Garry Runciman, 3rd Viscount Runciman of Doxford

Walter Garrison Runciman, 3rd Viscount Runciman of Doxford, CBE, FBA (born 10 November 1934), usually known informally as Garry Runciman, is a leading British historical sociologist.

Background

Runciman is the son of Leslie Runciman, 2nd Viscount Runciman of Doxford, by his second wife Katherine Schuyler Garrison. British historian Sir Steven Runciman was his uncle.

Career

Runciman has been a Senior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge since 1971, researching in the field of comparative and historical sociology. He is a Cambridge Apostle. His principal research interest is the application of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory to cultural and social selection.

He holds honorary degrees from King's College London and the Universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, and York. He is also an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Bencher of Inner Temple. He was elected to the British Academy in 1975 and served as its President from 2001 to 2005.

Viscount Runciman of Doxford

Viscount Runciman of Doxford, of Doxford in the County of Northumberland, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1937 for the Hon. Walter Runciman, a politician whose career included service as a Member of Parliament, President of the Board of Trade and Lord President of the Council. He was the son and heir apparent of the shipping magnate and Liberal politician Walter Runciman, who had been created a Baronet in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom in 1906 and Baron Runciman, of Shoreston in the County of Northumberland, in 1933, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. As his father was still alive at the time of the creation of the viscountcy the title of this peerage was Runciman of Doxford rather than simply Runciman. As of 2012 the titles are held by the first Viscount's grandson, the third Viscount, who succeeded his father in 1989. He is a well-known sociologist at the University of Cambridge.

Hilda Runciman, Viscountess Runciman of Doxford, wife of the first Viscount, represented St Ives in the House of Commons from 1928 to 1929. Also, the Hon. Sir Steven Runciman, younger son of the first Viscount and Hilda, Viscountess Runciman of Doxford, was a noted historian.