List of presidents of the Oxford Union

Past elected presidents of the Oxford Union are listed below, with their college and the year/term in which they served. Iterum indicates that a person was serving a second term as president (which is not possible under the current Union rules).

These are the Presidents as listed^[1]

These are the presidents as listed:^[1][12][13]

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
1826	—	Hassard Hume Dodgson[d][n 1][12][13] Digby Wrangham[12]	Richard Durnford[n 1][2][12] E. E. Villiers (iterum)[12]
1826–27	R. A. Hornby[e][12]	Norman Hilton Macdonald[12] Douglas Smith[g][n 1] Henry Tufnell[12]	J. Pearson[h][12] Edward Twisleton[12]
1827–28	William Courtenay[17][12] Herman Merivale[12]	Douglas Smith (iterum)[g][12]	Thomas Hobhouse[12] A. Grant[12]
1828–29	Charles Baring[12]	Henry Wilberforce[12] Thomas Acland[9][12]	H. W. Moncrieff[12]
1829–30	Henry Manning[n 1][12] Henry Wilberforce (iterum)[n 1][12][13]	Sidney Herbert	James Gaskell[12]
1830–31	James Gaskell[12] William Gladstone[12]	James Bruce[12] Joseph Anstice	John Lyall[12]
1831–32	Earl of Lincoln	G. K. Rickards	Roundell Palmer[18][13]
1832–33	William Ward	Edward Cardwell	Archibald Tait
1833–34	Edward Massie[i]	Robert Lowe Charles Marriott	William Sinclair[j]
1834–35	J. Adams[k]	William Ward (iterum)	J. M. Capes
1835–36	Edward Cardwell (iterum)	T. Brancker[l]	John Cornish[23][13]
1836–37	W. N. Tilson-Marsh[m]	Henry Cripps[26][13]	G. R. Moncrieff[n]
1837–38	James Hessey	William Ridley	W. C. Lake[28][13]
1838–39	Henry Highton	G. R. Moncrieff[n] (iterum)	H. W. Sullivan[o]
1839–40	William Buckley	J. B. Blackett	George Rawlinson[30][13]
1840–41	C. T. Arnold[p]	R. C. Powles[33][13]	J. T. B. Landon[q]
1841–42	Richard Congreve[35][13]	Melville Portal	Drummond Chase
1842–43	Edward Plumptre	George Bowen[36][13]	W. H. Scott[r]
1843–44	John Coleridge[39][13]	H. M. White[s]	John Mackarness[41][13]
1844–45	George Bowen[36][13](iterum)	Alfred Pott[42][13]	John G. Cazenove
1846–47	Francis Sandford	John Conington[41]	R. J. Simpson[t]
1848–49	S. J. Hulme[u]	C. H. Stanton[v]	Earl of Dufferin[n 1] W. B. Marriott
1847–48	George Hunt	Walter Congreve[w]	Montagu Blackett[41]
1848–49	G. R. Portal[x]	F. Meyrick[50]	George Boyle
1849–50	William Milman[51][52]	J. R. K. Ralph[y]	Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
1850–51	E. B. Lomer[z]	Alexander Mitchell	Henry Smith
1851–52	Frederick Lygon	Walter Shirley	Henry Oxenham
1852–53	C. H. Pearson[56][13]	J. Fitzgerald[aa]	Benjamin Rogers[58][13]
1853–54	George Goschen[59][13]	Arthur Butler[60][13]	Godfrey Lushington[61][13]
1854–55	George C. Brodrick[62][13]	Robert Bartlett[ab]	J. H. Bridges[ac][66][13]
1855–56	D. C. Lathbury	Charles Turner[67][13]	W. F. Wilberforce
1856–57	John Oakley	Philip Eliot	John Mitchinson[68][13]
1857–58	T. R. Halcombe[ad]	Thomas Fowle	Charles Bowen[70][13]
1858–59	E. K. Bennet[ae]	A. V. Dicey[72][13]	A. O. Rutson[73]
1859–60	Peter Fogg	Edward Moore[74][13]	H. L. Harrison
1860–61	Francis Beaumont[75][13][76]	Kenelm Digby[77][13]	Thomas Green
1861–62	J. R. Magrath[78][13]	Auberon Herbert[n 1][79][13] A. H. Beesly	James Bryce[60][13]
1862–63	O. W. Tancock	Reginald Smith[80][13]	Reginald Abbot[81][13]
1863–64	Alfred Robinson[af][83][13]	William Fearon[84][13]	Francis Jeune[85][13]
1864–65	A. A. Clive	Alfred Robinson[83][13](iterum)	R. Robinson
1865–66	Courtenay Ilbert[86][13]	Edward Talbot[87][13]	George Simcox[88][13]
1866–67	William Awdry[89][13]	William Sanday[90][13]	Lord Francis Hervey[91]
1867–68	James Strachan-Davidson[92][13]	Reginald Copleston[93][13]	Edward Talbot[87][13] (iterum)
1868–69	Mandell Creighton[94][13]	C. T. Redington	Reginald Copleston[93][13] (iterum)
1869–70	Charles Fyffe	William Duggan[95][13]	A. H. Turner
1870–71	John Doyle[96][13]	Thomas Grose[97][13]	Herbert James[93][13]
1871–72	Walter Lock[98][13]	Annan Bryce	Henry Pope
1872–73	Charles Cruttwell[99][13]	William M. Sinclair	Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett
1873–74	Robert Mowbray[96][13]	M. H. Gould	H. H. Asquith[86][13]
1874–75	H. A. Venables	Thomas Raleigh[100][13]	Arthur Sloman[1]

