Alexander Meiklejohn
British philosopher (1872-1964)
Alexander Meiklejohn (; 3 February 1872 – 17 December 1964) was an English-born American philosopher, university administrator, educational reformer, and free-speech advocate, best known as president of Amherst College.
Background
Alexander Meiklejohn was born on 3 February 1872, in Newbold Street, Rochdale, Lancashire, England. He was of Scottish descent, and the youngest of eight sons. When he was eight, the family moved to the United States, settling in Rhode Island. Family members pooled their money to send him to school. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and completed his doctorate in philosophy at Cornell in 1897. At Brown, he was a member of Theta Delta Chi.
Career
In 1897, Meiklejohn began teaching at Brown. In 1901, he became second dean of the university, a position he held for twelve years. The first-year advising program at Brown bears his name.
“Alexander Meiklejohn” enters the record as british philosopher (1872-1964). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alexander, Meiklejohn and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15527262. VIAF identifies the subject as 20005087. The Library of Congress control number is n78092889. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1872, 1964, 1897 and 1901.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexander Meiklejohn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.