Sir David Lindsay Keir was a British historian and educator.
Background
Keir was born in Northumberland to William Keir and Elizabeth (Craig) Keir. His Scottish father was a Presbyterian minister, and moved several times during Keir"s childhood, from Bellingham to Newcastle, Birkenhead, and finally Glasgow, where Keir attended the independent school, Glasgow Academy.
Education
University of Glasgow. New College.
Career
From 1949 to 1965 he was Master of Balliol College, Oxford. In 1913 he began a degree at Glasgow University, but World War I stopped his studies and he was commissioned as a lieutenant. After the war he returned to university, at Oxford, where he studied history, obtaining a first class degree.
Keir was elected a fellow of University College, where he remained until 1939.
He was a visiting tutor at Harvard in 1923-1924. In 1939 he was appointed president and vice-chancellor of Queen"s University, Belfast, where he remained until 1949.
In 1949 Keir was elected Master of Balliol. He stayed in that position until retirement in 1965.
Keir received a knighthood in 1946, for his service at Queen"son