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
1875–76	Herbert Paul	George Savery	Alfred Milner[83][13]
1876–77	Robert Haddon	Dunbar Barton	Viscount Lymington[n 1][101][13] Arthur Baumann[101][13]
1877–78	Robert Horton[102][13]	William St John Brodrick	Robert Germaine
1878–79	Nathaniel Micklem	Edward Poulton[103]	F. R. Burrows
1879–80	Edward Cook	Richard Dawson	B. R. Wise
1880–81	George Curzon	John Sargeaunt	Charles White
1881–82	Edward Horsburgh	John Hamilton[104]	A. N. Cumming[101]
1882–83	Michael Sadler	W. H. Shaw[92]	Halford Mackinder[105]
1883–84	John Pemberton[106]	A. Dyson Williams	William Worsley
1884–85	Cosmo Lang[107]	George Vidal[108]	George Bellewes
1885–86	Robert Cecil	Anthony Hawkins	C. Emmott
1886–87	/ Walter Phillips	Charles Green	C. J. Blacker
1887–88	H. M. Godfray	A. J. McGregor	A. J. Carlyle[109]
1888–89	Arthur Griffith-Boscawen	Spurrier Parmiter	Herbert Snowden
1889–90	George Mortimer	George Peel	Frank Coller
1890–91	Carl Knaus	William Cozens-Hardy	Lord Ampthill
1891–92	A. E. Ripley	John Magee	James Galbraith
1892–93	Robert Charles Phillimore	C. H. Eliot	William Lygon
1893–94	H. W. Liversidge	Lord Balcarres	F. E. Smith
1894–95	Herbert Morrah	Hilaire Belloc	P. J. Macdonell
1895–96	R. C. Phillimore (iterum)	John Simon	Archibald Boyd-Carpenter
1896–97	Francis Hirst	Robert Johnson	James Cleland
1897–98	F. Lenwood	Edmund Bentley	Cyril Garbett
1898–99	L. R. F. Oldershaw	John Buchan	Arthur Steel
1899–1900	G. M. Gathorne-Hardy	Robert Ensor[105]	Raymond Asquith[n 2][105]

