Michael McWilliam

Michael McWilliam (born 1933) is a former British banker, academic administrator, and historian. He was the Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London during 1989–1996.

McWilliam was born in Kenya on a tea estate. He was educated in Cheltenham and then at the University of Oxford, graduated from Oriel College and Nuffield College. After his education, he returned to Africa, initially to the Northern Rhodesia Copperbelt. During 1956–7, he undertook research in East Africa, funded through a Rockefeller Foundation grant via Nuffield College, Oxford and further funding from the Tea Board of Kenya. He moved to the Kenya Treasury in 1958.

Later, McWilliam worked in banking, becoming the chief executive of the Standard Chartered Bank in the City of London.

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