James Kinsley

James Kinsley, FBA, FRSL (17 April 1922 – 24 August 1984) was a Scottish literary scholar.

Biography Born on 17 April 1922, Kinsley attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh. After graduating in 1943, he served in the Second World War. On demobilisation, he continued his studies at Oriel College, Oxford. Later in life, Kinsley studied to be a priest; he was ordained in 1963 and served as a curate in Beeston and from 1964 as a public preacher in the diocese of Southwell.

After graduating from Oxford in 1947, he took up a lectureship at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. He was then successively Professor of English Language and Literature at the University College of Swansea (1954–61) and Professor of English Studies at the University of Nottingham (1961–84). He sometimes collaborated with his wife Helen, née Dawson, with whom he jointly authored Dryden: The Critical Heritage (1971). Between 1969 and 1977, he was editor of the Oxford English Novels and the Oxford English Memoirs and Travels series. He died on 24 August 1984.