Sir William Ivor Jennings | |
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Vice Chancellor of University of Ceylon |
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In office 1942–1954 |
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Preceded by | None |
Succeeded by | Sir Nicholas Attygalle |
Personal details | |
Born | 16 May 1903 |
Died | 19 December 1965 | (aged 62)
Profession | Lawyer, academic |
Sir William Ivor Jennings, KBE, QC (Sinhala:ශ්රිමත් අයිවර් ජෙන්නින්ග්ස්) (16 May 1903 – 19 December 1965) was a British lawyer and academic. He was a prominent educator who served as the Vice Chancellor of University of Cambridge (1961–63) and University of Ceylon (1942–55).
Sir Ivor was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, Bristol (a boarding school), at Bristol Grammar School, and at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
Jennings joined the University of Leeds as a Lecturer in Law in 1925 and became a Holt Scholar of Gray’s Inn and was called to the bar in 1928. The following year he joined the London School of Economics as Lecturer in Law.
Jennings was sent to Ceylon by the British Government in 1942, as the Principal of the University College, Colombo with a mandate to create a university for that land, then a Crown colony. The institution, on the model of University of London, was dubbed the University of Ceylon and was first established in Colombo, the capital city, then partially transferred in 1952 to a purpose-built campus in Peradeniya. During World War II he served as the Deputy Civil Defense Commissioner.