Our History - User contributions [en-gb]

Principal (office of)

2025-08-14T10:44:06Z

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The Principal and Vice-Chancellor is the most senior member of University staff. From 1585-1620 it was combimed with the role of [[Rector]]. The 'Vice-Chancellor' element of the title emerged from the [[Universities (Scotland) Act 1858]].

== Chronological list ==

1586 [[Robert Rollock (1555-1599)]] (previously [[Opening of Edinburgh University, 1583#The Regenting System|Regent]])

1599 [[Henry Charteris (c1565–1628)]]

1620 [[Patrick Sands (c1567-1635)]]

1622 [[Robert Boyd (1578-1627)]]

1623 [[John Adamson (1576–1651?)]]

1652 [[William Colville (d. 1675)]] (did not take up office)

1653 [[Robert Leighton (c1611-1684)]]

1662 [[William Colville (d. 1675)]]

1675 [[Andrew Cant]]

1685 [[Alexander Monro (c1648-1698)]]

1690 [[Gilbert Rule (c1629-1701)]]

1703 [[William Carstares (1649-1715)]]

1716 [[William Wishart "primus" (1660-1729)]]

1730 [[William Hamilton (1669-1732)]]

1732 [[James Smith (1680-1736)]]

1736 [[William Wishart "secundus" (c1692-1753)]]

1754 [[John Gowdie (c1682-1762)]]

1762 [[William Robertson (1721-1793)]]

1793 [[George Husband Baird (1761-1840)]]

1840 [[John Lee (1779-1859)]]

1859 [[Sir David Brewster (1781-1868)]]

1868 [[Sir Alexander Grant (1826-1884)]]

1885 [[Sir William Muir (1819-1905)]]

1903 [[Sir William Turner (1832-1916)]]

1916 [[Sir Alfred James Ewing (1855-1935)]]

1929 [[Sir Thomas Henry Holland (1868-1947)]]

1944 [[Sir John Fraser (1885-1947)]]

1948 [[Sir Edward Victor Appleton (1892-1965)]]

1965 [[Sir Michael Meredith Swann (1920-1990)]]

1974 [[Sir Hugh Norwood Robson (1917-1977)]]

1979 [[Sir John Harrison Burnett (1922-2007)]]

1987 [[Sir David Cecil Smith (1930- )]]

1994 [[Sir Stewart Ross Sutherland (1934- )]]

2002 [[Sir Timothy Michael Martin O'Shea (1949- )]]

Subject term [https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/subjects/30798['University of Edinburgh -- Principal'] ] in Archives catalogue

[[Category:Governance]] [[Category:Principals]]

Our History:About

2025-07-15T08:17:51Z

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July 2025: Please note: this is no longer a live project and we will not be adding any further content to it

== Contact Us ==

Contact us via the Centre for Research Collections [mailto:is-crc@ed.ac.uk is-crc@ed.ac.uk]

== Rationale and Methodology ==

Since its inception in 1582, the university as it was and as it is today, is linked by one continual thread – people. Our success, achievements and development are a result of successive generations of students, academics and other staff who have come together in a myriad of combinations. Some of these people are well-known, some less so; others are now completely obscured to us. The history of the University is their story.

Understanding these people requires them to be placed in context, the context of their time and those with whom they were interacting. While events alone can appear abstract, contextualising them by surfacing information on the people involved allows for engagement with a wide and diverse audience, both in the historical period and the present.

Using the same methodology as Wikipedia, this project will both create pages of content and also a wish list of pages to be created in the future. It is hoped to extend content creators beyond the dedicated project team at a later date.

The project is in its initial 6 month phase. We hope to secure further funding to allow it to continue beyond this. Over and above project created content, this resource will be added to by a wider group of staff who interact with our collections as part of other core and project work.

== Is this a comprehensive history? ==

Not at this stage. Our intention in this initial phase is to get breadth. With only 6 months at our disposal (for now) we have had to sacrifice more in-depth exploration in order to include a decent variety of material that reflects the 400 plus years of University life. We also want to focus on the people as much as possible, placing them in context as far as we can and reflecting all different types of people who have studied, worked, supported or otherwise contributed to the University.

If we secure funding for a more in-depth project, we will be looking to expand this resource both in terms of coverage and quantity of content.

== Why are there red links, linking to pages that don't exist? ==

Every page, and the research that goes into creating it, throws up potential for new pages. We can't create them all just now but creating the links allows us to flag up our intentions to users and also monitor our wish-list for new pages. We have chosen the Wikipedia model for this very reason (amongst others).

== How is the content being selected? ==

We have started with 50 key milestones onto which we will 'hang' information about the individuals involved. Other pages will be created to contextualise as required.

We also have a lot of pre-existing information in our own reference files, as answers to current and previous enquiries, created as part of numerous projects and other research. Information from the Gallery of Benefactors on the old Library website is also being incorporated. These will all be reviewed and augmented as required as they are moved over.

Our History:About

2025-07-15T08:17:22Z

GButtars:

This project has now finished but some editing and updating of content will continue.

== Contact Us ==

Contact us via the Centre for Research Collections [mailto:is-crc@ed.ac.uk is-crc@ed.ac.uk]

== Rationale and Methodology ==

Since its inception in 1582, the university as it was and as it is today, is linked by one continual thread – people. Our success, achievements and development are a result of successive generations of students, academics and other staff who have come together in a myriad of combinations. Some of these people are well-known, some less so; others are now completely obscured to us. The history of the University is their story.

Understanding these people requires them to be placed in context, the context of their time and those with whom they were interacting. While events alone can appear abstract, contextualising them by surfacing information on the people involved allows for engagement with a wide and diverse audience, both in the historical period and the present.

Using the same methodology as Wikipedia, this project will both create pages of content and also a wish list of pages to be created in the future. It is hoped to extend content creators beyond the dedicated project team at a later date.

The project is in its initial 6 month phase. We hope to secure further funding to allow it to continue beyond this. Over and above project created content, this resource will be added to by a wider group of staff who interact with our collections as part of other core and project work.

== Is this a comprehensive history? ==

Not at this stage. Our intention in this initial phase is to get breadth. With only 6 months at our disposal (for now) we have had to sacrifice more in-depth exploration in order to include a decent variety of material that reflects the 400 plus years of University life. We also want to focus on the people as much as possible, placing them in context as far as we can and reflecting all different types of people who have studied, worked, supported or otherwise contributed to the University.

If we secure funding for a more in-depth project, we will be looking to expand this resource both in terms of coverage and quantity of content.

== Why are there red links, linking to pages that don't exist? ==

Every page, and the research that goes into creating it, throws up potential for new pages. We can't create them all just now but creating the links allows us to flag up our intentions to users and also monitor our wish-list for new pages. We have chosen the Wikipedia model for this very reason (amongst others).

== How is the content being selected? ==

We have started with 50 key milestones onto which we will 'hang' information about the individuals involved. Other pages will be created to contextualise as required.

We also have a lot of pre-existing information in our own reference files, as answers to current and previous enquiries, created as part of numerous projects and other research. Information from the Gallery of Benefactors on the old Library website is also being incorporated. These will all be reviewed and augmented as required as they are moved over.

Main Page

2025-07-15T08:16:48Z

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{| cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100% border=0
|colspan=2 style="background: #003366; color: white; font-family:Georgia, serif; font-size:30px; font-style:italic; text-align:center; padding:10px; line-height:200%"| A growing online history of the University of Edinburgh and its people
|-
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|-

|valign=top style="text-align:justify;"|

<div style="font-size:larger">July 2025: Please note: this is no longer a live project and we will not be adding any further content to it </div>

<div style="font-size:larger">Timeline featuring a selection of key dates in the University history </div>

{{Template:tline}}

|valign=top align=left width=150|

[[File:0007133c.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Book stamp and seal of [[Clement Litill (1527-1580)|Clement Litill]]]]

[[File:0055378d.jpg | border | 250 px | right| thumb | [[Charter by King James VI, 14 April 1582|Foundation Charter]] of [[James VI and I|James VI]] to Edinburgh [[Town Council]] (1582)]]

[[File:0025627c.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Signatories to the 'Sponsio' in the [[First Laureation & Degrees Album|First Laureation Album]]]]

[[File:0022008d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Class card of Stephen Pellet, for classes in Botany by [[John Hope (1725-1786)|John Hope]]]]

[[File:0009318d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Class card issued to [[Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882)|Charles Darwin]] (1820s)]]

[[File:0010737d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Portrait photograph of [[Sir David Brewster (1781-1868)|Sir David Brewster]]]]

[[File:0007376d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Cricket team (1881)]]

[[File:Nh0013.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Portrait photograph of [[Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871)|Sir Roderick Impey Murchison]] who endowed the Chair of [[Geology]]]]

[[File:0025286d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | [[Clerk Ranken (1880-1936)|Clerk Ranken]] in a [[Chemistry]] laboratory]]

[[File:0002552d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | Staff and students at the [[Polish School of Medicine]] (1940s)]]

[[File:0022375d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | [[Animal Genetics|Institute of Animal Genetics]], [[King's Buildings]] campus (1950s)]]

[[File:0013429d.jpg | border | 250 px | right | thumb | [[George Square]] (1960s)]]

|}

John Baillie (1886-1860)

2024-11-27T09:59:16Z

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'''John Baillie (1886-1860) was a Scottish theologian and ecumenical leader'''

== Biography ==

John Baillie was the son of Rev John Baillie (1829-1891), Free Church minister at Gairloch, Ross & Cromarty in the north-west of Scotland, and his wife Annie Macpherson. Following the death of his father, the family home was in Inverness and he was educated at Inverness Royal Academy and the University of Edinburgh. More study was undertaken at both Jena and Marburg and he held assistant positions at the [[University of Edinburgh]] before entering the church, as an assistant in 1912 and then being ordained in 1920.

The First World War saw Baillie playing an active role in both the YMCA and the British Expeditionary Force. The end of that war saw the start of his academic career and his married life. He held number of chairs at the Auburn and Union Thoeological Seminaries in New York and at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, but he eventually returned to Edinburgh to become Professor of [[Divinity]] at [[New College]] in 1934. The rest of his professional life saw him returning to North America on a regular basis.

The advent of the Second World War saw Baillie use the North American links he had maintained to help persuade US entry into the conflict. He was elected as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and became Dean of the [[Faculty of Divinity]] at the University of Edinburgh in 1950, holding this position until retiral six years later. A member of both the British Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches, he became a President of the latter.

== Relationships ==

John Baillie's father was John Baillie, Free Church Minister at Gairloch. One brother was Donald Macpherson Baillie, who held the Chair of Systematic Theology at the University of St. Andrews, the other was Peter Baillie (1889-1914), missionary doctor. Their cousin was Sir Duncan Colvin Baillie (1856-1919), colonial administrator.

== Notable publications ==

''The place of Jesus Christ in modern Christianity'', (1929)

''Interpretation of religion'', (1929)

''And the life everlasting'', (1933)

A Diary of private prayer, (1939)

''Our knowledge of God'', (1939)

''Invitation to pilgrimage'', (1942)

What is Christian civilization?, ( 1945)

''Belief in progress'' , (1950)

''Natural science and the spiritual life'', ( 1951)

''A Diary of readings'', (1955)

''The Idea of revelation in recent thought'', ( 1956)

RegeneraciÃ³n y conversiÃ³n, (1956)

Christian Devotion, (1962)

''Sense of the presence of God'', (1962)

''A Reasoned faith'', (1963)

''Baptism and conversion'', (1964)

== Honours, Qualifications and Appointments ==

c1903: Gold Medallist in Classics, Inverness Royal Academy

1908: M.A. (1st Class Honours) Philosophy, University of Edinburgh

1928: D.Litt., University of Edinburgh

1930: Honorary D.D., University of Edinburgh

1930: Honorary D.D., Victoria University, Toronto

1933: Honorary S.T.D., Dickinson College, USA

1934: Honorary D.D., Yale University

1948: Honorary LL.D., Muhlenberg College, USA

1948: Honorary D.D., Princeton University

1954: Honorary L.H.D., Wooster College, Ohio

1956: Honorary D.Theol., University of Strasbourg

1956: Honorary D.Theol., University of Budapest

1958: Honorary D.Theol., University of Jena

1909-1912: Assistant in Philosophy, University of Edinburgh

1912-1914: Assistant Minister, Broughton Place Church, Edinburgh

1917-1919: Assistant Director of Education on Lines of Communication, France

1917-1919: Examiner in Philosophy, University of Edinburgh

1920: Ordained

1919-1927: Richards Professor of Theology, Auburn Theological Seminary, New York

1927-1930: Professor of Systematic Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto

1930: Roosevelt Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary, New York

1930-1934: Roosevelt Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary, New York

1934-1956: Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh

1935-1938: Examiner in Theology, University of Glasgow

1940: Director of Educational Services with the YMCA with the BEF

1940-1945: Convenor of Church of Scotland Commission on the Interpretation of God's Will in the Present Crisis

1943-1944: Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

1946-1950: Member of Edinburgh University Court

1950-1956: Principal of New College Edinburgh and Dean of the Faculty of Divinity

1954-1960: Co-President of the World Council of Churches

1958-1960: President of the University of Edinburgh Graduates Association

1947-1952: Chaplain to the King in Scotland

1952-1956: Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland

1956-1960: Extra Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland

== Notes ==

List of sources for the biographical information:

''Who Was Who'', 1951-1960, (London, Adam & Charles Black, c1961)

[[Category:Alumni]] [[Category:Academics]]

Bequest of Laing Collection, 1878

2024-10-07T11:22:17Z

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In 1878 scholar and antiquarian [[David Laing (1793-1878)]] donated Edinburgh University Library's most important manuscript collection.

