Difference between revisions of "Foundation of Students' Representative Council, 1884"

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Clearly it would be embarrassing if such scenes confronted the
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Edinburgh University's [[Students' Representative Council]] was founded in 1884.
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visitors in 1884. The authorities thus welcomed the initiative of a group
 
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of senior students who formed a Students’ Representative Council
 
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[SRC].38 Its aims were submitted to the Senatus in December 1883. In
 
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conflicts with the police, it could help secure justice for the students;
 
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but this problem should disappear once the SRC was there to ‘aid in
 
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maintaining order and academic tone among them – loyalty to their
 
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Alma Mater’. The SRC would also foster social life and ‘a wholesome
 
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esprit de corps’, and organise student participation in the Tercentenary.39
 
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The SRC held its first formal meeting in January 1884, and proved
 
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its worth by maintaining order at Northcote’s inaugural address and at
 
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the torchlight procession which followed.40 This was the first procession
 
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to be officially approved, and was escorted by the police to protect
 
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it against the town element. It passed peacefully. A spontaneous and
 
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potentially violent rite had been tamed and turned into a spectacle for
 
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the general public, and the students, once the cause of violence, were
 
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now seen as a respectable part of the community to be defended from it.
 
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During the Tercentenary, there was much relieved comment on the
 
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students’ unprecedented good behaviour. There was friction at first over
 
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the limited place for students in the official programme, but this was
 
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appeased by encouraging the SRC to organise its own events, of which
 
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there were eventually five. The torchlight procession, modelled on
 
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that in January, was the most spectacular. The others were a ‘dramatic
 
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representation’ of a play based on Scott’s Fortunes of Nigel, a reception
 
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where the foreign guests had a chance to address the student audience,
 
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a formal ball, and a Symposium or informal smoking concert on the
 
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last night. Speaking at the Symposium, Grant thanked the students for
 
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their contribution:
 
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the week brought out
 
  
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The SRC used its
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The stimulation for the foundation of the Council was provided by the [[Tercentenary Festival, 1884|Tercentenary Festival]] of 1884. There was widespread anxiety lest the celebrations be marred by the outbreaks of student rowdiness associated with other public occasions, in particular, the election and inaugural address of the University's [[Rector]]. The [[Senatus Academicus]] thus welcomed the initiative of a group of students headed by [[Robert Fitzroy Bell (1859-1908)]] and [[David Orme Masson (1858-1937)]], who argued that a representative council could aid in maintaining order and decorum, in promoting student social life, and in fostering a 'wholesome esprit de corps' and a spirit of loyalty towards the university. A first formal meeting of the Students' Representative Council was held on 17 January 1884, bringing together representatives from the university's many clubs and societies. Its first task was to maintain order at the inaugural address of Rector [[Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (1818-1887)]] and at the torchlit process that followed. This the SRC accomplished so successfully that it was entrusted with policing the Tercentenary Festivities. It was nonetheless dissatisfied with the limited place allotted to students in the official programme of events. After protest, the SRC was finally permitted to organize five events: a torchlight procession, a performance of a drama based on [[Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)|Sir Walter Scott]]'s novel ''The Fortunes of Nigel'', a reception for foreign guests, a formal ball, and an informal smoking concert.
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success in 1884 to launch an appeal for its first priority, a Student
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Union, and this opened in 1887–8. The SRC was soon imitated in
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The SRC was soon imitated by the other Scottish universities and was granted formal recognition as the official representative body of Edinburgh's students by the [[Universities (Scotland) Act 1889]]. It used its success in the Tercentenary festivities to launch an appeal to fund its first priority: the opening of a [[Edinburgh University Union|Student Union]], eventually achieved in 1887.
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the other Scottish universities, and given a formal role by the 1889
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Act. It also developed international links: Bologna students established
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== Related Events ==
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contact in 1884, and the SRC sent a delegate to the 1888 jubilee there,
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an event which was important in spreading ideas of student corporate
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*[[Tercentenary Festival, 1884]]
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life throughout Europe.45 The Tercentenary was thus a landmark in the
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*[[Opening of New Medical School, 1884]]
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development of student life.
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*[[First Publication of the Student, 1887]]
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*
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== Sources ==
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*Robert Anderson, 'Ceremony in Context: The Edinburgh University Tercentenary, 1884', ''Scottish Historical Review'', 87 (2008), 121-45 [[http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E0036924108000073], accessed 1 August 2014]
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*[[Sir Thomas Henry Holland (1868-1947)|Sir Thomas Henry Holland]], 'Introduction', in A. Logan Turner (ed.), ''History of the University of Edinburgh 1883-1933'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1933), pp. xiii-xxx.
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[[Category:Events|Foundation of Students' Representative Council, 1884]][[Category:Incomplete|Foundation of Students' Representative Council, 1884]]

Latest revision as of 23:14, 23 March 2015

Edinburgh University's Students' Representative Council was founded in 1884.

The stimulation for the foundation of the Council was provided by the Tercentenary Festival of 1884. There was widespread anxiety lest the celebrations be marred by the outbreaks of student rowdiness associated with other public occasions, in particular, the election and inaugural address of the University's Rector. The Senatus Academicus thus welcomed the initiative of a group of students headed by Robert Fitzroy Bell (1859-1908) and David Orme Masson (1858-1937), who argued that a representative council could aid in maintaining order and decorum, in promoting student social life, and in fostering a 'wholesome esprit de corps' and a spirit of loyalty towards the university. A first formal meeting of the Students' Representative Council was held on 17 January 1884, bringing together representatives from the university's many clubs and societies. Its first task was to maintain order at the inaugural address of Rector Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (1818-1887) and at the torchlit process that followed. This the SRC accomplished so successfully that it was entrusted with policing the Tercentenary Festivities. It was nonetheless dissatisfied with the limited place allotted to students in the official programme of events. After protest, the SRC was finally permitted to organize five events: a torchlight procession, a performance of a drama based on Sir Walter Scott's novel The Fortunes of Nigel, a reception for foreign guests, a formal ball, and an informal smoking concert.

The SRC was soon imitated by the other Scottish universities and was granted formal recognition as the official representative body of Edinburgh's students by the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889. It used its success in the Tercentenary festivities to launch an appeal to fund its first priority: the opening of a Student Union, eventually achieved in 1887.

Related Events

Sources

  • Robert Anderson, 'Ceremony in Context: The Edinburgh University Tercentenary, 1884', Scottish Historical Review, 87 (2008), 121-45 [[1], accessed 1 August 2014]
  • Sir Thomas Henry Holland, 'Introduction', in A. Logan Turner (ed.), History of the University of Edinburgh 1883-1933 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1933), pp. xiii-xxx.
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