S. E. Finer

(1915-93) Influential member of the first generation of British political scientists, educated at Oxford. After a first post at Balliol College, he became Professor of Government at the University of Keele, and then Professor of Government at the University of Manchester, finally returning to All Souls College Oxford at the end of his career. Like many political scientists of his generation, Finer developed eclectic interests, writing on political thought, public administration, local government, civil-military relations, and comparative government. One of his best known books remains Anonymous Empire (1958), which was a widely read pioneering account of pressure group activity in Britain.

— Wyn Grant