Presidents
We have been truly honoured to have had so many distinguished people as President of our Club.
Before WWII the Immortal Memory to Sir Walter was often broadcast on the Radio.
In 1930 the Address by Stanley Baldwin was transmitted "live" from our Annual Dinner in Edinburgh.
Our Current President is:
Prof. Peter Garside
-- He will give the Toast to the Memory of Sir Walter at our 116th Annual Dinner on the 7th May 2026.
Past Presidents
2024: Lord Stewart > [video] >> [transcript]
2023: Professor Penny Fielding > [video] >> [transcript]
2022: Dr. Janina Ramirez > [video] (She was unable to attend and so Dr. Lucy Wood gave the Toast to Sir Walter)
2021: Professor Murray Pittock > [video]
2020: Sir Tom Devine > [video] >> [transcript]
2019:
Professor Murray Pittock
(Dinner cancelled due to COVID-19)
2018: Sir Maxwell MacLeod > [video] >> [photos] - 110th Annual Dinner
2017: Professor Alison Lumsden > [video]
2016: Stuart Kelly > [video] >> [photos]
2015: Professor Gerard Carruthers > [video]
2014: Brian Taylor > [video]
2013: Douglas Gifford > [video]
2012: Sir Max Hastings > [transcript] >> [video]
2011: Emeritus Professor Claire Lamont > [transcript]
2010: The Rt. Hon. Lord Sanderson of Bowden > [transcript] >> [video]
2008: The Duke of Buccleuch > [transcript] >> [photos] - 100th Annual Dinner (Honorary Guest - HRH Princess Royal)
2007: A.N.Wilson > [transcript]
2006: Professor Ian Campbell > [transcript]
2005: James Robertson > [transcript]
2004: Tam Dalyell > [transcript]
2003: Dame Jean Maxwell-Scott > [transcript] (Professor Ian Campbell presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)
2002: Professor Jane Millgate > [transcript]
2001: The Right Honourable Sir David Edward > [transcript]
2000: Fraser Elgin > [transcript]
1998: Sir John Thomson > [transcript] - 90th Annual Dinner
1997: Mrs. Patricia Maxwell-Scott > [transcript]
1996: Professor Neil MacCormick > [audio] > [transcript]
1995: Paul H. Scott > [audio] >> [transcript]
1994: Dr Archie Turnbull> [audio] >> [transcript]
1993: The Right Hon. The Lord Mackay of Clashfern > [transcript]
1992: The Right Hon. Malcolm Rifkind > [transcript]
1991: Mrs. Dorothy Dunnett > [audio] >> [transcript]
1990: Professor Edwin Morgan > [audio] >> [transcript]
1987/8: Professor David Hewitt >[audio]>>[transcript] - 80th Annual Dinner
1986: Dr. T. L. Johnston > [transcript]
1985: The Right Hon. the Lord Swann > [transcript]
1984: The Right Hon. the Lord Grimond > [transcript]
1983: Lady Antonia Fraser > [audio] >> [transcript]
1982: His Grace The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry > [audio] >> [transcript]
1981: Professor R. J. Adam > [transcript]
1980: W. E. K. Anderson > [transcript]
1979: Lord Ballantrae > [bulletin] (Professor David Daiches presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)
1977: The Right Hon. the Lord Scarman > [transcript] - 70th Annual Dinner
1976: Ian Grimble > [audio] >> [transcript]
1975: Allan C. Frazer > [transcript]
1974: The Right Hon. the Lord Tweedsmuir > [audio] >> [transcript]
1973: The Right Hon. Harold Macmillan
> [audio] >> [transcript]
1972: The Right Hon. the Earl of Longford > [transcript]
1971: Robert Speaight > [audio] >> [transcript]
1970: Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper > [audio] >> [transcript]
1969: The Hon. Lord Kilbrandon > [audio] >> [transcript]
1967: The Right Hon. Lord Polwarth > [transcript]- 60th Annual Dinner
1966: The Right Hon. Sir Alec Douglas-Home > [audio] >> [transcript]
1965: The Right Hon. Lord Cameron > [audio] >> [transcript]
1964: Professor David Daiches > [audio] >> [transcript]
1963: Malcolm Muggeridge > [transcript]
1962: Baroness Elliot of Harwood > [transcript]
1961: The Right Hon. Lord Clyde, The Lord Justice General > [transcript]
1961: The Right Hon. Lord Birkett of Ulverston (Died just three weeks before the Annual Dinner)
1960: The Most Rev. and Right Hon. Arthur Michael Ramsay, Lord Archbishop of York > [transcript] (later Archbishop of Canterbury)
1959: Hesketh Pearson > [transcript]
