Wednesday 8 April 2026

Professor Dame Averil Cameron (1940–2026)

The College is very sad to announce the death of former Warden, Professor Dame Averil Cameron.

Portrait of Averil by Mark Roscoe, Keble College Dining Hall

Averil was one of the most distinguished historians of late antiquity of her generation and a figure of international scholarly influence. In 1994, she became the first woman to hold the Keble Wardenship – a position she held for 16 years, shaping the College during a period of significant change and growth, including the acquisition and development of the Acland Hospital site, now The H B Allen Centre for graduates.

Before her appointment as Warden, Averil was Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at King’s College London and the first Director of its Centre for Hellenic Studies. She held a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship in the Oxford Faculty of Theology between 2011-2013, and was Chair of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research until 2020.

Dame Averil Cameron leaves a lasting legacy at Keble and beyond. She will be remembered with great admiration and gratitude.

We will share funeral and memorial arrangements here shortly. 

A fuller obituary will be published on our ‘Life Stories’ pages.