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
1900–01	Harold Baker[105]	Algernon Cecil[105]	T. Cuthbertson[105]
1901–02	George Tomlinson[105]	Sandie Lindsay[105]	Eric Macfadyen[105]
1902–03	Herbert du Parcq[105]	Herbert Asquith[105]	F. W. Curran[105]
1903–04	John Brooke[105]	William Temple[105]	W. A. Moore[105]
1904–05	E. S. Jose[105]	John Heath[105]	Alexander Shaw[105]
1905–06	M. H. Woods[105]	H. M. Paul[105]	Henry Lygon[105]
1906–07	Gervais Rentoul[105]	Neville Talbot[105]	Will Gladstone[n 2][105]
1907–08	W. S. Armour[105]	Charles Le Quesne[105]	Hugh Hallett[105]
1908–09	M. H. Richmond[105]	Ronald Knox[105]	Edgar Swain[105]
1909–10	Robert Laffan[105]	Robert S. A. Palmer[n 2][105]	Leonard Stein[105]
1910–11	A. W. Cockburn[105]	Nathaniel Micklem[105]	Raymond Bevir[n 2][105]
1911–12	Philip Guedalla[105]	Frank Griffith[105]	Robert Barrington-Ward[105]
1912–13	G. S. Woodhouse[n 2][105]	Walter Monckton[105]	W. J. Bland[n 2][105]
1913–14	Godfrey Talbot[n 2][105]	Ernest Roberts[105]	Alexander Wedderburn[105]
1914–15	Arthur Wiggin[105]	N/A	N/A
1915–16	N/A	N/A	N/A
1916–17	N/A	N/A	N/A
1917–18	N/A	N/A	N/A
1918–19	N/A	N/A	Leslie Hore-Belisha[105]
1919–20	Thomas Earp[105]	Constantine Gallop[105]	John Russell[105]
1920–21	Beverley Nichols[105]	Alec Beechman[105]	Cecil Ramage[105]
1921–22	Kenneth Lindsay[105]	John Evans[105]	Ralph Carson[105]
1922–23	Edward Marjoribanks[105]	J. Douglas Woodruff[105]	Gordon Bagnall[105]
1923–24	Christopher Hollis[105]	Christopher Scaife[105]	Gerald Gardiner[105]
1924–25	Henry Scrymgeour-Wedderburn[105]	Robert Bernays[105]	Vincent Lloyd-Jones[105]

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
1925–26	Hugh Molson[105]	Gyles Isham[105]	Lindley Fraser[105]
1926–27	Alan Lennox-Boyd[105]	Roger Fulford[105]	John Playfair Price[105]
1927–28	Malcolm Brereton[n 3][105]	Dingle Foot[105]	Aubrey Herbert[105]
1928–29	Somerset Stopford Brooke[105]	Roger Wilson[105]	Quintin Hogg[105]
1929–30	Michael Stewart[105]	Edgar Lustgarten[105]	J. P. W. Mallalieu[105]
1930–31	John Boyd-Carpenter[105]	John Foot[105]	Geoffrey Wilson[105]
1931–32	Toby O'Brien[105]	Arthur Irvine[105]	Brian Davidson[105]
1932–33	Christopher Smuts[105]	Frank Hardie[105]	Tony Greenwood[105]
1933–34	Michael Foot[105]	Dosoo Karaka[105]	Keith Steel-Maitland[105]
1934–35	W. G. Murray[105]	David Lewis[105]	James Hickerton[105]
1935–36	Brian Farrell[105]	Ian Harvey[105]	Bill Shebbeare[n 3][105]
1936–37	James Brown[105]	Christopher Mayhew[105]	Patrick Anderson[105]
1937–38	Alan Fyfe[n 3][105]	Raymond Walton[105]	Philip Toynbee[105]
1938–39	Alan Wood[105]	Edward Heath[105]	Hugh Fraser[105]
1939–40	A. F. Giles[n 4][105] Nicholas Henderson[105]	Madron Seligman[105]	Robin Edmonds[105]
1940–41	James Comyn[105]	Indar Bahadoorsingh[105]	Kenneth Riddle[105]
1941–42	Michael Kinchin-Smith[105]	Gershon Hirsch[105]	F. P. R. Hinchliffe[105]
1942–43	James Cameron Tudor[105]	Herbert Clarke[105]	Courtney Blackmore[105]
1943–44	Godfrey le Quesne[105][110]	Kenneth Lamb[105]	Fernando Henriques[105]
1944–45	Tony Pickford[105]	Alan Gibson[n 4][105] Rudi Weisweiller[105]	Anthony Walton[105]
1945-46	John Long[105]	Basil Wigoder[105]	Anthony Crosland[105]
1946-47	Ronald Brown[105]	Roger Gray[105]	Anthony Wedgwood Benn[105]
1947–48	Peter Kroyer[105]	Clive Wigram[105]	Edward Boyle[105]
1948–49	Seymour Hills[105]	Peter Kirk[105]	Rodney Donald[105]
1949–50	Dick Faber[105]	Uwe Kitzinger[105]	Robin Day[105]

