The Martin Wight Memorial Trust

Martin Wight was a seminal figure in the development of international relations theory in Britain and an influential historian of the political civilisation of Europe. He was Reader in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), 1949-62, and Professor of History at the University of Sussex, 1962-72. Soon after his sudden death on 15 July 1972, at the age of 58, a number of his friends and associates decided to commemorate his name by establishing an endowment for an annual lecture, to be given in successive years at Sussex University, the LSE and the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) - the three institutions with which Wight was most closely connected during the last quarter of a century of his working life.

A trust fund was set up and the many contributions generously given enabled the series of Martin Wight Memorial Lectures to be launched. The subject of the annual lecture was to relate so far as possible to humanist scholarship and to reflect the breadth of Martin Wight’s interest in history and international relations. Sir Herbert Butterfield gave the first lecture at Sussex University on 23 April 1975, and lectures have been given annually since then.

The financial affairs of the Trust are administered by the Charities Aid Foundation and a committee of scheme trustees decides whom to invite to give the annual lecture. The website has been set up in order to make the text of the lectures and a bibliography of works of and on Martin Wight available to a wider audience, and to promote forthcoming lectures.