Laing was a friend of the University over many years. His first publication was a reprint of the catalogue of the library of [[William Drummond of Hawthornden]], given to the University in 1626, and it may be that Drummond’s example inspired Laing to make his later, even more generous gift. Before 1878 Edinburgh University Library had only a handful of manuscripts - since then, building on the Laing bequest, it has become an internationally important centre for Special Collections.

*Some of the highlights of the Collection include
*Western medieval manuscript books
*Early Islamic letters
*Letters by Kings and Queens of Scotland
*Poetic manuscripts by Robert
*Manuscripts on the arts and performance, including dance and theatre
*Early manuscripts in Gaelic and Middle Scots
*Early manuscript music books
*Manuscripts on science, alchemy and medicine
*Manuscripts on European heraldry and travel
*Early writing by women, such as the 17th century poet Elizabeth Melville
*Laing’s personal papers, journals and 9,000 letters
*Crucial Scottish governmental and legal documents

== External Links ==

*[https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/85248 Laing Collection catalogue]

For further information please contact staff at the Centre for Research Collections.
[[Category:Events|Bequest of Laing Collection, 1878]][[Category:Incomplete|Bequest of Laing Collection, 1878]]

Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)

2023-11-14T09:44:19Z

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[[File:Fifoot-1.jpg |border | 300 px | right | thumb | Dick Fifoot (1931-2011), University Librarian]]
Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (known as Dick) was born on 14 June 1925 in Oxfordshire. He attended Berkhamsted School and then the University of Oxford, graduating MA in Jurisprudence. He served as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards during WW2.

He began his career at the library of the University of Leeds as Assistant Librarian in 1950. He rose to Sub-Librarian in 1952 and served until 1958 when he took up the post of Deputy Librarian of the University of Nottingham.

In 1960 he became Librarian of the University of Edinburgh, remaining there until 1979. During his tenure, he oversaw the relocation of the University's Library from Old College to its current location in George Square. He was then appointed Bodley's Librarian in Oxford where he served from 1 January 1980 until his retirement in 1981. Richard also held a Professorial Fellowship at Exeter College, Oxford from 1979.

He served as Chair of the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries, 1979-1981, and as a member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 1979-1983.

Richard married Jean Meriel Stuart Thain in Oxford on 2 September 1949. He died on 24 June 1992.

[[Category:Support Staff|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]][[Category:Librarians|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]]

Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)

2023-11-14T09:43:35Z

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[[File:Fifoot-1.jpg |border | 300 px | right | thumb | 'Dick' Fifoot (1931-2011), University Librarian]]
Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (known as Dick) was born on 14 June 1925 in Oxfordshire. He attended Berkhamsted School and then the University of Oxford, graduating MA in Jurisprudence. He served as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards during WW2.

He began his career at the library of the University of Leeds as Assistant Librarian in 1950. He rose to Sub-Librarian in 1952 and served until 1958 when he took up the post of Deputy Librarian of the University of Nottingham.

In 1960 he became Librarian of the University of Edinburgh, remaining there until 1979. During his tenure, he oversaw the relocation of the University's Library from Old College to its current location in George Square. He was then appointed Bodley's Librarian in Oxford where he served from 1 January 1980 until his retirement in 1981. Richard also held a Professorial Fellowship at Exeter College, Oxford from 1979.

He served as Chair of the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries, 1979-1981, and as a member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 1979-1983.

Richard married Jean Meriel Stuart Thain in Oxford on 2 September 1949. He died on 24 June 1992.

[[Category:Support Staff|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]][[Category:Librarians|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]]

File:Fifoot-1.jpg

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== Summary ==
E. R. S. Fifoot

Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney (1925-1992)

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#REDIRECT [[Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]]

Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)

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GButtars: GButtars moved page Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney (1925-1992) to Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)

[[File:Ersfifoot.jpg |border | 300 px | right | thumb | 'Dick' Fifoot (1931-2011), University Librarian]]
Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (known as Dick) was born on 14 June 1925 in Oxfordshire. He attended Berkhamsted School and then the University of Oxford, graduating MA in Jurisprudence. He served as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards during WW2.

He began his career at the library of the University of Leeds as Assistant Librarian in 1950. He rose to Sub-Librarian in 1952 and served until 1958 when he took up the post of Deputy Librarian of the University of Nottingham.

In 1960 he became Librarian of the University of Edinburgh, remaining there until 1979. During his tenure, he oversaw the relocation of the University's Library from Old College to its current location in George Square. He was then appointed Bodley's Librarian in Oxford where he served from 1 January 1980 until his retirement in 1981. Richard also held a Professorial Fellowship at Exeter College, Oxford from 1979.

He served as Chair of the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries, 1979-1981, and as a member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 1979-1983.

Richard married Jean Meriel Stuart Thain in Oxford on 2 September 1949. He died on 24 June 1992.

[[Category:Support Staff|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]][[Category:Librarians|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]]

Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)

2023-11-07T10:00:19Z

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Bibliography of Published Sources

2023-11-07T09:51:57Z

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Published sources are often useful background reading before 'plunging' into in-depth, archives-based research. The following list is not exhaustive but is being added to as we identify useful texts to direct people towards.

Some have begun to appear online at the [http://www.archive.org/ Internet Archive] and links are provided to these. Others can be consulted here and links are given to the main Library Catalogue.

== Institutional Histories ==

* History of the University of Edinburgh, from 1580 to 1646 : to which is prefixed the charter granted to the college by James VI of Scotland, in 1582 ([http://archive.org/details/historyuniversi00craugoog View]) - Thomas Craufurd (1808)
* The History of the University of Edinburgh: Chiefly Compiled from Original Papers and Records ... ([http://archive.org/details/historyuniversi02bowegoog View]) - Alexander Bower (1830)
* History of the University of Edinburgh from its foundation ([http://archive.org/details/historyofunivers01dalzuoft Volume 1] :: [http://archive.org/details/historyofunivers02dalzuoft Volume 2]) - Andrew Dalzel (1862)
* The story of the University of Edinburgh during its first three hundred years ([http://archive.org/details/storyuniversity07grangoog Volume 1] :: [http://archive.org/details/storyuniversity06grangoog Volume 2]) - Sir Alexander Grant ''covers the period 1583-1883''
* Edinburgh University, A Sketch of its Life for 300 Years ([http://archive.org/details/edinburghuniver00univgoog View]) (1884)
* University of Edinburgh : Charters, statutes, and acts of the Town council and the Senatus, 1583-1858 (1937) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21126035010002466 local copies])
* History of the University of Edinburgh, 1883-1933 - Sir Arthur Logan Turner (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2177621630002466 local copies])
* A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-1889 - David Bayne Horn (1967) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21122390150002466 local copies])
* Four Centuries: Edinburgh University Life, 1583-1983 - Gordon Donaldson, Ed. (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130310890002466 local copies])
* The University of Edinburgh : an illustrated history - Anderson, Lynch & Phillipson (2003) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21127331050002466 local copies])

== Subject areas, Divisions, Departments ==

* Britain's first Chair of Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh,1790-1990 : a history of the Chair founded by William Johnstone Pulteney - Fleming & Robertson (1990) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21117803020002466 local copies])
* Engineering at Edinburgh University : a short history, 1673-1983 - Ronald M. Birse (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130318830002466 local copies])
* Science at the University of Edinburgh 1583-1993 : an illustrated history to mark the centenary of the Faculty of Science and Engineering 1893-1993 - Ronald M. Birse (1994) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2182449610002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Library 1580-1980 - Guild & Law, Eds. (1982) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130386260002466 local copies])
* The Polish School of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh : an album - Wiktor Tomaszewski (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130445780002466 local copies])
* Fifty years of the Polish School of Medicine, the University of Edinburgh : 1941-1991 ; jubilee publication - Wiktor Tomaszewski (1992) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2199447350002466 local copies])
* Moray House and professional education : papers to mark the college's 150th anniversary - Gordon Kirk (1985) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21108926180002466 local copies])
* New College Edinburgh: A Centenary History - Hugh Watt and A. Mitchell Turner (1946) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2176716720002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Library : an account of its origin with a description of its rarer books and manuscripts - David Cuthbertson (1910) ([http://archive.org/details/cu31924029534975 View])
* Revelations of a library life, 1876-1922 : including recollections of Edinburgh professors; student life, past and present, with many personal adventures and anecdotes - David Cuthbertson (1923) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2183344700002466 local copies])
* The History of Veterinary Education in Edinburgh - Alastair A. Macdonald and Colin M. Warwick (2023) (not available online - [https://discovered.ed.ac.uk/permalink/44UOE_INST/7g3mt6/alma9925122605002466 local copies])

== People ==

* A catalogue of the graduates in the faculties of arts, divinity, and law, of the University of Edinburgh since its foundation (1858) ([http://archive.org/details/catalogueofgradu00bann View]) ''a list of all graduates (except Medicine), 1587-1858''
* Alphabetical list of graduates of the University of Edinburgh from 1859 to 1888 (both years included) with historical appendix (including present and past office bearers) and separate lists of honorary graduates and graduates with honours (1889) ([http://archive.org/details/alphabeticallist00univrich View]) ''a list of all graduates, 1859-1888 with various appendices''
* Nomina Eorum Qui Gradum MedicinÃ¦ Doctoris in Academia Jacobi Sexti Scoturum Regis .... (Graduates in Medicine 1705-1845) (1846) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2193293200002466 local copies])
* List of Graduates in Medicine in the University of Edinburgh 1705-1866 (1867) ([https://archive.org/details/b21466373 View])
* Quasi cursores; portraits of the high officers and professors of the University of Edinburgh at its tercentenary festival ([http://archive.org/details/quasicursorespor00holeuoft View]) - William Hole (1884)
* Medical women; a thesis and a history - Sophia Jex-Blake (1886) ([http://archive.org/details/medicalwomenthes00jexb View]) ''the battle for women's right to attend and graduate''
* Roll of honour, 1914-1919 (1921) ([http://archive.org/details/rollofhonour191400univuoft View]) ''Roll of the fallen and of war service - staff, students, alumni''
* Roll of Honour 1939-1945 (2015) ([https://www.uega.co.uk/copy-of-volume-18-chalmer-s-applica View]) ''Compiled and hosted by the Graduates' Association''
* The University Portraits, with biographies (1957 & 1986) (not available online - local copies: [http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=57799 Vol. 1], [http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=201727 Vol. 2]
* Edinburgh University worthies : biographies of selected pre-1901 alumni and staff of the University of Edinburgh (1999) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2186396370002466 local copies])
* Medical education in the Age of Improvement : Edinburgh students and apprentices, 1760-1826 - Lisa Rosner (1991) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2192741740002466 local copies])

== Campus and Buildings ==

* The past hundred years : the buildings of the University of Edinburgh - Charles H. Stewart (1973) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2176831420002466 local copies])
* The Building of Old College: Adam, Playfair and the University of Edinburgh - Andrew Fraser (1989) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21125780490002466 local copies])
* Saint Cecilia's Hall in the Niddry Wynd; a chapter in the history of the music of the past in Edinburgh - David Fraser Harris (1899) ([http://archive.org/details/saintceciliashal00harruoft View]) ''See also the 1984 reprint with foreward by Peter Williams''
* The Temple of Harmony: A New Architectural History of St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh - Joe Rock, Martin Hillman & Antonia J Bunch (2011) in [http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E1350752409000193 Architectural Heritage, Volume 20, Page 55-74]
* University of Edinburgh : walking tours of university buildings - Andrew G. Fraser (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2181658030002466 local copies])
*''The development of King's Buildings campus is covered in some detail in Science at the University of Edinburgh 1583-1993 (see above)''

== Student Life, Clubs and Societies ==

* College echoes : sketches and scenes of university life at Edinburgh - David Cuthbertson (1890) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21103916300002466 local copies])
* The Story of Edinburgh University Athletic Club - C. M. Usher (1966) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21109142760002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Tea Club 1920-45 - Clara Ashworth (1946) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21116958450002466 local copies])
* Atlanta's Garland, Being the Book of Edinburgh University Women's Union - Lorraine E. Smith (Ed.) (1926) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21126572980002466 local copies])

[[Category:Guides]] [[Category:Incomplete]]

Our History:About

2023-11-07T09:46:12Z

GButtars:

Alexander Anderson (1845-1909)

2023-09-12T09:44:24Z

GButtars:

The poet Alexander Anderson (1845-1909) was a Librarian of Edinburgh University.

