson
• Captain John Charity Spring
• Lord Peter Wimsey

Notable applicants who were not matriculated

• Isaiah Berlin
• Tony Blair
• Bill Clinton
• Daniel Cohn-Bendit
• Daniel Dennett
• A. Hyatt Mayor
• Avrion Mitchison FRS immunologist
• Colin McGinn
• Lytton Strachey

Balliol Chancellors of Oxford University

• Richard FitzRalph (1332)
• William de Wilton (1374)
• Thomas Chace (1426)
• Richard Rotherham (1440)
• William Grey (1440)
• Robert Thwaytes (1445)
• George Neville (1453); (1461)
• John Morton (1494)
• George Nathaniel Curzon (1907)
• Alfred Milner (1925)
• Edward Grey (1928)
• Harold Macmillan (1960)
• Roy Harris Jenkins (1987)
• Christopher Francis Patten (2003)

Masters of Balliol

Main article: List of masters of Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol is run by the Master and Fellows of the college. The Master of the college must be "the person who is, in [the Fellows'] judgement, most fit for the government of the College as a place of religion, learning, and education". The current Master of Balliol is Helen Ghosh.

See also

• List of academics of Balliol College, Oxford