Commerce

The seeds of the Department of Commerce were sown during the First World War. At the end of 1916, the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce approached the University with the proposal that a degree course be set up to meet the commercial challenges facing the country at war's end. They argued that 'a co-ordination of energy and intelligence' would be required to maintain Britain's position on the world stage. The suggestion was taken up and, a little over a year later, the Senatus Academicus passed Ordinance 22 instituting the Degree of Bachelor of Commerce, which came into operation in the academic year 1918-1919. Lectureships in Accounting and Business Method and Organisation of Industry and Commerce were instituted in the Faculty of Arts, endowed by subscriptions from members of the Edinburgh and Leith Chambers of Commerce, from the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, the Leith Shipowners, the Accountants' Society, and the Bankers Institute. These were made into Chairs in 1919 and 1925 respectively.

Sources

• Alexander Falconer Giles, 'The Faculty of Arts', in History of the University of Edinburgh 1883-1933, ed. A. Logan Turner (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1933), pp. 164-238.