== Early Life ==

Anderson was born on 30th April 1845 at Kirkconnel, Dumfries and Galloway. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to nearby Crocketford where his father James worked as a gardener at Brooklands House, Crocketford. Anderson attended Crocketford school and later assisted his father in his gardening work.

== As Surfaceman ==

The family returned to Kirkconnel when Alexander was sixteen. He worked for two years in the flagstone quarry at Old Kello, before beginning work as a surfaceman or platelayer for the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company. At the age of 19, he began writing poetry, publishing under the pseudonym of 'surfaceman'. In 1870 his verse began to appear in the Dundee journal ''The People's Friend'', and in 1873 the Dundee Advertiser published his first book A Song of Labour and other Poems in a run of 1000 which sold out in a fortnight. Three further volumes followed: ''Two Angels'' (1875), ''Songs of the Rail'' (1878), and ''Ballads and Sonnets'' (1879).

== As Librarian ==

Anderson was a committed autodidact, spending all his spare time on self-culture and mastering several languages. In 1880 he was persuaded to apply for the post of Assistant Librarian of [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]]. Despite never having entered a library before his interview, he was selected. His commitment to his new post soon won him the affection of colleagues, students and academics. He briefly left the Library in 1885 when he was appointed Secretary to the Philosophical Institution, a role brought him into contact with many prominent literary figures. He soon became dissatisfied with the work, however, desiring more contact with ordinary readers. In 1888 he resigned and returned to his Library position. In 1890 he was appointed Chief Librarian, remaining in post until his death in 1909.

== Sources ==

*Crocketford Community Initiative [[http://www.crocketford.org/villhall.html], accessed 17 November 2014]

[[Category:Support Staff|Anderson, Alexander]] [[Category:Librarians|Anderson, Alexander]] [[Category:Incomplete|Anderson, Alexander]]

File:Fifoot.jpg

2023-09-12T09:34:35Z

GButtars: Dick Fifoot, University Librarian

== Summary ==
Dick Fifoot, University Librarian

Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)

2023-09-12T09:30:04Z

GButtars: Add photo

[[File:Ersfifoot.jpg |border | 300 px | right | thumb | 'Dick' Fifoot (1931-2011), University Librarian]]
Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (known as Dick) was born on 14 June 1925 in Oxfordshire. He attended Berkhamsted School and then the University of Oxford, graduating MA in Jurisprudence. He served as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards during WW2.

He began his career at the library of the University of Leeds as Assistant Librarian in 1950. He rose to Sub-Librarian in 1952 and served until 1958 when he took up the post of Deputy Librarian of the University of Nottingham.

In 1960 he became Librarian of the University of Edinburgh, remaining there until 1979. During his tenure, he oversaw the relocation of the University's Library from Old College to its current location in George Square. He was then appointed Bodley's Librarian in Oxford where he served from 1 January 1980 until his retirement in 1981. Richard also held a Professorial Fellowship at Exeter College, Oxford from 1979.

He served as Chair of the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries, 1979-1981, and as a member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 1979-1983.

Richard married Jean Meriel Stuart Thain in Oxford on 2 September 1949. He died on 24 June 1992.

[[Category:Support Staff|Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney (1925-1992)]][[Category:Librarians|Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney (1925-1992)]]

Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)

2023-09-12T09:23:34Z

GButtars: Created page with "Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (known as Dick) was born on 14 June 1925 in Oxfordshire. He attended Berkhamsted School and then the University of Oxford, graduating MA in Jurispru..."

Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (known as Dick) was born on 14 June 1925 in Oxfordshire. He attended Berkhamsted School and then the University of Oxford, graduating MA in Jurisprudence. He served as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards during WW2.

He began his career at the library of the University of Leeds as Assistant Librarian in 1950. He rose to Sub-Librarian in 1952 and served until 1958 when he took up the post of Deputy Librarian of the University of Nottingham.

In 1960 he became Librarian of the University of Edinburgh, remaining there until 1979. During his tenure, he oversaw the relocation of the University's Library from Old College to its current location in George Square. He was then appointed Bodley's Librarian in Oxford where he served from 1 January 1980 until his retirement in 1981. Richard also held a Professorial Fellowship at Exeter College, Oxford from 1979.

He served as Chair of the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries, 1979-1981, and as a member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 1979-1983.

Richard married Jean Meriel Stuart Thain in Oxford on 2 September 1949. He died on 24 June 1992.

[[Category:Support Staff|Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney (1925-1992)]][[Category:Librarians|Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney (1925-1992)]]

Main Library

2023-09-12T09:23:11Z

GButtars: /* Design */

The Main Library is the largest of Edinburgh University's Libraries. It holds the primary collections in arts, humanities, social sciences, medicine and informatics. It also houses the [[Library]]'s general collections of books and periodicals, older books in all subjects, most of the special collections of rare books and manuscripts, the University archives and the Lothian Health Service Archive.

== Planning ==

By the mid-20th century, it had become evident that Library accommodation within the [[Old College]] complex was inadequate for the future needs of the university. In 1949 the Library Committee began to look into what might be needed for an entirely new building. Plans for a new library were soon incorporated into the massive redevelopment of Edinburgh University’s [[Faculty of Arts|Arts Faculty]] centered on [[George Square]], originally a Georgian residential square with a large central garden. A layout was devised for the new Arts campus by architect [[Sir Basil Urwin Spence (1907-1976)]] in 1955, and, in the same year, [[Percy Edwin Alan Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)|Percy Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)]] was appointed as Planning Consultant with responsibility for the overall layout, designation of sites, harmonisation of finishes, landscaping and external works.

== Design ==

Sir Basil Spence was nominated as the architect for the proposed new library by the [[Principal]] of the University, [[Sir Edward Victor Appleton (1892-1965)]], in 1954. The library was to be the very hub of Spence’s campus scheme, occupying a one-acre site on the south-west corner of George Square. It would be several years, however, before an official library commission was awarded and design work could get underway, as these depended upon the award of a capital grant from the University Grants Committee and the building of replacements for the student hostels that occupied the library site.

The new Library was designed by Spence’s Edinburgh office of Spence, Glover & Ferguson. This was the firm’s first library building, and their first encounter with the unique challenges of library design: provision of sufficient storage space for books which entails a massive floor loading; adequate lighting for readers but which presents no threat of heat-damage to books; the need for large open floor spaces, and easy access to stacks. These requirements were met through reinforced concrete construction and reliance on mechanical services: heating, lighting, air conditioning and extraction systems.

The design process was extremely rigorous, involving extensive researching into existing library structures, and close consultation with the university librarian [[Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney (1925-1992)|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]] as the team sought to provide space for 2,500 readers, 114 staff and 2 million books.

Spence did not personally produce a design for the library. His partner [[John Hardie Glover (1913-1994)]] was put in charge of the job and appointed [[Andrew Merrylees (1933- )]] as project architect. Merrylees had developed a sketch plan by February 1963 which was approved by the University Grants Committee in June of the same year. Glover, however, was unhappy with the proportions of the front elevation. He consulted with Spence who devised a suspended fascia across the entrance to amend the proportions.

== Building ==

Planning consent was granted in November 1964, and construction began working with a budget of £1,700,000, a considerable sum for the time. When completed in August 1967, the Library was the largest building of its type in Britain. It was met with immediate acclaim, earning a RIBA award in 1968 and a Civic Trust Commendation in 1969. Today it is recognized as one of the major modernist works in Scotland is a category A listed building. The experience gained by Spence’s team in building the Main Library was put to further use in their designs for Newcastle Central Library, University College Dublin Library, the Sidney Jones Library (Liverpool University) and the Cameron Small Library (Heriot Watt University).

== Redevelopment ==

Between 2006 and 2012, a major redevelopment of the Main Library was carried out by the architects [[Lewis and Hickey]], preserving all essential details of the Spence team’s design but creating a more open and flexible study space in response to changing student and research needs. This also created a new space for the library’s historic collections in the [[Centre for Research Collections]].

== Archives ==

*[[George Square Redevelopment]]
*[[Main Library: Architectural and Structural Drawings]]

== Sources ==

*Clive B. Fenton, 'The Library Designs of Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson', ''Architectural Heritage'', 24.1 (2013), 87-102.
[[Category:Campus]]

Main Library

2023-09-12T09:17:04Z

GButtars: /* Design */

The Main Library is the largest of Edinburgh University's Libraries. It holds the primary collections in arts, humanities, social sciences, medicine and informatics. It also houses the [[Library]]'s general collections of books and periodicals, older books in all subjects, most of the special collections of rare books and manuscripts, the University archives and the Lothian Health Service Archive.

== Planning ==

By the mid-20th century, it had become evident that Library accommodation within the [[Old College]] complex was inadequate for the future needs of the university. In 1949 the Library Committee began to look into what might be needed for an entirely new building. Plans for a new library were soon incorporated into the massive redevelopment of Edinburgh University’s [[Faculty of Arts|Arts Faculty]] centered on [[George Square]], originally a Georgian residential square with a large central garden. A layout was devised for the new Arts campus by architect [[Sir Basil Urwin Spence (1907-1976)]] in 1955, and, in the same year, [[Percy Edwin Alan Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)|Percy Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)]] was appointed as Planning Consultant with responsibility for the overall layout, designation of sites, harmonisation of finishes, landscaping and external works.

== Design ==

Sir Basil Spence was nominated as the architect for the proposed new library by the [[Principal]] of the University, [[Sir Edward Victor Appleton (1892-1965)]], in 1954. The library was to be the very hub of Spence’s campus scheme, occupying a one-acre site on the south-west corner of George Square. It would be several years, however, before an official library commission was awarded and design work could get underway, as these depended upon the award of a capital grant from the University Grants Committee and the building of replacements for the student hostels that occupied the library site.

The new Library was designed by Spence’s Edinburgh office of Spence, Glover & Ferguson. This was the firm’s first library building, and their first encounter with the unique challenges of library design: provision of sufficient storage space for books which entails a massive floor loading; adequate lighting for readers but which presents no threat of heat-damage to books; the need for large open floor spaces, and easy access to stacks. These requirements were met through reinforced concrete construction and reliance on mechanical services: heating, lighting, air conditioning and extraction systems.

The design process was extremely rigorous, involving extensive researching into existing library structures, and close consultation with the university librarian [[Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney, 1925-1992|Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)]] as the team sought to provide space for 2,500 readers, 114 staff and 2 million books.

Spence did not personally produce a design for the library. His partner [[John Hardie Glover (1913-1994)]] was put in charge of the job and appointed [[Andrew Merrylees (1933- )]] as project architect. Merrylees had developed a sketch plan by February 1963 which was approved by the University Grants Committee in June of the same year. Glover, however, was unhappy with the proportions of the front elevation. He consulted with Spence who devised a suspended fascia across the entrance to amend the proportions.

== Building ==

Planning consent was granted in November 1964, and construction began working with a budget of £1,700,000, a considerable sum for the time. When completed in August 1967, the Library was the largest building of its type in Britain. It was met with immediate acclaim, earning a RIBA award in 1968 and a Civic Trust Commendation in 1969. Today it is recognized as one of the major modernist works in Scotland is a category A listed building. The experience gained by Spence’s team in building the Main Library was put to further use in their designs for Newcastle Central Library, University College Dublin Library, the Sidney Jones Library (Liverpool University) and the Cameron Small Library (Heriot Watt University).

== Redevelopment ==

Between 2006 and 2012, a major redevelopment of the Main Library was carried out by the architects [[Lewis and Hickey]], preserving all essential details of the Spence team’s design but creating a more open and flexible study space in response to changing student and research needs. This also created a new space for the library’s historic collections in the [[Centre for Research Collections]].

== Archives ==

*[[George Square Redevelopment]]
*[[Main Library: Architectural and Structural Drawings]]

== Sources ==

*Clive B. Fenton, 'The Library Designs of Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson', ''Architectural Heritage'', 24.1 (2013), 87-102.
[[Category:Campus]]

Main Library

2023-09-12T09:16:20Z

GButtars: /* Design */

The Main Library is the largest of Edinburgh University's Libraries. It holds the primary collections in arts, humanities, social sciences, medicine and informatics. It also houses the [[Library]]'s general collections of books and periodicals, older books in all subjects, most of the special collections of rare books and manuscripts, the University archives and the Lothian Health Service Archive.

== Planning ==

By the mid-20th century, it had become evident that Library accommodation within the [[Old College]] complex was inadequate for the future needs of the university. In 1949 the Library Committee began to look into what might be needed for an entirely new building. Plans for a new library were soon incorporated into the massive redevelopment of Edinburgh University’s [[Faculty of Arts|Arts Faculty]] centered on [[George Square]], originally a Georgian residential square with a large central garden. A layout was devised for the new Arts campus by architect [[Sir Basil Urwin Spence (1907-1976)]] in 1955, and, in the same year, [[Percy Edwin Alan Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)|Percy Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)]] was appointed as Planning Consultant with responsibility for the overall layout, designation of sites, harmonisation of finishes, landscaping and external works.

