Terence Osborn Ranger was born on 29 Nov 1929 to Leslie Osborn Ranger and Annie Ranger, née Bradford. He grew up in south London and went to Highgate School before attending Queen's College, Oxford, to study modern history. He graduated with a first-class degree in 1952 before transferring to St Antony's College, Oxford, in 1959 to complete his DPhil on 'The Career of Richard Boyle, First Earl of Cork, in Ireland, 1588–1643', under the supervision of Hugh Trevor-Roper.

He married Shelagh Campbell Clarke in 1953 and together they adopted three children, Franny from Zimbabwe, Margaret from Tanzania, and Jane from Kenya. Franny was the daughter of Maurice Nyagumbo, a Zimbabwean freedom fighter.

In 1957 he began working at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. Ranger was horrified by the colour bar and, alongside his wife, became active in politics both inside and outside of the university. He was denied citizenship, possibly due to his political associations, and was declared a prohibited immigrant in 1963. He began working at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in the pioneering African history department. During his time at Dar es Salaam, he wrote several books, including Revolt in Southern Rhodesia, 1896–7 (1967) and Dance and Society in Eastern Africa, 1890–1970 (1975).

In 1969 he moved to the University of California at Los Angeles as a professor and then in 1974 he moved to the University of Manchester as chair of modern history. During his time at Manchester, he began to introduce African history into the curriculum. Ranger was the Rhodes chair of race relations and a fellow at St Antony's, Oxford, from 1987 until his retirement in 1997. He returned to Zimbabwe to teach at the University of Zimbabwe as a visiting professor (1998-2001) and spent time researching for his book Bulawayo Burning: The Social History of a Southern African City, 1893–1960 (2010).

Ranger died at his home on Woodstock Road on 3 Jan 2015.

See the Dictionary of National Biography for more details.