We are very sad to share the news that Professor Vincent Gillespie, who will be well remembered by many alumnae, has died. The below obituary was written by his long-time colleague Martin Jackson, former Domestic Bursar at St Anne’s.
Professor Vincent Gillespie died on 13 March 2025, aged 71; he was a St Anne’s Tutorial Fellow in English from 1980 to 2004.
The first part of his academic life – from 1972 to 1980 – consisted of his undergraduate and graduate studies at Keble College followed by 3 years as a lecturer at Reading University. The second part – from 1980 to 2004 – covered his time as a Fellow at St Anne’s. The third part – from 2004 until 2021 – was his time as the University’s third J. R. R. Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language based at Lady Margaret Hall.
Vincent – the son of a Post Office driver – was born in Liverpool in 1954 and applied to Keble where he was offered a place to read English. Being an undergraduate was a life changing time for Vincent: he was dazzled by all that Oxford had to offer. Many years later, when preparing the St Anne’s English Fellowship fund-raising document, he wrote from the heart:
“an Oxford education is expensive to provide, but priceless to receive”.
He worked hard and was awarded a First, but he also hoovered up every new experience that came his way. Money was tight, but he worked out how to survive on a weekly cash withdrawal of two £1 notes from the Midland Bank. Inevitably the cash would run out by Sunday, so supper that day was generally the culinary low point of the week consisting of cold baked beans on buttered Weetabix.
Vincent moved on to graduate studies at Keble, where his supervisor was Professor Douglas Gray: the first Tolkien Professor. Vincent’s thesis led to the award of a DPhil in 1981. But, before he had completed his graduate studies, Vincent had secured a lecturer’s post at Reading University in 1977.
In the Autumn of 1979 (at the age of 25), Vincent was appointed to a Fellowship at St Anne’s with a start date of 1 April 1980. His appointment continued the great St Anne’s tradition of young pre-doctoral appointments to Fellowships. But there was an event that could have led to Vincent not being appointed. On the day of the interview, Vincent arrived in Oxford by train but – walking from the railway station – he became aware of a draught about his thighs. His trousers had split along the inside seam. Horrified, he hastened to Woolworths to purchase needle and thread. Then he found his way to the nearest gents’ lavatory and sewed up the seam. The interview had a happy outcome even though his attention was only partly focused on the business of answering the questions, with his mind being distracted by the need to keep his knees together at all times.
Vincent’s time at St Anne’s was marked by his tireless efforts to improve the quality of students in the English School. There was also a steady output of books and papers: most notably, in 2001, he published Syon Abbey, an analysis of the late-medieval library registrum of the Birgittine brethren of the Abbey.
In addition, Vincent did not forget the need for College Officer and Committee roles. He was President of the SCR and refurbished the Lower Common Room. He was the Fellow Librarian who oversaw the extension of the Library on the ground floor of Hartland House. He helped develop the early relationship with the Tsuzuki family by visiting the Far East to judge their annual Asia-Pacific Cup. Vincent was Dean in the early 1980s and served as Vice-Principal in the 2000s. And last – but by no means least – he was Vice-Chair of the Ruth Deech Building Committee. On many occasions, Vincent remarked that this was the best committee that he has ever served on during his time at Oxford: quite an accolade.
Baroness Ruth Deech, then-Principal, said: “He was a real joy as a fellow, the best of the traditional Oxford tutors, with time for everyone and everything, good hearted, supportive and sharp when necessary. We could not have got the RD Building safely delivered without him. As one of the first male Fellows he set the tone for going coed while retaining all the warmth and collegiality of a women’s college. He was a tremendous asset to the college and the English school, and followed in the footsteps of all the marvellous English tutors we have had over a century.”
Vincent placed great store in the role of Governing Body at St Anne’s, believing it to be a fine example of democracy at work. Over the years, he built something of a reputation among the Fellowship of keeping the Principal and full-time College Officers on their toes with tough questions. Colleagues have indicated that Governing Body was an occasion not to be missed because of the chance that Vincent’s rhetoric might take off. Nevertheless, Vincent would be first to say that the professionalism of the Principals at St Anne’s was such that whether he won or lost the argument he knew that fair play had prevailed.
In 2004, the University wisely selected Vincent as the third J R R Tolkien Professor at Lady Margaret Hall. Whilst he now had more time for research, there were regular invitations to give lectures at universities around the world (including the USA and New Zealand) and Vincent’s chair also brought a significant requirement for Oxford lectures as well many University and Faculty roles such as: Curator of the Bodleian; Co-ordinator for the English Research Excellence Framework; Membership of the Humanities Divisional Board and Chair of Masters’ Examiners to name but a few. Fund-raising for medieval studies in Oxford was also a time-consuming activity. Overall, he raised £9M and part of that was the £4.2M needed to maintain the Tolkien professor’s chair.
In addition, he supervised about 40 Oxford doctoral dissertations and the same number of Masters’ theses. He published over sixty articles and book chapters ranging from medieval book history, through Chaucer and Langland, to the medieval mystics such as Julian of Norwich.
LMH announced Vincent’s retirement in 2021 with a tremendous description of him:
“Vincent’s eclectic knowledge of not only literature but music, art, film, architecture, and all forms of culture, has inspired many conversations with colleagues and students over the years and his presence in college will be sorely missed. His ability to move seamlessly between Tarantino and Shakespeare, between medieval architecture and modern jazz, testifies to a mind endlessly curious in and delighted by intellectual and aesthetic inquiry.”
Following his initial diagnosis of prostate cancer in 2014, he continued to cope with his professorial duties against a requirement for very demanding treatment.
Vincent achieved much in his long career with the full support of his wife, Peggy, and their sons, Thomas and Edward. He also gave much to his Faculty, his colleges, his colleagues and his students. It was no surprise that his distinguished achievements and contributions were properly recognised with his election – in 2013 – as a Fellow of the British Academy.
When coupled with his Honorary Fellowships at St Anne’s and Keble, plus his Senior Research Fellowship at Campion Hall, it is clear that he was a professor of serious academic distinction who would not have believed such things were possible as he travelled from Liverpool to Oxford in 1971 for his admission interview.