The list of former
Registrars published by the university in the 19th century begins with John London, who died in 1508. Records show that there were people before London carrying out similar tasks in the 15th century, and the university regards the role as having a 550-year history. There is a record of a resolution by the university, of uncertain date in the 15th century, that a registrar or scribe should be appointed to draft letters, record the university's public acts, copy its documents, and record the names of graduates. The position carried an annual salary of four
marks (
£2 13
shillings and 4
pence); fees had to be paid to the Registrar by individuals obtaining their degrees or recording other permissions granted by the university. In 1448, a John Manyngham signed a letter for the university, and was permitted in 1451 to have a scholar make transcripts in the university's library; one historian of the university says that Manyngham may have been Oxford's first Registrar. In 1588, the Registrar had to be paid four pence by a student wishing to be admitted to the degree of
Bachelor of Arts, six pence for a
Master of Arts degree and eighteen pence for a doctorate; in 1601, the fees for the bachelor's and master's degrees were raised to six pence and eight pence. In the 16th century, it was regarded as a lucrative position and
Thomas Caius, who held the post for 17 years, reacted violently when the university voted to remove him from office for failing to carry out his duties for a year, leading to his temporary imprisonment. A commission headed by the prime minister
H. H. Asquith recommended in 1922 that Oxford should improve its administration and that the Registrar should become a more significant figure; Veale's appointment was a recognition of this need. However, Veale's successor
Sir Folliott Sandford was "appalled at the amount of paper", which was "quite beyond [his] conception as a civil servant." The growth in Oxford's administration led to a move in 1968 to purpose-built accommodation in
Wellington Square: until that time, the administration had been housed in the
Clarendon Building in the centre of Oxford next to the
Bodleian Library. , there are 16 administrative sections for the university, and the heads of 12 of these report to the Registrar.
Julie Maxton (2006–10) was the first woman to hold the position; she was previously Dean of the Law School at the
University of Auckland. She was succeeded on 1 January 2011 by
Ewan McKendrick, formerly Professor of English Private Law at Oxford and one of the university's Pro-Vice-Chancellors. Some but not all of the Registrars have been appointed to a
Fellowship of one of the
colleges at the university; unlike some of the professorships at Oxford, the position is not linked to a particular college. ==Registrars==