== Design ==

Sir Basil Spence was nominated as the architect for the proposed new library by the [[Principal]] of the University, [[Sir Edward Victor Appleton (1892-1965)]], in 1954. The library was to be the very hub of Spence’s campus scheme, occupying a one-acre site on the south-west corner of George Square. It would be several years, however, before an official library commission was awarded and design work could get underway, as these depended upon the award of a capital grant from the University Grants Committee and the building of replacements for the student hostels that occupied the library site.

The new Library was designed by Spence’s Edinburgh office of Spence, Glover & Ferguson. This was the firm’s first library building, and their first encounter with the unique challenges of library design: provision of sufficient storage space for books which entails a massive floor loading; adequate lighting for readers but which presents no threat of heat-damage to books; the need for large open floor spaces, and easy access to stacks. These requirements were met through reinforced concrete construction and reliance on mechanical services: heating, lighting, air conditioning and extraction systems.

The design process was extremely rigorous, involving extensive researching into existing library structures, and close consultation with the university librarian [[Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)|Fifoot, Erik Richard Sidney, 1925-1992]] as the team sought to provide space for 2,500 readers, 114 staff and 2 million books.

Spence did not personally produce a design for the library. His partner [[John Hardie Glover (1913-1994)]] was put in charge of the job and appointed [[Andrew Merrylees (1933- )]] as project architect. Merrylees had developed a sketch plan by February 1963 which was approved by the University Grants Committee in June of the same year. Glover, however, was unhappy with the proportions of the front elevation. He consulted with Spence who devised a suspended fascia across the entrance to amend the proportions.

== Building ==

Planning consent was granted in November 1964, and construction began working with a budget of £1,700,000, a considerable sum for the time. When completed in August 1967, the Library was the largest building of its type in Britain. It was met with immediate acclaim, earning a RIBA award in 1968 and a Civic Trust Commendation in 1969. Today it is recognized as one of the major modernist works in Scotland is a category A listed building. The experience gained by Spence’s team in building the Main Library was put to further use in their designs for Newcastle Central Library, University College Dublin Library, the Sidney Jones Library (Liverpool University) and the Cameron Small Library (Heriot Watt University).

== Redevelopment ==

Between 2006 and 2012, a major redevelopment of the Main Library was carried out by the architects [[Lewis and Hickey]], preserving all essential details of the Spence team’s design but creating a more open and flexible study space in response to changing student and research needs. This also created a new space for the library’s historic collections in the [[Centre for Research Collections]].

== Archives ==

*[[George Square Redevelopment]]
*[[Main Library: Architectural and Structural Drawings]]

== Sources ==

*Clive B. Fenton, 'The Library Designs of Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson', ''Architectural Heritage'', 24.1 (2013), 87-102.
[[Category:Campus]]

Bibliography of Published Sources

2020-11-18T07:13:53Z

GButtars:

Published sources are often useful background reading before 'plunging' into in-depth, archives-based research. The following list is not exhaustive but is being added to as we identify useful texts to direct people towards.

Some have begun to appear online at the [http://www.archive.org/ Internet Archive] and links are provided to these. Others can be consulted here and links are given to the main Library Catalogue.

== Institutional Histories ==

* History of the University of Edinburgh, from 1580 to 1646 : to which is prefixed the charter granted to the college by James VI of Scotland, in 1582 ([http://archive.org/details/historyuniversi00craugoog View]) - Thomas Craufurd (1808)
* The History of the University of Edinburgh: Chiefly Compiled from Original Papers and Records ... ([http://archive.org/details/historyuniversi02bowegoog View]) - Alexander Bower (1830)
* History of the University of Edinburgh from its foundation ([http://archive.org/details/historyofunivers01dalzuoft Volume 1] :: [http://archive.org/details/historyofunivers02dalzuoft Volume 2]) - Andrew Dalzel (1862)
* The story of the University of Edinburgh during its first three hundred years ([http://archive.org/details/storyuniversity07grangoog Volume 1] :: [http://archive.org/details/storyuniversity06grangoog Volume 2]) - Sir Alexander Grant ''covers the period 1583-1883''
* Edinburgh University, A Sketch of its Life for 300 Years ([http://archive.org/details/edinburghuniver00univgoog View]) (1884)
* University of Edinburgh : Charters, statutes, and acts of the Town council and the Senatus, 1583-1858 (1937) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21126035010002466 local copies])
* History of the University of Edinburgh, 1883-1933 - Sir Arthur Logan Turner (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2177621630002466 local copies])
* A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-1889 - David Bayne Horn (1967) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21122390150002466 local copies])
* Four Centuries: Edinburgh University Life, 1583-1983 - Gordon Donaldson, Ed. (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130310890002466 local copies])
* The University of Edinburgh : an illustrated history - Anderson, Lynch & Phillipson (2003) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21127331050002466 local copies])

== Subject areas, Divisions, Departments ==

* Britain's first Chair of Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh,1790-1990 : a history of the Chair founded by William Johnstone Pulteney - Fleming & Robertson (1990) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21117803020002466 local copies])
* Engineering at Edinburgh University : a short history, 1673-1983 - Ronald M. Birse (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130318830002466 local copies])
* Science at the University of Edinburgh 1583-1993 : an illustrated history to mark the centenary of the Faculty of Science and Engineering 1893-1993 - Ronald M. Birse (1994) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2182449610002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Library 1580-1980 - Guild & Law, Eds. (1982) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130386260002466 local copies])
* The Polish School of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh : an album - Wiktor Tomaszewski (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130445780002466 local copies])
* Fifty years of the Polish School of Medicine, the University of Edinburgh : 1941-1991 ; jubilee publication - Wiktor Tomaszewski (1992) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2199447350002466 local copies])
* Moray House and professional education : papers to mark the college's 150th anniversary - Gordon Kirk (1985) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21108926180002466 local copies])
* New College Edinburgh: A Centenary History - Hugh Watt and A. Mitchell Turner (1946) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2176716720002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Library : an account of its origin with a description of its rarer books and manuscripts - David Cuthbertson (1910) ([http://archive.org/details/cu31924029534975 View])
* Revelations of a library life, 1876-1922 : including recollections of Edinburgh professors; student life, past and present, with many personal adventures and anecdotes - David Cuthbertson (1923) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2183344700002466 local copies])

== People ==

* A catalogue of the graduates in the faculties of arts, divinity, and law, of the University of Edinburgh since its foundation (1858) ([http://archive.org/details/catalogueofgradu00bann View]) ''a list of all graduates (except Medicine), 1587-1858''
* Alphabetical list of graduates of the University of Edinburgh from 1859 to 1888 (both years included) with historical appendix (including present and past office bearers) and separate lists of honorary graduates and graduates with honours (1889) ([http://archive.org/details/alphabeticallist00univrich View]) ''a list of all graduates, 1859-1888 with various appendices''
* Nomina Eorum Qui Gradum MedicinÃ¦ Doctoris in Academia Jacobi Sexti Scoturum Regis .... (Graduates in Medicine 1705-1845) (1846) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2193293200002466 local copies])
* List of Graduates in Medicine in the University of Edinburgh 1705-1866 (1867) ([https://archive.org/details/b21466373 View])
* Quasi cursores; portraits of the high officers and professors of the University of Edinburgh at its tercentenary festival ([http://archive.org/details/quasicursorespor00holeuoft View]) - William Hole (1884)
* Medical women; a thesis and a history - Sophia Jex-Blake (1886) ([http://archive.org/details/medicalwomenthes00jexb View]) ''the battle for women's right to attend and graduate''
* Roll of honour, 1914-1919 (1921) ([http://archive.org/details/rollofhonour191400univuoft View]) ''Roll of the fallen and of war service - staff, students, alumni''
* Roll of Honour 1939-1945 (2015) ([https://www.uega.co.uk/copy-of-volume-18-chalmer-s-applica View]) ''Compiled and hosted by the Graduates' Association''
* The University Portraits, with biographies (1957 & 1986) (not available online - local copies: [http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=57799 Vol. 1], [http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=201727 Vol. 2]
* Edinburgh University worthies : biographies of selected pre-1901 alumni and staff of the University of Edinburgh (1999) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2186396370002466 local copies])
* Medical education in the Age of Improvement : Edinburgh students and apprentices, 1760-1826 - Lisa Rosner (1991) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2192741740002466 local copies])

== Campus and Buildings ==

* The past hundred years : the buildings of the University of Edinburgh - Charles H. Stewart (1973) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2176831420002466 local copies])
* The Building of Old College: Adam, Playfair and the University of Edinburgh - Andrew Fraser (1989) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21125780490002466 local copies])
* Saint Cecilia's Hall in the Niddry Wynd; a chapter in the history of the music of the past in Edinburgh - David Fraser Harris (1899) ([http://archive.org/details/saintceciliashal00harruoft View]) ''See also the 1984 reprint with foreward by Peter Williams''
* The Temple of Harmony: A New Architectural History of St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh - Joe Rock, Martin Hillman & Antonia J Bunch (2011) in [http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E1350752409000193 Architectural Heritage, Volume 20, Page 55-74]
* University of Edinburgh : walking tours of university buildings - Andrew G. Fraser (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2181658030002466 local copies])
*''The development of King's Buildings campus is covered in some detail in Science at the University of Edinburgh 1583-1993 (see above)''

== Student Life, Clubs and Societies ==

* College echoes : sketches and scenes of university life at Edinburgh - David Cuthbertson (1890) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21103916300002466 local copies])
* The Story of Edinburgh University Athletic Club - C. M. Usher (1966) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21109142760002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Tea Club 1920-45 - Clara Ashworth (1946) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21116958450002466 local copies])
* Atlanta's Garland, Being the Book of Edinburgh University Women's Union - Lorraine E. Smith (Ed.) (1926) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21126572980002466 local copies])

[[Category:Guides]] [[Category:Incomplete]]

Bibliography of Published Sources

2020-11-18T07:13:10Z

GButtars:

Published sources are often useful background reading before 'plunging' into in-depth, archives-based research. The following list is not exhaustive but is being added to as we identify useful texts to direct people towards.

Some have begun to appear online at the [http://www.archive.org/ Internet Archive] and links are provided to these. Others can be consulted here and links are given to the main Library Catalogue.

== Institutional Histories ==

* History of the University of Edinburgh, from 1580 to 1646 : to which is prefixed the charter granted to the college by James VI of Scotland, in 1582 ([http://archive.org/details/historyuniversi00craugoog View]) - Thomas Craufurd (1808)
* The History of the University of Edinburgh: Chiefly Compiled from Original Papers and Records ... ([http://archive.org/details/historyuniversi02bowegoog View]) - Alexander Bower (1830)
* History of the University of Edinburgh from its foundation ([http://archive.org/details/historyofunivers01dalzuoft Volume 1] :: [http://archive.org/details/historyofunivers02dalzuoft Volume 2]) - Andrew Dalzel (1862)
* The story of the University of Edinburgh during its first three hundred years ([http://archive.org/details/storyuniversity07grangoog Volume 1] :: [http://archive.org/details/storyuniversity06grangoog Volume 2]) - Sir Alexander Grant ''covers the period 1583-1883''
* Edinburgh University, A Sketch of its Life for 300 Years ([http://archive.org/details/edinburghuniver00univgoog View]) (1884)
* University of Edinburgh : Charters, statutes, and acts of the Town council and the Senatus, 1583-1858 (1937) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21126035010002466 local copies])
* History of the University of Edinburgh, 1883-1933 - Sir Arthur Logan Turner (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2177621630002466 local copies])
* A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-1889 - David Bayne Horn (1967) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21122390150002466 local copies])
* Four Centuries: Edinburgh University Life, 1583-1983 - Gordon Donaldson, Ed. (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130310890002466 local copies])
* The University of Edinburgh : an illustrated history - Anderson, Lynch & Phillipson (2003) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21127331050002466 local copies])

== Subject areas, Divisions, Departments ==

* Britain's first Chair of Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh,1790-1990 : a history of the Chair founded by William Johnstone Pulteney - Fleming & Robertson (1990) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21117803020002466 local copies])
* Engineering at Edinburgh University : a short history, 1673-1983 - Ronald M. Birse (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130318830002466 local copies])
* Science at the University of Edinburgh 1583-1993 : an illustrated history to mark the centenary of the Faculty of Science and Engineering 1893-1993 - Ronald M. Birse (1994) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2182449610002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Library 1580-1980 - Guild & Law, Eds. (1982) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130386260002466 local copies])
* The Polish School of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh : an album - Wiktor Tomaszewski (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21130445780002466 local copies])
* Fifty years of the Polish School of Medicine, the University of Edinburgh : 1941-1991 ; jubilee publication - Wiktor Tomaszewski (1992) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2199447350002466 local copies])
* Moray House and professional education : papers to mark the college's 150th anniversary - Gordon Kirk (1985) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21108926180002466 local copies])
* New College Edinburgh: A Centenary History - Hugh Watt and A. Mitchell Turner (1946) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2176716720002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Library : an account of its origin with a description of its rarer books and manuscripts - David Cuthbertson (1910) ([http://archive.org/details/cu31924029534975 View])
* Revelations of a library life, 1876-1922 : including recollections of Edinburgh professors; student life, past and present, with many personal adventures and anecdotes - David Cuthbertson (1923) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2183344700002466 local copies])

