The Romanes Lecture is a prestigious free public lecture given annually at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, England. The lecture series was founded by, and named after, the biologist George Romanes, and has been running since 1892. Over the years, many notable figures from the Arts and Sciences have been invited to speak. The lecture can be on any subject in science, art or literature, approved by the Vice-Chancellor of the University. List of Romanes lecturers and lecture subjects 1890s 1892 William Ewart Gladstone — An Academic Sketch (A report of the speech is available in the digital archive of The Nation.) 1893 Thomas Henry Huxley — Evolution and Ethics (See also a contemporary review of Huxley's lecture) 1894 August Weismann — The Effect of External Influences upon Development 1895 Holman Hunt — The Obligations of the Universities towards Art 1896 Mandell Creighton — The English National Character 1897 John Morley — Machiavelli 1898 Archibald Geikie — Types of Scenery and their Influence on Literature 1899 Richard Claverhouse Jebb — Humanism in Education 1900s 1900 James Murray — The Evolution of English Lexicography (Also available at The Oxford English Dictionary site.) 1901 Lord Acton — The German school of history 1902 James Bryce — The Relations of the Advanced and the Backward Races of Mankind 1903 Oliver Lodge — Modern views on matter 1904 Courtenay Ilbert — Montesquieu 1905 Ray Lankester — Nature and Man 1906 William Paton Ker — Sturla the Historian 1907 Lord Curzon — Frontiers 1908 Henry Scott Holland — The optimism of Butler's 'Analogy' 1909 Arthur Balfour — Criticism and Beauty 1910s 1910 Theodore Roosevelt — Biological Analogies in History 1911 J.B. Bury — Romances of Chivalry on Greek Soil 1912 Henry Montagu Butler — Lord Chatham as an Orator 1913 William Mitchell Ramsay — The Imperial Peace: an ideal in European history 1914 J. J. Thomson – The Atomic Theory 1915 E. B. Poulton – Science and the Great War 1916 1917 1918 Herbert Henry Asquith — Some Aspects of The Victorian Age 1919 1920s 1920 William Ralph Inge — The Idea of Progress 1921 Joseph Bédier — Roland à Roncevaux 1922 Arthur Stanley Eddington — The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thought 1923 John Burnet — Ignorance 1924 John Masefield — Shakespeare & spiritual life 1925 William Henry Bragg — The Crystalline State 1926 G.M. Trevelyan — The Two-Party System in English