Remembering Ranald Michie

Ranald Michie, Emeritus Professor of Economic History, St Cuthbert’s Society resident tutor from 1976 to 1981 and loved member of the St Cuthbert’s Society Community passed away on Thursday 5th,December aged 75.

Ranald came to Durham in 1974 to a lectureship in the then Department of Economic History in Old Elvet and became resident tutor at the Society two years later. Here, he met and then married Dinal Brooks, daughter of Principal Leslie Brooks. Being no longer in residence, he was thereafter senior tutor until 1989. 

He became a Senior Lecturer and then Professor and was Head of Department from 2001 to 2004. He had also been Director of Combined Honours in Arts in the 1980s. He retired from History in 2014.

Ranald was a leading historian of finance and financial markets, recognised internationally for his work on stock exchanges, securities markets, banking, and financial centres. Ranald’s many books included a series of works published by Oxford University Press, demonstrating his mastery of complex changes in financial markets and institutions: The London Stock Exchange: A History (Oxford, 1999); The Global Securities Market: A History (Oxford, 2006) Banks, Exchanges, and Regulators (Oxford, 2020); British Banking (Oxford, 2016) and Forex Forever: The City of London and the Foreign Exchange Market since 1850 (Oxford, 2024). Ranald also produced from his leisure hours a study of the City of London as represented in contemporary novels: Guilty Money: The City of London in Victorian and Edwardian Culture, 1815-1914 (2009).

Ranald is fondly remembered as a wonderful and humorous public speaker with a resonant voice, fondly imitated. Particular highlights include his performances at Cuth’s functions, particularly the 2013 London dinner to celebrate the Society’s 125th.

The “Ranald Michie Prize” is awarded annually to a St Cuthbert’s Society first year who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to the Cuth’s community via exceptional initiative and effort. 

We would like to invite you to share any memories or condolences within the comments here.