== People ==

* A catalogue of the graduates in the faculties of arts, divinity, and law, of the University of Edinburgh since its foundation (1858) ([http://archive.org/details/catalogueofgradu00bann View]) ''a list of all graduates (except Medicine), 1587-1858''
* Alphabetical list of graduates of the University of Edinburgh from 1859 to 1888 (both years included) with historical appendix (including present and past office bearers) and separate lists of honorary graduates and graduates with honours (1889) ([http://archive.org/details/alphabeticallist00univrich View]) ''a list of all graduates, 1859-1888 with various appendices''
* Nomina Eorum Qui Gradum MedicinÃ¦ Doctoris in Academia Jacobi Sexti Scoturum Regis .... (Graduates in Medicine 1705-1845) (1846) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2193293200002466 local copies])
* List of Graduates in Medicine in the University of Edinburgh 1705-1866 (1867) (https://archive.org/details/b21466373 View])
* Quasi cursores; portraits of the high officers and professors of the University of Edinburgh at its tercentenary festival ([http://archive.org/details/quasicursorespor00holeuoft View]) - William Hole (1884)
* Medical women; a thesis and a history - Sophia Jex-Blake (1886) ([http://archive.org/details/medicalwomenthes00jexb View]) ''the battle for women's right to attend and graduate''
* Roll of honour, 1914-1919 (1921) ([http://archive.org/details/rollofhonour191400univuoft View]) ''Roll of the fallen and of war service - staff, students, alumni''
* Roll of Honour 1939-1945 (2015) ([https://www.uega.co.uk/copy-of-volume-18-chalmer-s-applica View]) ''Compiled and hosted by the Graduates' Association''
* The University Portraits, with biographies (1957 & 1986) (not available online - local copies: [http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=57799 Vol. 1], [http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=201727 Vol. 2]
* Edinburgh University worthies : biographies of selected pre-1901 alumni and staff of the University of Edinburgh (1999) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2186396370002466 local copies])
* Medical education in the Age of Improvement : Edinburgh students and apprentices, 1760-1826 - Lisa Rosner (1991) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2192741740002466 local copies])

== Campus and Buildings ==

* The past hundred years : the buildings of the University of Edinburgh - Charles H. Stewart (1973) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2176831420002466 local copies])
* The Building of Old College: Adam, Playfair and the University of Edinburgh - Andrew Fraser (1989) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21125780490002466 local copies])
* Saint Cecilia's Hall in the Niddry Wynd; a chapter in the history of the music of the past in Edinburgh - David Fraser Harris (1899) ([http://archive.org/details/saintceciliashal00harruoft View]) ''See also the 1984 reprint with foreward by Peter Williams''
* The Temple of Harmony: A New Architectural History of St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh - Joe Rock, Martin Hillman & Antonia J Bunch (2011) in [http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E1350752409000193 Architectural Heritage, Volume 20, Page 55-74]
* University of Edinburgh : walking tours of university buildings - Andrew G. Fraser (1983) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA2181658030002466 local copies])
*''The development of King's Buildings campus is covered in some detail in Science at the University of Edinburgh 1583-1993 (see above)''

== Student Life, Clubs and Societies ==

* College echoes : sketches and scenes of university life at Edinburgh - David Cuthbertson (1890) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21103916300002466 local copies])
* The Story of Edinburgh University Athletic Club - C. M. Usher (1966) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21109142760002466 local copies])
* Edinburgh University Tea Club 1920-45 - Clara Ashworth (1946) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21116958450002466 local copies])
* Atlanta's Garland, Being the Book of Edinburgh University Women's Union - Lorraine E. Smith (Ed.) (1926) (not available online - [http://discovered.ed.ac.uk/44UOE_VU1:default_scope:44UOE_ALMA21126572980002466 local copies])

[[Category:Guides]] [[Category:Incomplete]]

James Miranda Steuart Barry (c1790-1865)

2019-12-12T14:16:03Z

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[[File:0022458d.jpg|right|border|thumb|300px|Title page from James Barry's thesis, 1812]]

== Early Life ==

Margaret Bulkley was born in Ireland: a bright, precocious child, she moved to London, with her mother in 1805 and there had access to General Francisco de Miranda’s library with ‘treatises such as might be considered to form a tolerably complete Medical Library for a private gentleman’. As her father had been declared bankrupt, she had no hope of a good marriage so it was decided she should go to university but this was not an option for a female.

Taking the name of James Barry (after an uncle), Barry went to study medicine, at Edinburgh University, one of the most demanding and rigorous courses in Britain. Barry graduated with a MD thesis dedicated to patrons, General Francisco de Miranda and [[David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan (1742-1829)]]. Then, even more extraordinary, after further training, Barry joined the army and travelled throughout the British Empire. There is no definitive version of Barry's adopted name.

== Career ==

Although known to be tetchy, difficult and insubordinate, with a slight figure and high voice, Surgeon-General McKinnon said Barry was a ‘pleasant and agreeable man. He neither cursed nor swore, but behaved himself like a gentleman’. Barry became a close friend to General Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of the Cape Province, having saved both his life and one of his daughters. But rumours arose of a homosexual relationship between Somerset and Barry and Somerset was recalled to Britain, although nothing further happened. Although sent home on many occasions for her actions, Barry was recognised as a fine physician, credited with a general improvement in medical health of soldiers and known to be a highly skilled and much respected surgeon.

== Chronology ==

1789/1795: birthdate uncertain

1812: graduated MD, University of Edinburgh and went to St Thomas’ Hospital, London

1813: joined the army

1816: posted to Cape of Good Hope as Assistant Staff Surgeon

1817: appointed Physician to the Household of the Governor of the Cape

1826: carried out the first successful Caesarean section in the English-speaking world

1827: promoted to Staff Surgeon

1828: October, left Cape Town for London

1829: arrived Mauritius to deal with outbreak of cholera

1831: April sailed for Jamaica as Staff Surgeon to the garrison

1835: left for England after considerable stress and the deaths of many troops due to fever and appalling conditions of the garrisons positioned near swamps

1836: posted to St Helena as Principal Medical Officer to cope with an epidemic of dysentery

1836/7?: returned to London

1838: November, given command of The Windward and Leeward Islands where high death rate from yellow fever and chronic dysentery

1845: October, became ill and left for England

1846: November, appointed Principal Medical Officer in Malta and Corfu

1857: June, left Mediterranean and posted to Canada as Inspector-General of Hospitals

1859: retired

1865: died London, 25 July

== Archives ==

*Signatures in [[Student Records#Matriculation Albums (1627-1980)|Matriculation Album]]
*Signature in [[Student Records#Laureation and Degrees Albums (1587-1896)|Laureation and Degrees Album]]
*Thesis, ''Disputatio Medica Inaugralis, de Merocele, vel Hernia Crurali''. [https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/417 available online].

== Sources ==

*Rae, Isobel: ''The Strange Story of Dr. James Barry: Army Surgeon, Inspector-General of Hospitals, Discovered on Death to be a Woman''

== Acknowledgements ==

Adapted from text kindly supplied by Fiona Morrison-Graham

[[Category:Alumni|Barry, James Miranda Steuart]]

James Miranda Steuart Barry (c1790-1865)

2019-12-11T08:31:47Z

GButtars:

[[File:0022458d.jpg|right|border|thumb|300px|Title page from James Barry's thesis, 1812]]

== Early Life ==

Margaret Bulkley was born in Ireland: a bright, precocious child, she moved to London, with her mother in 1805 and there had access to General Francisco de Miranda’s library with ‘treatises such as might be considered to form a tolerably complete Medical Library for a private gentleman’. As her father had been declared bankrupt, she had no hope of a good marriage so it was decided she should go to university but this was not an option for a female.

Taking the name of James Barry (after her uncle), Barry went to study medicine, at Edinburgh University, one of the most demanding and rigorous courses in Britain. Barry graduated with a MD thesis dedicated to patrons, General Francisco de Miranda and [[David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan (1742-1829)]]. Then, even more extraordinary, after further training, Barry joined the army and travelled throughout the British Empire. There is no definitive version of Barry's adopted name.

== Career ==

Although known to be tetchy, difficult and insubordinate, with a slight figure and high voice, Surgeon-General McKinnon said Barry was a ‘pleasant and agreeable man. He neither cursed nor swore, but behaved himself like a gentleman’. Barry became a close friend to General Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of the Cape Province, having saved both his life and one of his daughters. But rumours arose of a homosexual relationship between Somerset and Barry and Somerset was recalled to Britain, although nothing further happened. Although sent home on many occasions for her actions, Barry was recognised as a fine physician, credited with a general improvement in medical health of soldiers and known to be a highly skilled and much respected surgeon.

== Chronology ==

1789/1795: birthdate uncertain

1812: graduated MD, University of Edinburgh and went to St Thomas’ Hospital, London

1813: joined the army

1816: posted to Cape of Good Hope as Assistant Staff Surgeon

1817: appointed Physician to the Household of the Governor of the Cape

1826: carried out the first successful Caesarean section in the English-speaking world

1827: promoted to Staff Surgeon

1828: October, left Cape Town for London

1829: arrived Mauritius to deal with outbreak of cholera

1831: April sailed for Jamaica as Staff Surgeon to the garrison

1835: left for England after considerable stress and the deaths of many troops due to fever and appalling conditions of the garrisons positioned near swamps

1836: posted to St Helena as Principal Medical Officer to cope with an epidemic of dysentery

1836/7?: returned to London

1838: November, given command of The Windward and Leeward Islands where high death rate from yellow fever and chronic dysentery

1845: October, became ill and left for England

1846: November, appointed Principal Medical Officer in Malta and Corfu

1857: June, left Mediterranean and posted to Canada as Inspector-General of Hospitals

1859: retired

1865: died London, 25 July

== Archives ==

*Signatures in [[Student Records#Matriculation Albums (1627-1980)|Matriculation Album]]
*Signature in [[Student Records#Laureation and Degrees Albums (1587-1896)|Laureation and Degrees Album]]
*Thesis, ''Disputatio Medica Inaugralis, de Merocele, vel Hernia Crurali''. [https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/417 available online].

== Sources ==

*Rae, Isobel: ''The Strange Story of Dr. James Barry: Army Surgeon, Inspector-General of Hospitals, Discovered on Death to be a Woman''

== Acknowledgements ==

Adapted from text kindly supplied by Fiona Morrison-Graham

[[Category:Alumni|Barry, James Miranda Steuart]]

Main Library

2019-06-07T08:23:57Z

GButtars: /* Design */

The Main Library is the largest of Edinburgh University's Libraries. It holds the primary collections in arts, humanities, social sciences, medicine and informatics. It also houses the [[Library]]'s general collections of books and periodicals, older books in all subjects, most of the special collections of rare books and manuscripts, the University archives and the Lothian Health Service Archive.

== Planning ==

By the mid-20th century, it had become evident that Library accommodation within the [[Old College]] complex was inadequate for the future needs of the university. In 1949 the Library Committee began to look into what might be needed for an entirely new building. Plans for a new library were soon incorporated into the massive redevelopment of Edinburgh University’s [[Faculty of Arts|Arts Faculty]] centered on [[George Square]], originally a Georgian residential square with a large central garden. A layout was devised for the new Arts campus by architect [[Sir Basil Urwin Spence (1907-1976)]] in 1955, and, in the same year, [[Percy Edwin Alan Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)|Percy Johnson-Marshall (1915-1993)]] was appointed as Planning Consultant with responsibility for the overall layout, designation of sites, harmonisation of finishes, landscaping and external works.

== Design ==

Sir Basil Spence was nominated as the architect for the proposed new library by the [[Principal]] of the University, [[Sir Edward Victor Appleton (1892-1965)]], in 1954. The library was to be the very hub of Spence’s campus scheme, occupying a one-acre site on the south-west corner of George Square. It would be several years, however, before an official library commission was awarded and design work could get underway, as these depended upon the award of a capital grant from the University Grants Committee and the building of replacements for the student hostels that occupied the library site.

The new Library was designed by Spence’s Edinburgh office of Spence, Glover & Ferguson. This was the firm’s first library building, and their first encounter with the unique challenges of library design: provision of sufficient storage space for books which entails a massive floor loading; adequate lighting for readers but which presents no threat of heat-damage to books; the need for large open floor spaces, and easy access to stacks. These requirements were met through reinforced concrete construction and reliance on mechanical services: heating, lighting, air conditioning and extraction systems.

The design process was extremely rigorous, involving extensive researching into existing library structures, and close consultation with the university librarian [[Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot (1925-1992)|Richard Fifoot (1925-1992)]] as the team sought to provide space for 2,500 readers, 114 staff and 2 million books.

