R. R. (Robert Ranulph) Marett

Born in St. Brélade, Jersey, on June 13, 1866, Robert Ranulph Marett became a British ethnologist and social anthropologist whose career was closely tied to Oxford. He studied at Balliol College, later taught there, and succeeded E. B. Tylor as Reader in Social Anthropology, becoming one of the central figures in establishing anthropology as a serious academic subject at the university.

Marett is especially remembered for his work on the study of religion. Writing in the tradition of early evolutionary anthropology, he questioned the idea that religion began simply with animism and argued that ritual, emotion, and a sense of awe or supernatural power also mattered. His books include The Threshold of Religion, Anthropology, and later Faith, Hope and Charity in Primitive Religion.

Although he was not chiefly a fieldworker, he was an influential teacher and organizer, encouraging the training of future anthropologists and helping build Oxford's anthropological community. He died in Oxford on February 18, 1943. A suitable confirmed portrait image was not found in the sources reviewed, so no profile image is included.