British poet Ruth Padel, seen here in her north London home in February, is the first ever female Professor of Poetry at Oxford University since the post was created in 1708. (Sang Tan/Associated Press)

Ruth Padel has become the first woman ever elected to the position of Professor of Poetry at Britain's Oxford University in a contest that was fraught with controversy.

Padel, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, is the first woman to take the post since it was created in 1708.

She was elected on Saturday by graduates and academic staff, who cast 297 votes for her, with her competitor, Indian poet Arvind Mehrotra, getting only 129.

Padel said she felt "honoured" and "humbled" to accept the position.

"My backers based their support for me on what they felt I could offer poetry and students. Now I shall do my best to fulfil their trust," she said.

Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott pulled out the race earlier in the week.

A file detailing sexual harassment claims levied against Walcott by a Harvard student in 1982 was sent anonymously to 200 Oxford academics.

A group of students and graduates, headed by the secretary of the Oxford University Poetry Society, called for the contest to be suspended.

Walcott, widely regarded as the front-runner, said he pulled out of the race because it had "degenerated into a low and degrading attempt at character assassination."

Padel, who was upset about Walcott's withdrawal, says she wants to introduce poetry to all aspects of university life.

"That is what I should like to do: to explore what poems can give to students, college by college, department by department, in the humanities and sciences," the Oxford alumna said in her speech.

"[And] to encourage, across the university, the reading, the writing and above all the enjoying of poetry, ancient and modern, in all its richness and variety."

Previous poets who have held the title include W.H. Auden and Seamus Heaney.