1957: Arthur Melville Clark > [transcript] - 50th Annual Dinner
1957: The Right Rev. Monseignor Ronald Knox D.Litt (Resigned due to ill health)
1956: The Right Hon. Viscount Kilmuir > [transcript]
1955: Professor C. S. Lewis > [transcript]
1954: The Right Hon. Lady Tweedsmuir > [transcript]
1953: Principal John Traill Christie > [transcript]
1952: Eric Linklater > [transcript]
1952: Principal John Traill Christie (Resigned to accept a Commission on Education in India)
1951: Professor Sir Alexander Gray > [transcript]
1950: The Right Hon. Walter E. Elliot > [transcript]
1949: The Right Rev. Maurice H. Harland > [transcript] (Lord Bishop of Lincoln later Durham)
1948: Field Marshal The Right Hon. Earl Wavell of Cyrenaica and Winchester > [transcript]
1947: Dr. O. H. Mavor (James Bridie) > [transcript] - 40th Annual Dinner
* * * * *
1939: The Right Hon. Lord Ponsonby (Dinner cancelled due to Second World War)
1938: Major John Hay Beith (Ian Hay) > [transcript]
1937: Professor George Trevelyan > [transcript]
1936: Dr. James Curle > [transcript]
1936: Sir Robert S. Rait C.B.E., M.A., LL.D. (Resigned due to ill health)
1935: The Right Hon. Lord Macmillan > [transcript]
1934: The Hon. Lord St. Vigeans > [transcript] (The Most Hon. The Marquess of Linlithgow presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)
1933: The Most Hon. The Marquess of Linlithgow > [transcript] (The Hon. Lord St. Vigeans presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)
1932: Hugh Walpole > [transcript]
1931: Professor William MacNeile Dixon > [transcript]
1929: The Right Hon. Stanley Baldwin > [transcript] (Earl Baldwin of Bewdley) - 30th Annual Dinner
1928: Professor George Gordon > [transcript] (President of Magdalen)
1927: Professor H. J. C. Grierson > [transcript]
1926: Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch > [transcript]
1925: The Hon. Lord Sands > [transcript]
1924: The Right Hon. The Earl of Birkenhead > [transcript]
1923: Colonel John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir) > [transcript]
1922: The Right Rev. Herbert Hensley Henson > [transcript]
1921: The Right Hon. Robert Munro KC MP. > [transcript] (The Very Reverend Professor Paterson presided and delivered the Toast to Sir Walter)
1920: The Right Hon. Lord Glenconner (Died - Dinner Cancelled - no Annual Report issued)
1920: The Right Hon. Lord Latymer (Resigned due to ill health)
1919: The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce > [transcript]
* * * * *
1914: The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce > [bulletin] (Dinner Cancelled due to First World War)
1913: The Right Hon. Sir John Simon > [transcript] - 20th Annual Dinner
1912: The Most Rev. and Right Hon. Cosmo Gordon Lang > [transcript] (The Archbishop of York - later Canterbury)
1911: The Hon. Lord Guthrie > [transcript]
1910: Sir Donald MacAlister > [transcript]
1909: Sir Gilbert J. Parker, LL.D. > [transcript]
1908: Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, Bt., LL.D. > [transcript]
1907: The Right Hon. George Wyndham, LL.D., M.P. > [transcript]
1906: Sir Ludovic J. Grant, Bt., B.A., LL.D. > [transcript]
1905: The Right Hon. The Earl of Lytton > [transcript]
1904: The Right Hon. Viscount Haldane, K.C., LL.D., M.P. > [transcript]
1903: The Right Hon. Augustine Birrell, K.C., LL.D., M.P. > [transcript] - 10th Annual Dinner
1902: Sir Henry Craik, K.C.B., LL.D., M.P. > [transcript]
1901: The Right Hon. The Earl of Aberdeen > [transcript] (includes Reply from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
1900: The Right Hon. Viscount Findlay > [transcript]
1899: The Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell > [transcript] (Honorary Guest - The Right Hon. Joseph H. Choate)
1898: Sir George Douglas > [transcript]
1897: The Hon. Lord Stormonth Darling > [transcript] (Honorary Guest - The Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour M.P. )
1896: Emeritus Professor Masson > [transcript]
1895: The Hon. Lord Ardwall > [transcript]
1894: Charles A. Cooper > [transcript]
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