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).

Key to colleges
• All-Souls College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg All Souls

• Balliol College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Balliol

• Brasenose College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Brasenose

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Christ Church

• Corpus-Christi College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Corpus Christi

• Exeter College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Exeter

• Green-Templeton College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Green Templeton

• Harris-Manchester College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Harris Manchester

• Hertford College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Hertford

• Jesus College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Jesus

• Keble College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Keble

• Kellogg College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Kellogg

• Lady-Margaret-Hall Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Lady Margaret Hall

• Linacre College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Linacre

• Lincoln College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Lincoln

• Magdalen College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Magdalen

• Mansfield College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Mansfield

• Merton College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Merton

• New College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg New College

• Nuffield College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Nuffield

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Oriel

• Pembroke College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Pembroke

• Queens College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Queen's

• Regent's Park College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Regent's Park

• Arms of Reuben College, Oxford.svg Reuben

• Somerville College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Somerville

• St-Anne's College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Anne's

• St-Antony's College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Antony's

• St-Catherines College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Catherine's

• St-Cross College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Cross

• St-Edmund-Hall College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Edmund Hall

• St-Hilda's College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Hilda's

• St-Hughs College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Hugh's

• St-John's College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St John's

• St-Peters College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg St Peter's

• Trinity College, Oxford.svg Trinity

• University College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg University

• Wadham College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Wadham

• Wolfson College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Wolfson

• Worcester College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Worcester

Presidents of the United Debating Society
These are the Presidents as listed

• 1823

• Balliol College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Donald Maclean

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg A. W. Ashley

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg J. C. Colquhoun

• Magdalen College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg John Wilson-Patten

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Thomas Powys

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg John Bramston

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Henry Chetwynd-Talbot

• Magdalen College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Richard Durnford

• 1824

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg R. C. Dallas

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg E. Vernon-Harcourt

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Harry Vane

• New College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg T. F. Hodges

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Henry Baring

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Viscount Mahon

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg C. Des Voeux

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg James Stuart-Wortley

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Robert Wilberforce

• Brasenose College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Digby Wrangham

• Trinity College, Oxford.svg A. J. Lewis

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Hassard Hume Dodgson

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg John Talbot

• 1825

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg N. H. Macdonald

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg H. W. Torrens

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Samuel Wilberforce

• Magdalen College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Richard Durnford (iterum)

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg W. J. Blake

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Thomas Vesey

• Merton College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg E. E. Villiers

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Charles Murray

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Walter Trower

• Oriel College Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg R. A. Hornby

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg Frederick Calvert

• Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg J. R. Wood

1826–1831
These are the presidents as listed:

Other notable officeholders
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.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was Treasurer in Trinity 1924.

Humayun Kabir was Librarian in 1931.

Roy Jenkins served as Librarian and Secretary and lost two Presidential elections.

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.

Ann Widdecombe was Treasurer in 1972, after having served as Secretary the previous year.

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

In fiction

 * 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. Archer himself was elected to Standing Committee for one term in 1965.