H. A. L. Fisher came from an influential family, studied at Oxford and in France and Germany, and became an Oxford academic with a strong interest in public affairs. In 1912 he became Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University and four years later was recruited by the new British Prime Minister to become his Minister of Education. In that office he introduced a number of significant reforms: in the Education Act of 1918, in improving the status and rewards of teachers, in designing a system of national examinations and in funding universities. Some, but not all, of these reforms were eroded by the financial crises of the early 1920s. After the fall of the government he returned to Oxford as head of a college and resumed a life of scholarship, writing and administration. He died in 1940. His life illustrates perfectly the ease of transition enjoyed by his generation of men between Oxford academic life and national public service. (Contains 15 notes.)