Spence did not personally produce a design for the library. His partner [[John Hardie Glover (1913-1994)]] was put in charge of the job and appointed [[Andrew Merrylees (1933- )]] as project architect. Merrylees had developed a sketch plan by February 1963 which was approved by the University Grants Committee in June of the same year. Glover, however, was unhappy with the proportions of the front elevation. He consulted with Spence who devised a suspended fascia across the entrance to amend the proportions.

== Building ==

Planning consent was granted in November 1964, and construction began working with a budget of £1,700,000, a considerable sum for the time. When completed in August 1967, the Library was the largest building of its type in Britain. It was met with immediate acclaim, earning a RIBA award in 1968 and a Civic Trust Commendation in 1969. Today it is recognized as one of the major modernist works in Scotland is a category A listed building. The experience gained by Spence’s team in building the Main Library was put to further use in their designs for Newcastle Central Library, University College Dublin Library, the Sidney Jones Library (Liverpool University) and the Cameron Small Library (Heriot Watt University).

== Redevelopment ==

Between 2006 and 2012, a major redevelopment of the Main Library was carried out by the architects [[Lewis and Hickey]], preserving all essential details of the Spence team’s design but creating a more open and flexible study space in response to changing student and research needs. This also created a new space for the library’s historic collections in the [[Centre for Research Collections]].

== Archives ==

*[[George Square Redevelopment]]
*[[Main Library: Architectural and Structural Drawings]]

== Sources ==

*Clive B. Fenton, 'The Library Designs of Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson', ''Architectural Heritage'', 24.1 (2013), 87-102.
[[Category:Campus]]

Forensic Medicine

2017-09-12T10:10:48Z

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[[Andrew Duncan (1744-1828)]] was the first in Britain to lecture in forensic medicine, beginning in 1789. In 1807, the [[University of Edinburgh]] was the first in the country to establish a Chair of Medical Jurisprudence. The full title was 'Regius Chair of Medical Jurisprudence and Medical Police'. [[Andrew Duncan (1773-1832)]], son of the previous, was the first to hold the post. He was succeeded by [[William Pultney Allison (1790-1859)]], who held the Chair 1820-1821.

On the appointment of [[Sir Robert Christison (1797-1882)]] in 1822, the Chair was moved from the [[Faculty of Law]] to the [[Faculty of Medicine]]. He was succeeded in 1832 by [[Thomas Stewart Traill (1781-1862)]]. In turn he was succeeded, in 1862, by [[Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan (1812-1900)]].

Henry Duncan Littlejohn was appointed to the then Chair of Forensic Medicine and Public Health in 1897. However the University established a separate Chair in [[Public Health]] the following year, that element was removed from Littlejohn's immediate remit and became the responsibility of [[Charles Hunter Stewart (1854-1924)]], the first Professor of Public Health. The Institute of Public Health was established 3 years later. In 1906, [[Henry Harvey Littlejohn (1862-1927)]] succeeded his father, holding the post until his death in 1927. In 1906 he also became Police Surgeon in Edinburgh.

The next incumbent was [[Sir Sydney Alfred Smith (1883-1969)]], who had previously been an assistant under Henry Harvey Littlejohn and also frequently acted as a medical expert in court. He succeeded in 1928 and held the post until 1953 when he was was succeeded by [[Douglas James Acworth Kerr (1894-1960)]]. After Kerr's death, the Chair seems to have been vacant until the appointment of [[John Kenyon French Mason (1919-2017)]] in 1973. It then fell vacant again, following Mason's retiral in 1985, until [[Anthony Busuttil]] was appointed three years later.

[[Category:Academic Units]] [[Category:Incomplete]]

Forensic Medicine

2017-09-12T09:59:41Z

GButtars: Corrections including the addition of Douglas James Ashworth Kerr and Anthony Busuttil

[[Andrew Duncan (1744-1828)]] was the first in Britain to lecture in forensic medicine, beginning in 1789. In 1807, the [[University of Edinburgh]] was the first in the country to establish a Chair of Medical Jurisprudence. The full title was 'Regius Chair of Medical Jurisprudence and Medical Police'. [[Andrew Duncan (1773-1832)]], son of the previous, was the first to hold the post. He was succeeded by [[William Pultney Allison (1790-1859)]], who held the Chair 1820-1821.

On the appointment of [[Sir Robert Christison (1797-1882)]] in 1822, the Chair was moved from the [[Faculty of Law]] to the [[Faculty of Medicine]]. He was succeeded in 1832 by [[Thomas Stewart Traill (1781-1862)]]. In turn he was succeeded, in 1862, by [[Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan (1812-1900)]].

Henry Duncan Littlejohn was appointed to the then Chair of Forensic Medicine and Public Health in 1897. However the University established a separate Chair in [[Public Health]] the following year, that element was removed from Littlejohn's immediate remit and became the responsibility of [[Charles Hunter Stewart (1854-1924)]], the first Professor of Public Health. The Institute of Public Health was established 3 years later. In 1906, [[Henry Harvey Littlejohn (1862-1927)]] succeeded his father, holding the post until his death in 1927. In 1906 he also became Police Surgeon in Edinburgh.

The next incumbent was [[Sir Sydney Alfred Smith (1883-1969)]], who had previously been an assistant under Henry Harvey Littlejohn and also frequently acted as a medical expert in court. He succeeded in 1928 and held the post until 1953 when he was was succeeded by [[Douglas James Ashworth Kerr (1894-1960)]]. After Kerr's death, the Chair seems to have been vacant until the appointment of [[John Kenyon French Mason (1919-2017)]] in 1973. It then fell vacant again, following Mason's retiral in 1985, until [[Anthony Busuttil]] was appointed three years later.

[[Category:Academic Units]] [[Category:Incomplete]]

Papers of Professor Charles Mackie

2017-08-11T15:19:51Z

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[[Charles Mackie (1688-1770)]] was appointed as Edinburgh University’s first Professor of [[History]] in 1719. He was sole occupant of the Chair until 1753, then served as co-Professor until retiring in 1765. His Papers (GB 237 Coll-423) consist of:

*Alphabetical biographical dictionary compiled from Bayle and Morer (Dc.8.50)
*'Annotationes in ontologiam Gerrardi de Vries' and Annotationes in pneumatologiam G. de Vries', dictates by [[William Law (d. 1729)]], Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University, taken down by Mackie when a student, 1703-1704 (Dc.7.79)
*Catalogue of Mackie's library entitled 'Libri historici, antiquarii, literatores, poetae, etc.' (Dc.8.51)
*Chronological notes of the birth and death of Mackie's children, transcript ca. 1800 (in Dc.1.47)
*Commonplace books containing chiefly notes and extracts on Roman and general history, 2 vols (also containing a list in vol. 2 of Mackie's students in History and Roman Antiquities) (Dc.5.24)
*Commonplace book on Scottish history (Dc.8.24)
*'Index funereus 29 annorum', lists of persons deceased, 1727-1756, transcript ca. 1800 (Dc.1.47)
*'Notae in Horatii Turselini Romani Historiarum epitomas', student notes from Mackie's lectures, 1743 (MS 2648)

== External Links ==

*[http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/86597 Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue]

[[Category:Archives|Papers of Professor Charles Mackie]]

Template:Mainlinks

2017-01-05T12:40:03Z

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'''Quick links:''' [[Special:Categories|Browse by Category]] :: [[Our_History:About|About the Project and Contact Us]]

Hispanic Studies

2016-09-26T11:31:13Z

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Hispanic Studies have been been taught at Edinburgh University since 1919/1920. In 1920, [[Leslie Bannister Walton (1895-1960)]] was appointed Forbes Lecturer in Spanish. In 1938 he became Reader in Spanish, remaining in post until his death in 1960. In 1947 the Department of Spanish became the Department of Hispanic Studies with the appointment of [[Margaret Crosland (d. 2006)]] as Forbes Lecturer in Hispanic Studies. Crosland became Senior Lecturer in 1962 and remained with the department until her retirement in 1980. The Forbes Chair of Spanish was created in 1962 with [[Alexander Augustine Parker (1908-1989)]] as the first appointee. In 1999 the Chair of Spanish was renamed the Chair of Hispanic Studies.

== Professors of Spanish/Hispanic Studies ==

*1963-1969: [[Alexander Augustine Parker (1908-1989)]]
*1969-1989: [[Edward Calverley Riley (1923-2001)]]
*1990-2004: [[Edwin Williamson]]
*2004- : [[Jeremy Robbins (1965- )]]

== Portuguese ==

Hispanic Studies at Edinburgh University cover not only Spanish and Latin American Studies, but Portuguese and Lusitanian language and culture. A lectureship in Portuguese has existed since 1988 when [[David G. Frier]] became the first appointee to the post.

[[Category: Academic Units]][[Category: Incomplete]]

Engineering

2016-08-19T14:26:00Z

GButtars:

[[George Wilson (1818-1859)]] was appointed to a new Regius Chair of Technology within the [[Faculty of Arts]] in 1855. At the same time he was appointed as the first Director of the Industrial Museum of Scotland (now part of the National Museum of Scotland). The Chair of Technology was abolished on Wilson's death in 1859. However, the growing importance of engineering studies saw an endowment by Dundee industrialist [[Sir David Baxter of Kilmaron (1793–1872)]], towards a Regius Chair of Engineering. [[Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin (1833–1885)]] was appointed as first professor, having previously held the equivalent post at University College, London.

His successor, in 1885, was [[George Frederick Armstrong (1842-1900)]], a specialist in railway engineering from Yorkshire. The Fulton Engineering Laboratory was established in 1889 as a place for both instruction and analysis of materials. Armstrong died in 1900 and was succeeded by [[Sir Thomas Hudson Beare (1859-1940)]]. Under 'Huddy', the Engineering Department grow from a tiny one in [[Old College]] basement to over a hundred occupying what the [[Edinburgh University Journal]] called "one of the best planned and equipped engineering schools in the Empire". These were the new engineering facilities at the university's [[King's Buildings]], which had been opened in 1935.

In 1946 Ronald Arnold, a Glasgow-born specialist in structural analysis and gyrodynamics, was appointed from Swansea University as the fourth Regius Professor of Engineering. Arnold pioneered in 1960 the division of the unitary department of engineering into separate departments of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.

Following the untimely death of Arnold in 1963, Leslie Jaeger was appointed fifth Regius Professor, from Magdalene College, Cambridge. Jaeger’s appointment was brief, leaving after only four years to take up the Chair of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics at McGill University (coincidentally, the Chair that a previous Regius Professor, George Armstrong, had held much earlier).

James King, former Chief Scientist in the Naval Construction Research Establishment at Rosyth, became the sixth Regius Professor in 1968, and on his retirement in 1983 the seventh holder of the Chair was Joseph McGeough, who was appointed from the University of Aberdeen to expand the Edinburgh research activities in electro-chemical machining.

Following McGeough's retiral in 2005, the university appointed, in 2007, Peter Grant as the eighth Regius Professor of Engineering, from within the enlarged 26-strong body of professors in the newly merged School of Engineering. Grant had previously led the signal processing research at Edinburgh, with achievements in the design of adaptive filters and mobile communication receivers. He was President of EURASIP, the European Association for Signal Processing from 2000–02 and recipient of the 2004 IEE Faraday medal. In 2008 he was awarded an OBE.

In 2013 Jason Reese was appointed the ninth Regius Professor of Engineering. With a background in physics and applied mathematics, his research focuses on multiscale flow systems in which the molecular nature of the fluid determines the overall fluid dynamics.

== Regius Professors of Engineering ==

[[Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin (1833–1885)]]

[[George Frederick Armstrong (1842-1900)]], 1885-

[[Sir Thomas Hudson Beare (1859-1940)]], 1901-

[[Ronald Nathan Arnold (1908-1963)]], 1946-1963

[[Leslie Gordon Jaeger (1926-1913)]], 1965-1968

[[James Lawrence King (1922-c1995)]], 1968-1983

[[Joseph Anthony McGeough (1940-)]], 1983-2013

[[Jason Reese]], 2013-

[[Category:Academic Units]] [[Category:Incomplete]]

Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935

2016-08-10T14:24:15Z

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[[File:Trotsig.jpg|right|border|thumb|300px|Trotsky's signature]]
In 1935 [[Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]] was invited by Edinburgh University students to become a candidate in the [[Rector|Rectorial]] election that year.

The letter, in French, is addressed to 'Aux Etudiants de l'Universite de Edimbourg', and begins 'Chers Messieurs, Je vous suis bien reconnaissant pour votre proposition si innatendue et si flatteuse: de poser ma candidature pour le Rectorat de votre Universite...' The letter is dated 'le 7 juin 1935', and was sent to [[Reginald Nathaniel Levitt|Mr. R. N. Levitt]], Edinburgh.