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
1950–51	Godfrey Smith[105]	Jeremy Thorpe[105]	William Rees-Mogg[105]
1951–52	Ivan Yates[105]	Peter Blaker[105]	Howard Shuman[105]
1952–53	Patrick Mayhew[105]	Bryan Magee[105]	John Peters[105]
1953–54	Andrew Cuninghame[105]	Tyrell Burgess[105]	Raghavan N. Iyer[105]
1954–55	Michael Heseltine[105]	Jeremy Isaacs[105]	Anthony Howard[105]
1955–56	Desmond Watkins[105]	Alec Grant[105]	Roy Dixon[105]
1956–57	Edmund Ions[105]	Jeremy Lever[105]	Peter Brooke[105]
1957–58	Brian Walden[105]	Lalith Athulathmudali[105]	Stuart Griffiths[105]
1958–59	Ron Owen	Lakshman Kadirgamar[105]	Anthony Newton[105]
1959–60	Joe Trattner[105]	Ian Lyon[105]	Peter Jay[105]
1960–61	Robert Rowland[105]	Phillip Whitehead[105]	Paul Foot[105]
1961–62	Howard Preece[105]	Hugh Stephenson[105]	John McDonnell[105]
1962–63	Michael Beloff[105]	Girish Karnad[105]	Jeffrey Jowell[105]
1963–64	Anthony Hart[105]	Garth Pratt[105]	Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[105]
1964–65	Eric Abrahams[105][111]	Neil MacCormick[105]	Tariq Ali[105]
1965–66	Douglas Hogg[105]	Joshua Bamfield[105]	Jeremy Beloff[105]
1966–67	Montek Singh Ahluwalia[105]	Ronald Cohen[105]	Stephen Marks[105]
1967–68	Robert Jackson[105]	Geraldine Jones[105]	William Waldegrave[105]
1968–69	Ian Glick[105]	David Walter[105]	Colin Youlden[105]
1969–70	Gyles Brandreth[105]	Guy Harkin[105]	Stephen Milligan[105]
1970–71	Eric Parsloe[105]	Michael House[105]	Susan Richards[105]
1971–72	Christopher Tookey[105]	Julian Priestley[n 1][105] Pradeep Mitra[105]	Patric Dickinson[105]
1972–73	Philip McDonagh[105]	Michael Austerberry[112]	Colin Maltby[105]
1973–74	David Warren[105]	Simon Walker[105]	Michael Soole[105]
1974–75	Robert McDonagh[105]	Robert Scoble[105]	Victor van Amerongen[105]

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
1975–76	David Soskin[105]	Andrew Bell[105]	Colin Moynihan[105]
1976–77	Richard Norton[105]	Benazir Bhutto[105]	Victoria Schofield[105]
1977–78	Damian Green[105]	Nicholas O'Shaughnessy[105]	John Harrison[105]
1978–79	Daniel Moylan[105]	Alan Duncan[105]	Philip May[105]
1979–80	Michael Crick[105]	Warwick Lightfoot[105]	Nicholas Prettejohn[105]
1980–81	Rupert Soames[105]	Andrew Sutcliffe[105]	Alexandra Jones[105]
1981–82	William Hague	Kevin Brennan[105]	Paul Thompson[105]
1982–83	Christopher Wortley[105]	Hilali Noordeen[105]	Andrew Sullivan[105]
1983–84	Neale Stevenson[105]	Malcolm Bull[105]	Melvyn Stride[105]
1984–85	Laurence Grafstein[105]	Roland Rudd[105]	Neil Sherlock[105]
1985–86	Anthony Goodman[105]	Jeya Wilson[105]	Boris Johnson[105]
1986–87	Angus McCullough[105]	Simon Stevens[105][113]	Jessica Pulay[105]
1987–88	Anthony Frieze[105]	Michael Gove[105]	Duncan Gray[105]
1988–89	Andrew McCulloch[105]	Adam Bruce[105]	Stefan Green[105]
1989–90	Diana Gerald[105]	Ed Lazarus[105]	Jeremy Quin[105]
1990–91	Melanie Johnson[105]	Oliver Campbell KC[105][114]	Damian Hinds[105]
1991–92	Nicholas Edgar[105]	Graeme Halkerston	Adrian Gannon
1992–93	Christopher Hall	James Robertson	Katherine Wade
1993–94	Toby Lewis	Kate Wilson	Peter Gowers
1994–95	Jeremy Green	Robert Palmer	David Pinto-Duschinsky
1995–96	Matt Guy	Jonathan Wolf	Paul Kenward
1996–97	Jennifer Carter-Manning	Rob Harrington	Oli Evans
1997–98	Sam Gyimah	Clare Dixon	Ellie Blagbrough
1998–99	Helen Eastman	Theo Mills	Nicky Black
1999–2000	Ben Seifert	Lucy Aitkens	Jeff Bell

