ABSTRACT
THE chair which I have the honour to inaugurate tonight is a new one, and my first duty is to pay a tribute to those pioneers whose labours made its establishment possible. In particular, my tribute must go to Professor Robert Peers who himself taught economic history as a labour of love for many years to students of the University College preparing for the Economics and Commerce Degrees of the University of London, and who, in his capacity of Deputy ViceChancellor, suggested that Economic History should be given the status of an independent degree in the Arts Faculty of this University when it received its charter in 1948. He, therefore, is the true begetter ofthe Chair to which I have had the honour of being elected; it is one among many innovations by which he has left his mark upon the scholastic history of this University and the region that it serves, and it will be my hope and endeavour to discharge the responsibilities which it imposes in such a way that it will always remain an achievement in which he can take pride.
