Professor Dame Linda Colley elected Honorary Fellow of Girton College

We are delighted to announce the election of historian Professor Dame Linda Colley as an Honorary Fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge.

Professor Dame Linda Colley is a distinguished British historian known for her work on British identity, empire, and nationalism. Dame Linda studied at the University of Bristol before earning her MA and PhD at the University of Cambridge. Her first academic role was as the Eugenie Strong Research Fellow at Girton College. Over her career, she has held academic positions at Yale University, the London School of Economics, and Princeton University, where she is currently the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History. 

Dame Linda’s groundbreaking book Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707–1837 (1992) reshaped understandings of British identity. Her other major works include Captives (2002), which examines empire through the lens of British subjects taken prisoner overseas, and The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen (2021), which explores the global history of written constitutions.

A Fellow of the British Academy, Dame Linda is widely respected for her ability to connect historical scholarship with contemporary debates. Her research spans Britain, Europe, and the wider world, making her a key figure in modern historiography. Through her books, lectures, and public engagements, she continues to influence discussions on national identity, imperial history, and global constitutionalism.

The celebrations opened with an ‘in conversation’ event with the Mistress, Dr Elisabeth Kendall and continued with the official Ceremony of Admission, which featured music from Girton students Myriam Lowe, Ed Campbell-Rowntree and Lindsay Lim.