The gist of the letter is that Trotsky was unable to accept the invitation to stand in the election. His own translation of the letter is as follows:

<blockquote>I am very grateful to you for your unexpected and flattering proposal to enter my candidacy for the office of Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. The freedom from nationalistic considerations which is revealed in this offer does great honour to the spirit of the Edinburgh students. I appreciate your confidence all the more since, in your own words, you are not daunted by the refusal of the British Government to grant me a visa. However, I do not consider myself entitled to accept your offer. The election of the Lord Rector takes place, as you say, on an apolitical basis, and your letter is signed by representatives of all shades of political opinion. But I myself occupy too definite a political position: all my active life since my youth has been devoted to the revolutionary liberation of the proletariat from the yoke of capital. I have no other claim to occupy any responsible position, I would thus consider it treasonable to the working class and disloyal to you to appear in any public sphere under any but the Bolshevik banner. I do not doubt that you will find a candidate much better suited to the traditions of your university. I wish you success in your enterprises with all my heart and remain gratefully.</blockquote>

The letter is signed with a flourished though faded 'L. Trotsky'.

== Sources ==

Trotsky’s Diary in Exile, 1935 (Faber & Faber, 1958)

== Links ==

[http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/454 Full Catalogue Record]

[[Category:Archives]]

Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935

2016-08-10T14:23:53Z

GButtars:

[[File:Trotsig.jpg|right|border|thumb|300px|Trotsky's signature]]
In 1935 [[Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]] was invited by Edinburgh University students to become a candidate in the [[Rector|Rectorial]] election that year.

The letter, in French, is addressed to 'Aux Etudiants de l'Universite de Edimbourg', and begins 'Chers Messieurs, Je vous suis bien reconnaissant pour votre proposition si innatendue et si flatteuse: de poser ma candidature pour le Rectorat de votre Universite...' The letter is dated 'le 7 juin 1935', and was sent to [[Reginald Nathaniel Levitt|Mr. R. N. Levitt]], Edinburgh.

The gist of the letter is that Trotsky was unable to accept the invitation to stand in the election.

His own translation of the letter is as follows:

<blockquote>I am very grateful to you for your unexpected and flattering proposal to enter my candidacy for the office of Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. The freedom from nationalistic considerations which is revealed in this offer does great honour to the spirit of the Edinburgh students. I appreciate your confidence all the more since, in your own words, you are not daunted by the refusal of the British Government to grant me a visa. However, I do not consider myself entitled to accept your offer. The election of the Lord Rector takes place, as you say, on an apolitical basis, and your letter is signed by representatives of all shades of political opinion. But I myself occupy too definite a political position: all my active life since my youth has been devoted to the revolutionary liberation of the proletariat from the yoke of capital. I have no other claim to occupy any responsible position, I would thus consider it treasonable to the working class and disloyal to you to appear in any public sphere under any but the Bolshevik banner. I do not doubt that you will find a candidate much better suited to the traditions of your university. I wish you success in your enterprises with all my heart and remain gratefully.</blockquote>

The letter is signed with a flourished though faded 'L. Trotsky'.

== Sources ==

Trotsky’s Diary in Exile, 1935 (Faber & Faber, 1958)

== Links ==

[http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/454 Full Catalogue Record]

[[Category:Archives]]

Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935

2016-08-10T14:23:14Z

GButtars:

[[File:Trotsig.jpg|right|border|thumb|300px|Trotsky's signature]]
In 1935 [[Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]] was invited by Edinburgh University students to become a candidate in the [[Rector|Rectorial]] election that year.

The letter, in French, is addressed to 'Aux Etudiants de l'Universite de Edimbourg', and begins 'Chers Messieurs, Je vous suis bien reconnaissant pour votre proposition si innatendue et si flatteuse: de poser ma candidature pour le Rectorat de votre Universite...' The letter is dated 'le 7 juin 1935', and was sent to [[Reginald Nathaniel Levitt|Mr. R. N. Levitt]], Edinburgh.

The gist of the letter is that Trotsky was unable to accept the invitation to stand in the election.

His own translation of the letter is as follows:

<blockquote>I am very grateful to you for your unexpected and flattering proposal to enter my candidacy for the office of Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. The freedom from nationalistic considerations which is revealed in this offer does great honour to the spirit of the Edinburgh students. I appreciate your confidence all the more since, in your own words, you are not daunted by the refusal of the British Government to grant me a visa. However, I do not consider myself entitled to accept your offer. The election of the Lord Rector takes place, as you say, on an apolitical basis, and your letter is signed by representatives of all shades of political opinion. But I myself occupy too definite a political position: all my active life since my youth has been devoted to the revolutionary liberation of the proletariat from the yoke of capital. I have no other claim to occupy any responsible position, I would thus consider it treasonable to the working class and disloyal to you to appear in any public sphere under any but the Bolshevik banner. I do not doubt that you will find a candidate much better suited to the traditions of your university. I wish you success in your enterprises with all my heart and remain gratefully.</blockquote>

The letter is signed with a flourished though faded 'L. Trotsky'.

== Links ==

[http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/454 Full Catalogue Record]

[[Category:Archives]]

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

2016-08-10T14:23:03Z

GButtars:

Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935

2016-08-10T14:22:41Z

GButtars:

In 1935 [[Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]] was invited by Edinburgh University students to become a candidate in the [[Rector|Rectorial]] election that year.

The letter, in French, is addressed to 'Aux Etudiants de l'Universite de Edimbourg', and begins 'Chers Messieurs, Je vous suis bien reconnaissant pour votre proposition si innatendue et si flatteuse: de poser ma candidature pour le Rectorat de votre Universite...' The letter is dated 'le 7 juin 1935', and was sent to [[Reginald Nathaniel Levitt|Mr. R. N. Levitt]], Edinburgh.

The gist of the letter is that Trotsky was unable to accept the invitation to stand in the election.

His own translation of the letter is as follows:

<blockquote>I am very grateful to you for your unexpected and flattering proposal to enter my candidacy for the office of Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. The freedom from nationalistic considerations which is revealed in this offer does great honour to the spirit of the Edinburgh students. I appreciate your confidence all the more since, in your own words, you are not daunted by the refusal of the British Government to grant me a visa. However, I do not consider myself entitled to accept your offer. The election of the Lord Rector takes place, as you say, on an apolitical basis, and your letter is signed by representatives of all shades of political opinion. But I myself occupy too definite a political position: all my active life since my youth has been devoted to the revolutionary liberation of the proletariat from the yoke of capital. I have no other claim to occupy any responsible position, I would thus consider it treasonable to the working class and disloyal to you to appear in any public sphere under any but the Bolshevik banner. I do not doubt that you will find a candidate much better suited to the traditions of your university. I wish you success in your enterprises with all my heart and remain gratefully.</blockquote>

The letter is signed with a flourished though faded 'L. Trotsky'.

== Links ==

[http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/454 Full Catalogue Record]

[[Category:Archives]]

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

2016-08-10T14:22:12Z

GButtars:

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

2016-08-05T15:21:36Z

GButtars:

[[File:Trotsig.jpg|right|border|thumb|300px|Trotsky's signature]]
Leon Trotsky (Len Davidovitch Bornstein), 1879-1940, Russian revolutionary and co-architect of the Russian Revolution, has an interesting ''what if'' connection with the University of Edinburgh. He was invited to stand for election as [[Rector]] in 1935 by [[Reginald Nathaniel Levitt]] on behalf of a group of students 'of all shades of political opinion'. Though honoured, he felt compelled to decline the invitation.

His own translation of the letter is as follows:

<blockquote>I am very grateful to you for your unexpected and flattering proposal to enter my candidacy for the office of Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. The freedom from nationalistic considerations which is revealed in this offer does great honour to the spirit of the Edinburgh students. I appreciate your confidence all the more since, in your own words, you are not daunted by the refusal of the British Government to grant me a visa. However, I do not consider myself entitled to accept your offer. The election of the Lord Rector takes place, as you say, on an apolitical basis, and your letter is signed by representatives of all shades of political opinion. But I myself occupy too definite a political position: all my active life since my youth has been devoted to the revolutionary liberation of the proletariat from the yoke of capital. I have no other claim to occupy any responsible position, I would thus consider it treasonable to the working class and disloyal to you to appear in any public sphere under any but the Bolshevik banner. I do not doubt that you will find a candidate much better suited to the traditions of your university. I wish you success in your enterprises with all my heart and remain gratefully.</blockquote>

This was the same year that [[Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)]] was invited but also declined to stand. It was [[Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby (1861-1936)|Viscount Allenby of Megiddo]] who went on to become the Edinburgh University Rector in 1935, though he died very suddenly in London the following year from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm - on 14 May 1936. [[Sir Herbert John Clifford Grierson (1866-1960)|Sir Herbert Grierson]] was elected in the ensuing [[Rectorial Election, 1936|Rectorial Election]].

Trotsky had been exiled from Russia in 1929 and his reply to Levitt was written less than a fortnight before he left France, after two years there, to begin a year and a half in Norway. Just a year after the invitation from Edinburgh students, Trotsky settled in Mexico. On 20 August 1940, acting on the orders of Stalin, Ramon Mercader attacked Trotsky with an ice pick and he died the next day.

== Sources ==

Trotsky’s Diary in Exile, 1935 (Faber & Faber, 1958)

== Archives ==

*[[Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935]]

[[Category:Rectors|Trotsky, Leon]]

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

2016-08-05T15:21:17Z

GButtars:

[[File:Trotsig.jpg|right|border|thumb|300px|Trotsy's signature]]
Leon Trotsky (Len Davidovitch Bornstein), 1879-1940, Russian revolutionary and co-architect of the Russian Revolution, has an interesting ''what if'' connection with the University of Edinburgh. He was invited to stand for election as [[Rector]] in 1935 by [[Reginald Nathaniel Levitt]] on behalf of a group of students 'of all shades of political opinion'. Though honoured, he felt compelled to decline the invitation.

His own translation of the letter is as follows:

<blockquote>I am very grateful to you for your unexpected and flattering proposal to enter my candidacy for the office of Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. The freedom from nationalistic considerations which is revealed in this offer does great honour to the spirit of the Edinburgh students. I appreciate your confidence all the more since, in your own words, you are not daunted by the refusal of the British Government to grant me a visa. However, I do not consider myself entitled to accept your offer. The election of the Lord Rector takes place, as you say, on an apolitical basis, and your letter is signed by representatives of all shades of political opinion. But I myself occupy too definite a political position: all my active life since my youth has been devoted to the revolutionary liberation of the proletariat from the yoke of capital. I have no other claim to occupy any responsible position, I would thus consider it treasonable to the working class and disloyal to you to appear in any public sphere under any but the Bolshevik banner. I do not doubt that you will find a candidate much better suited to the traditions of your university. I wish you success in your enterprises with all my heart and remain gratefully.</blockquote>

This was the same year that [[Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)]] was invited but also declined to stand. It was [[Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby (1861-1936)|Viscount Allenby of Megiddo]] who went on to become the Edinburgh University Rector in 1935, though he died very suddenly in London the following year from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm - on 14 May 1936. [[Sir Herbert John Clifford Grierson (1866-1960)|Sir Herbert Grierson]] was elected in the ensuing [[Rectorial Election, 1936|Rectorial Election]].

Trotsky had been exiled from Russia in 1929 and his reply to Levitt was written less than a fortnight before he left France, after two years there, to begin a year and a half in Norway. Just a year after the invitation from Edinburgh students, Trotsky settled in Mexico. On 20 August 1940, acting on the orders of Stalin, Ramon Mercader attacked Trotsky with an ice pick and he died the next day.

== Sources ==

Trotsky’s Diary in Exile, 1935 (Faber & Faber, 1958)

== Archives ==

*[[Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935]]

[[Category:Rectors|Trotsky, Leon]]

File:Trotsig.jpg

2016-08-05T15:20:00Z

GButtars:

Reginald Nathaniel Levitt

2016-08-05T15:00:29Z

GButtars:

Born in Edinburgh in 1913, the son of Henry J. Levitt, J.P., proprietor of Woodhouse Furniture Stores, Reginald Nathaniel Levitt was educated at Edinburgh Academy, 1921-32. Part of a well-known Edinburgh Jewish family (his father oversaw the building of Edinburgh's Synagogue), he went on to study at Oxford for one year before returning to Edinburgh to study at the University. He first matriculated in session 1933/34 and graduated MA (1937) and LLB (1939). He was also a member of the Fencing Club and its Captain, 1938-39.

In 1935, he wrote to [[Leon_Trotsky_(1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]], inviting him to stand as [[Rector]]. Trotsky declined.

After graduation, Levitt served in the Royal Army Service Corps during WW2. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the MBE. In 1963, he was appointed Honorary Colonel in the R.A.S.C. (Territorial Army). From 1962-66, he was convener of the pensions committee of the Royal British Legion, Scotland and he served as its Chairman 1968-71, for which service he received the OBE. He was Honorary Colonel Comandant of the Royal Corps of Transport, 1974-78.

From 1951, he served as Sheriff Substitute of Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney and Zetland at Wick and, from 1955, as Sheriff Substitute of Ayr and Bute at Kilmarnock.

In 1947, he married Sheila Oppenheim, whose brother, Meyer, was married to his sister Violet. He died in Ayr on 11 December 1982, following a long illness.