Year	Michaelmas	Hilary	Trinity
2000–01	Richard Silcock	Nick Mason	Amy Harland
2001–02	Neil Mahapatra	Charlotte Keenan	Karen Price
2002–03	David Watson	Fraser Campbell	Ambrose Faulks
2003–04	Marcus Walker	Edward Tomlinson	Georgina Costa
2004–05	Ruzwana Bashir	Laura Poots	Richard Tydeman
2005–06	Chris Farmer	Sapana Agrawal	David Powell
2006–07	James Wise	Theo Roos	Alex Just
2007–08	Luke Tryl	Emily Partington	Ben Tansey
2008–09	Josh Roche[115]	Charlie Holt[115]	Corey Dixon[116]
2009–10	James Dray[117]	Stuart Cullen[115]	Laura Winwood[115]
2010–11	James Kingston[118]	James Langman[119]	Ashvir Sangha[120]
2011–12	Isabelle Westbury[120]	Lauren Pringle	Isabel Ernst
2012–13	Seung-yoon Lee[ag]	Maria Rioumine	Joseph D'Urso
2013–14	Parit Wacharasindhu	Polina Ivanova	Ben Sullivan
2014–15	Mayank Banerjee	Lisa Wehden	Olivia Merrett
2015–16	Charles Vaughan	Stuart Webber	Robert Harris
2016–17	Noah Lachs	Nikolay Koshikov	Michael Li
2017–18	Chris Zabilowicz	Laali Vadlamani[122]	Gui Cavalcanti[123]
2018–19	Stephen Horvath[124]	Daniel Wilkinson[125]	Genevieve Athis[126]
2019–20	Brendan McGrath[n 1][127] Sara Dube[128] (Acting)	Sara Dube[128]	Mahi Joshi[129]
2020–21	Beatrice Barr[130]	James Price[ah]	Adam Roble[133]
2021–22	Chengkai Xie[134]	Molly Mantle[135]	Michael-Akolade Ayodeji[136]
2022–23	Ahmad Nawaz[137][ai] Charlie Mackintosh (Acting)	Charlie Mackintosh[140]	Matthew Dick[141]
2023–24	Disha Hegde[142]	Hannah Edwards[143]	Louis Wilson[144][aj]
2024–25	Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy[149][ak]	Israr Khan[151][152]	Anita Okunde[153][154]
2025–26	Moosa Harraj[155]

The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was Union Secretary in Michaelmas 1848.

Harold Macmillan was Secretary of the Union in Hilary 1914, then Junior Treasurer (elected unopposed, which was then very unusual) in Trinity 1914; but for the war he would "almost certainly" have been President.^[156]

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was Treasurer in Trinity 1924.^[157]

Humayun Kabir was Librarian in 1931.^[157]

Roy Jenkins served as Librarian and Secretary and lost two Presidential elections.^[158][159]

Norman St John-Stevas was Secretary of the Oxford Union but never became President despite his ambition to be the first person to be President of both Oxford and Cambridge Unions; he had been President of the Cambridge Union during his undergraduate years, before he studied at Oxford.^[160]

Ann Widdecombe was Treasurer in 1972, after having served as Secretary the previous year.^[161][162]

Jacob Rees-Mogg was Librarian in 1990, losing the election for the presidency to future Education Secretary Damian Hinds.^[163]

• Simon Kerslake (early 1950s), protagonist of the Jeffrey Archer novel First Among Equals invites sitting Prime Minister Winston Churchill to propose the motion during Eights Week that "This House Would Rather be a Commoner than a Lord". His future rival, The Hon. Charles Seymour listens from the floor and resolves to enter politics also.^[164] Archer himself was elected to Standing Committee for one term in 1965.^[165]