College Record 2014

standard work on a large theme, thus falsifying the whispered predictions that it
would never be finished. Brock was among that rare breed of perfectionist scholars
who eventually ‘deliver’.
The decision of Wolfson’s Fellows not to make Brock Berlin’s successor resembled
Corpus’s earlier decision not to make him Hardie’s successor, and it was entirely
understandable (though not predictable) that Brock moved to Exeter University
in 1977 as Professor of Education, buying a house that he thought suitable for
his eventual retirement. Yet his move to Exeter was also in some ways natural,
given his long-standing interest, enhanced by Wolfson seminars, in educational
institutions. At a crucial time he presided over the University’s Department of
Education, and was a founder and discriminating member of the Oxford Review of
Education’s editorial board. At Exeter his skilful chairmanship, his integrity, and
his conscientious grasp of detail eased through what would otherwise have been
a difficult reform: integrating an Anglican college of education with a flourishing
university department.
Yet Oxford could not do without him for long, and as Warden of Nuffield College
(1978–88) he confuted gossips who saw him as always the Adjutant, never the
Commanding Officer. He had indeed in his early twenties been twice an adjutant in
the Second World War, and Nuffield was a difficult inheritance: the social sciences
were in trouble; his predecessor Warden Chester (1954-78) had been the College’s
unofficial second founder; and Brock lacked expertise in the College’s three main
fields – politics, economics and sociology. Yet he identified completely with Nuffield,
and his consensual, approachable, unpretentious and open-minded style suited a
college with Fellows of national and international standing. Besides, the style came
naturally to him, and he brought to Nuffield five major assets: a deep knowledge of
the University’s machinery; skill at harnessing diverse talents for a shared purpose;
tact astutely deployed on formal occasions; unadvertised but extensive contacts;
and bags of common sense.
Most would have retired at 67, but Brock then took a three-year post as Warden
of St George’s House, Windsor, a small study-centre within Windsor Castle,
encouraging influential people to engage in confidential discussion. It was ideal
for him. Hospitable, intellectually lively and shrewd, Brock as always identified
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