The Department of English was established with the inception of Banaras Hindu University in 1916. After its institution, it was shaped and nurtured by a galaxy of professors some of whom subsequently headed the department namely Joygopal Banerjee, P. Sheshadry, U.C. Nag, C. N Menon, N.M. Kulkarni, A.P O’Brien, V. Rai, T.N. Singh, B.K Paintal, O.P. Mathur, S. M. Pandeya, G.B. Mohan Thampi, R.S. Sharma, R.R. Mehrotra, M.K Chaudhury, A.K.Tripathi, N.K Lal, S. N. Pandey, P.K Pandey, R.N. Rai, Vanashree, M. S Pandey, A. P. Barat, and K. M. Pandey.