William Ralph Inge

Born in Yorkshire in 1860, William Ralph Inge became an Anglican priest, scholar, and author whose career joined academic theology with public debate. He studied at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, later taught at Oxford, and served as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge before becoming Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1911.

Inge wrote widely on religion, philosophy, and culture, and was especially known for his interest in Christian mysticism and in the thought of Plotinus. Although he signed his books W. R. Inge and was known personally as Ralph, many readers simply knew him as Dean Inge.

His newspaper columns and essays made him famous far beyond church circles, earning him the nickname "the Gloomy Dean" for his skeptical, often bracing commentary on modern life. He remained a prolific and influential voice for decades, and died in 1954.