Christopher Allan Whatley FRSE FRHistS OBE is a well-known and widely published Scottish historian. He has been Professor of Scottish History at the University of Dundee since 1997. He is a prominent opponent of Scottish independence and chaired the inaugural meeting of the local Better Together campaign in Dundee during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.[1][2][3]

Whatley left school at 16 years of age,[4] and worked as a shop assistant and semi-skilled machine operator[4] before attending night classes and taking Highers at Clydebank College[4] in order to obtain a place at the University of Strathclyde.[4] He graduated with a BA in Economic History in 1972, and completed his PhD there in 1975 on the process of industrialisation in Ayrshire. He lectured at Ayr College from 1975 until 1979, when he joined the Department of History at Dundee, where lectured on economic history. Between 1988 and 1992, he taught Scottish History at the University of St Andrews, before returning to Dundee as Bonar Professor of Modern History, and was Head of the Department of History from 1995 until 2002. He was appointed Professor of Scottish History in 1997. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 2002 until 2006 and was Vice Principal and Head of the College of Arts and Social Sciences from 2006 until 2014.[5]

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to Scottish history education.[6][7] He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2003.[8]

His papers are held by Archive Services at the University of Dundee, along with a collection of material relating to the Act of Union that he compiled with Derek Patrick during the writing of The Scots and the Union (published 2006).[5][9]

References

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  1. ^ Alex Salmond defends Dundee University professor Chris Whatley, STV, retrieved 25 September 2015
  2. ^ SNP ministers 'waging dangerous campaign to gag university academics', Daily Telegraph, 13 November 2013, retrieved 25 September 2015
  3. ^ Chris Whatley: why Tom Devine switch to Yes is confusing and short-sighted, The Conversation, 25 August 2014, retrieved 25 September 2015
  4. ^ a b c d "Keynote Lectures". Reunite in Dundee 2007. University of Dundee. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  5. ^ a b "UR-SF 60 Derek Patrick and Chris Whatley Act of Union". Archive Services Online Catalogue. University of Dundee. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  6. ^ "No. 61092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N15.
  7. ^ 2015 New Year Honours List
  8. ^ "Professor Christopher Allan Whatley OBE, FRSE - The Royal Society of Edinburgh". The Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  9. ^ "UR-SF 36 Christopher Whatley". Archive Services Online Catalogue. University of Dundee. Retrieved 1 March 2019.