== Sources ==
Obituary, [[University of Edinburgh Journal]] (June 1983)

The Scotsman (newspaper), 19 Feb 1936 and 7 Aug 1947

[[Category:Alumni|Levitt, Reginald Nathaniel]]

Reginald Nathaniel Levitt

2016-08-04T08:20:45Z

GButtars:

Born in Edinburgh in 1913, the son of Henry J. Levitt, J.P., proprietor of Woodhouse Furniture Stores, Reginald Nathaniel Levitt was educated at Edinburgh Academy, 1921-32. Part of a well-known Edinburgh Jewish family (his father oversaw the building of Edinburgh's Synagogue), he went on to study at Oxford for one year before returning to Edinburgh to study at the University. He first matriculated in session 1933/34 and graduated MA (1937) and LLB (1939). He was also a member of the Fencing Club and its Captain, 1938-39.

In 1935, he wrote to [[Leon_Trotsky_(1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]], inviting him to stand as [[Rector]]. Trotsky declined.

After graduation, Levitt served in the Royal Army Service Corps during WW2. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the MBE. In 1963, he was appointed Honorary Colonel in the R.A.S.C. (Territorial Army). From 1962-66, he was convener of the pensions committee of the Royal British Legion, Scotland and he served as its Chairman 1968-71, for which service he received the OBE. He was Honorary Colonel Comandant of the Royal Corps of Transport, 1974-78.

From 1951, he served as Sheriff Substitute of Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney and Zetland at Wick and, from 1955, as Sheriff Substitute of Ayr and Bute at Kilmarnock.

In 1947, he married Sheila Oppenheim, whose brother was married to his sister Violet. He died in Ayr on 11 December 1982, following a long illness.

== Sources ==
Obituary, [[University of Edinburgh Journal]] (June 1983)

The Scotsman (newspaper), 19 Feb 1936 and 7 Aug 1947

[[Category:Alumni|Levitt, Reginald Nathaniel]]

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

2016-08-01T13:36:21Z

GButtars:

Leon Trotsky (Len Davidovitch Bornstein), 1879-1940, Russian revolutionary and co-architect of the Russian Revolution, has an interesting ''what if'' connection with the University of Edinburgh. He was invited to stand for election as [[Rector]] in 1935 by [[Reginald Nathaniel Levitt]] on behalf of a group of students 'of all shades of political opinion'. Though honoured, he felt compelled to decline the invitation.

His own translation of the letter is as follows:

<blockquote>I am very grateful to you for your unexpected and flattering proposal to enter my candidacy for the office of Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh. The freedom from nationalistic considerations which is revealed in this offer does great honour to the spirit of the Edinburgh students. I appreciate your confidence all the more since, in your own words, you are not daunted by the refusal of the British Government to grant me a visa. However, I do not consider myself entitled to accept your offer. The election of the Lord Rector takes place, as you say, on an apolitical basis, and your letter is signed by representatives of all shades of political opinion. But I myself occupy too definite a political position: all my active life since my youth has been devoted to the revolutionary liberation of the proletariat from the yoke of capital. I have no other claim to occupy any responsible position, I would thus consider it treasonable to the working class and disloyal to you to appear in any public sphere under any but the Bolshevik banner. I do not doubt that you will find a candidate much better suited to the traditions of your university. I wish you success in your enterprises with all my heart and remain gratefully.</blockquote>

This was the same year that [[Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)]] was invited but also declined to stand. It was [[Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby (1861-1936)|Viscount Allenby of Megiddo]] who went on to become the Edinburgh University Rector in 1935, though he died very suddenly in London the following year from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm - on 14 May 1936. [[Sir Herbert John Clifford Grierson (1866-1960)|Sir Herbert Grierson]] was elected in the ensuing [[Rectorial Election, 1936|Rectorial Election]].

Trotsky had been exiled from Russia in 1929 and his reply to Levitt was written less than a fortnight before he left France, after two years there, to begin a year and a half in Norway. Just a year after the invitation from Edinburgh students, Trotsky settled in Mexico. On 20 August 1940, acting on the orders of Stalin, Ramon Mercader attacked Trotsky with an ice pick and he died the next day.

== Sources ==

Trotsky’s Diary in Exile, 1935 (Faber & Faber, 1958)

== Archives ==

*[[Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935]]

[[Category:Rectors|Trotsky, Leon]]

David Mather Masson (1822-1907)

2016-08-01T13:30:01Z

GButtars:

David Mather Masson (1822-1907) was Regius Professor of [[English Literature|Rhetoric and Belles Lettres]] (English Literature) at Edinburgh University from 1865 to 1895.

== Biography ==

Masson was born in Aberdeen in 1822. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, then studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he graduated with degree of MA in 1839. He went to Edinburgh University to study Divinity with the intention of entering the Church, but gave up his studies. Masson embarked upon a literary career, first in Aberdeen, later in Edinburgh and London. He became Professor of English Literature at University College, London, in 1853, a post which he held for twelve years.

In 1865, he was elected to the Regius Chair of Rhetoric and English Literature at Edinburgh University, holding the chair until his resignation in 1895. While at Edinburgh University, Masson took a prominent part in the fight for the university education of women and he was the first professor to lecture to classes organised by the Edinburgh Ladies' Educational Association (later the [[Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women]]). [[Masson Hall of Residence]], the first residential accommodation for female students, was named in his honour.

Masson's publications include ''British Novelists and their Styles'' (1859), the multi-volume ''The Life of John Milton'' (1859-1894), and a biography of [[William Drummond of Hawthornden]] (1873). In 1893, he was appointed Historiographer Royal for Scotland.
[[Category:Academics|Masson, David]]

Reginald Nathaniel Levitt

2016-08-01T10:46:14Z

GButtars:

Born in Edinburgh in 1913, the son of Henry J. Levitt, J.P., proprietor of Woodhouse Furniture Stores, Reginald Nathaniel Levitt was educated at Edinburgh Academy, 1921-32. He went on to study at Oxford for one year before returning to Edinburgh to study at the University. He first matriculated in session 1933/34 and graduated MA (1937) and LLB (1939). He was also a member of the Fencing Club and its Captain, 1938-39.

In 1935, he wrote to [[Leon_Trotsky_(1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]], inviting him to stand as [[Rector]]. Trotsky declined.

After graduation, Levitt served in the Royal Army Service Corps during WW2. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the MBE. In 1963, he was appointed Honorary Colonel in the R.A.S.C. (Territorial Army). From 1962-66, he was convener of the pensions committee of the Royal British Legion, Scotland and he served as its Chairman 1968-71, for which service he received the OBE. He was Honorary Colonel Comandant of the Royal Corps of Transport, 1974-78.

From 1951, he served as Sheriff Substitute of Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney and Zetland at Wick and, from 1955, as Sheriff Substitute of Ayr and Bute at Kilmarnock.

In 1947, he married Sheila Oppenheim, whose brother was married to his sister Violet. He died in Ayr on 11 December 1982, following a long illness.

== Sources ==
Obituary, [[University of Edinburgh Journal]] (June 1983)

The Scotsman (newspaper), 19 Feb 1936 and 7 Aug 1947

[[Category:Alumni|Levitt, Reginald Nathaniel]]

Reginald Nathaniel Levitt

2016-08-01T10:45:11Z

GButtars:

Reginald Nathaniel Levitt

2016-08-01T07:26:23Z

GButtars:

Born in Edinburgh in 1913, the son of Henry J. Levitt, J.P., proprietor of Woodhouse Furniture Stores, Reginald Nathaniel Levitt was educated at Edinburgh Academy, 1921-32. He went on to study at Oxford for one year before returning to Edinburgh to study at the University. He first matriculated in session 1933/34 and graduated MA (1937) and LLB (1939). He was also a member of the Fencing Club and its Captain, 1938-39.

In 1935, he wrote to [[Leon_Trotsky_(1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]], inviting him to stand as [[Rector]]. Trotsky declined.

After graduation, Levitt served in the Royal Army Service Corps during WW2. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the MBE. In 1963, he was appointed Honorary Colonel in the R.A.S.C. (Territorial Army). From 1962-66, he was convener of the pensions committee of the Royal British Legion, Scotland and he served as its Chairman 1968-71, for which service he received the OBE. He was Honorary Colonel Comandant of the Royal Corps of Transport, 1974-78.

From 1951, he served as Sheriff Substitute of Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney and Zetland at Wick and, from 1955, as Sheriff Substitute of Ayr and Bute at Kilmarnock. He died in Ayr on 11 December 1982, following a long illness.

== Sources ==
Obituary, [[University of Edinburgh Journal]] (June 1983)

[[Category:Alumni|Levitt, Reginald Nathaniel]]

Reginald Nathaniel Levitt

2016-07-30T09:21:49Z

GButtars:

Born in Edinburgh in 1913, the son of Henry J. Levitt, J.P., proprietor of Woodhouse Furniture Stores, Reginald Nathaniel Levitt was educated at Edinburgh Academy, 1921-32. He went on to study at Oxford for one year before returning to Edinburgh to study at the University. He first matriculated in session 1933/34 and graduated MA (1937) and LLB (1939).

In 1935, he wrote to [[Leon_Trotsky_(1879-1940)|Leon Trotsky]], inviting him to stand as [[Rector]]. Trotsky declined.

After graduation, Levitt served in the Royal Army Service Corps during WW2. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the MBE. In 1963, he was appointed Honorary Colonel in the R.A.S.C. (Territorial Army). From 1962-66, he was convener of the pensions committee of the Royal British Legion, Scotland and he served as its Chairman 1968-71, for which service he received the OBE. He was Honorary Colonel Comandant of the Royal Corps of Transport, 1974-78.

From 1951, he served as Sheriff Substitute of Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney and Zetland at Wick and, from 1955, as Sheriff Substitute of Ayr and Bute at Kilmarnock. He died in Ayr on 11 December 1982, following a long illness.

== Sources ==
Obituary, [[University of Edinburgh Journal]] (June 1983)

[[Category:Alumni|Levitt, Reginald Nathaniel]]

Brenda Elizabeth Moon (1931-2011)

2016-07-30T08:21:30Z

GButtars:

[[File:0028529c.jpg |border | 300 px | right | thumb | Brenda Elizabeth Moon (1931-2011), First female Librarian of [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]], photograph by Mary Moon]]Brenda Elizabeth Moon was Edinburgh University's first female University Librarian, serving from 1980 to 1996, and playing a pioneering role in bringing [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]] into the digital age.

== Beginnings ==

Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, and educated in Birmingham, Moon read classics at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Before coming to Edinburgh, she worked in the university libraries of Sheffield (1955-1962) and Hull (1962-1979) (where she served as Deputy under Philip Larkin).

== Edinburgh University ==

Moon brought to the role a clear vision of the transformative effect that digitisation would have on libraries. On arriving at Edinburgh she persuaded the university to accelerate its automation programme, and Edinburgh thus became one of the first university libraries to network a version of its online catalogue. Moon also recognized the importance of national and international collaboration between libraries in an increasingly globalized research and teaching environment. She ensured that Edinburgh University played a major role in library co-operative networks and was a co-founder of CURL (Consortium of University Research Libraries, now RLUK). Moon laid particular emphasis on building up archives and special collections and expanding the library's collections to include museum objects and art works. Major collections that she brought to Edinburgh University include the papers of modern Scottish writers such as [[George Mackay Brown (1921-1996)|George Mackay Brown]], [[Norman MacCaig (1910-1996)|Norman MacCaig]], and [[Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978)|Hugh MacDiarmid]], the Papers of [[Arthur Koestler (1905-1983)|Arthur Koestler]], and the [[James Clarkson Corson (1905-1988)|Corson Collection]] of Sir Walter Scott Materials.

== Research ==

Moon, a keen traveller herself, had a lifelong research interest in women travellers. While working at Edinburgh, she gained a MPhil (Leeds University) with a thesis on Marianne North. After retiring, she attained a PhD (Hull) with a thesis on Amelia B. Edwards which was subsequently published as a book, ''Usefully Employed: Amelia B Edwards, Writer, Traveller, and Campaigner for Ancient Egypt'' (2006). Moon was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and was curator of the RSE from 2002 to 2005.

== Sources ==

*Sheila Cannell, 'Brenda Moon: University Librarian Who Had a Clear Vision of the Transformative Effects of Digitisation', ''The Independen''t, 5 April 2011 [[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/brenda-moon-university-librarian-who-had-a-clear-vision-of-the-transformative-effects-of-digitisation-2262368.html], accessed 2 September 2014]]
*Peter B. Freshwater, 'Brenda Elizabeth Moon MA MPhil PhD FRSE Librarian to the University 1980-1996: An Appreciation', ''University of Edinburgh Journal'', XLV, no. 1 (June 2011), p. 7.
*Derek Law, 'Brenda Moon Obituary', ''The Guardian'', 31 March 2011 [[http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/31/brenda-moon-obituary], accessed 2 September 2014]]

[[Category:Support Staff|Moon, Brenda Elizabeth (1931-2001)]][[Category:Librarians|Moon, Brenda Elizabeth (1931-2001)]]