Harold Frost, psychic researcher and verger, was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1895; during the First World War, he served with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, before being gazetted to the 7th Suffolk Regiment and serving at the Somme, France and in Belgium; during the 1920s and 1930s, Frost became interested in psychic research and investigated and worked with various medium circles in Essex and other areas; medical clerk to the Chairman of Colchester Medical Board of the Ministry of Labour, 1939, later being transferred to Ministry of Food Headquarters Office, Colwyn Bay for licensing of firms in animal feeding stuffs; transferred to Chelmsford Essex Divisional Food Office as Salvage Officer for Essex and Hertfordshire areas, 1942, and once again to the Ministry of Supply, carrying out testing at Springfield Uranium Factory, Lancashire; moved to Dacca, East Pakistan and worked as a General Manager of Zeenat Printing Works and in public relations, 1955-1961; returned to England in 1962, joining the Sue Ryder organisation and carried out general duties and nursing; served as a verger in Banbury from the 1960s to his death in 1975.
John Burns was born in Lambeth in 1858; trained as an engineer and became active in the labour movement and local politics; leader of the London dock strike of 1889; elected to London County Council on its inception in 1889, remaining in office until 1907; also served as MP for Battersea (1892-1918) and was president of the Local Government Board (1905-1913) and the Board of Trade (1914); resigned from the Cabinet in protest at the British decision to declare war in August 1914; died 1943.
Biographical information on James Butcher was unavailable when this finding aid was produced.
No biographical information was available at the time this finding aid was compiled.
William Harbutt Dawson was an authority on Germany, especially on the social reforms in that country; the Liberal government employed him as an investigator at the Board of Trade, 1906, and he contributed to the Labour Exchange Act and the National Insurance Act in that capacity; his book The Evolution of Modern Germany was published in 1908 and reprinted five times before the First World War; he was a member of the British peace delegation at Versailles and argued unsuccessfully that Germany be able to keep its colonies.
The Forth Bridge Railway Company was set up in 1873 with the aim of building a bridge across the Firth of Forth at Queensferry, thereby extending the Scottish railway system north from Edinburgh. The Forth Bridge Railway Company (though it was part of the LNER network) legally survived in name until it was absorbed by the British Transport Commission in 1948 in the aftermath of the nationalisation of the railways.
Ted Crawford, a leading member of Socialist Platform Limited, has been a scholar and Trotskyist activist as well as a member of the Revolutionary History editorial board.
John Loudon McAdam was born in Ayr in 1756. He became famous as a road builder, in particular for his seminal book Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1816). McAdam was so influential that his surname has entered the English language as 'tarmacadam' and 'tarmac', a synonym for the tarred road surface he invented.
St Peter's was a Church of England Sunday School in the East End of London.
The Independent Order of Rechabites was a friendly society, which was founded in Salford in 1835. The Order was part of the temperance movement. The name of the Order was inspired by the Rechabites, who feature in the 35th Chapter of Jeremiah. The founders of the Order were concerned that many friendly societies met in public houses and their members were therefore vulnerable to the temptations of alcohol. The Order spread around the world: there were branches in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and India. Branches were known as "tents" and presided over by High Chief Rulers, who were assisted by Inside and Outside Guardians, a Levite of the Tent and a group of Elders. Before joining the Order, a prospective member had to sign a pledge that they and their family would abstain from alcohol. The Order is now known as Healthy Investment. Until July 2003, membership of the Society was exclusively for teetotallers but members may now join if they have a healthy lifestyle.
The Ancient Order of Foresters was founded in 1834 although it originated as the Royal Foresters in the previous century. The order is a friendly society devoted to assisting members in need. It expanded rapidly and reached Canada, the United States, South Africa, the West Indies, Australia and New Zealand: "courts" were branches. The primary court was in Leeds. The Foresters Friendly Society continues its work to this day.
David Barry was born in the vicinity of Rochester, New York. He and his family moved in 1861 to Wisconsin. Barry was employed by the internant photographer O.S. Goff and joined him at his gallery in Bismarck. Between 1878-1883, Barry travelled around Dakota territory. He used a portable photographic studio to take portaits of famous Native American chiefs, women, scouts and warriors. Barry also took photographs of forts and battlefields of the Plains Wars. He moved to Superior, Wisconsin in 1890 to open a photographic studio and gallery.
Geoffrey Wharton Robinson was the son of Ellen Ternan and her husband, Geoffrey Wharton Robinson. Robinson was a captain in the Lancashire Fusiliers in the years before the First World War. Previously he had served in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers before being transferred after the disbandment of the 3rd and 4th battalions. By 1913, he had retired from the army and was looking for alternative employment.
The Peace Pledge Union was founded in 1934, initially as a male-only organisation. Women joined from 1936. Members pledged to renounce war. The Peace Pledge Union has also provided for the victims of war such as Basque child refugees from the Spanish Civil War.
Herbert Palmer, 1601-1647, Church of England clergyman and college head, born at Wingham, Kent, younger son of Sir Thomas Palmer (d. 1625) of Wingham, and Margaret, daughter of Herbert Pelham, esquire, of Crawley, Sussex; Sir Thomas Palmer (1540/41-1626) was his grandfather. From an early age he demonstrated an aptitude for study and a religious disposition, maintaining the ambition to become a clergyman; in 1616 he was admitted as a fellow-commoner to St John's College, Cambridge, graduated BA in 1619 and proceeded MA in 1622; on 17 July 1623 he was elected a fellow of Queens'; ordained in 1624 and proceeded BD in 1631; in 1626, during a visit to his brother Sir Thomas Palmer (d. 1666), Palmer preached at Canterbury Cathedral and was subsequently persuaded by Philip Delmé, the minister of the French church in Canterbury, to take up a lectureship there at St Alphege's Church; here Palmer found himself troubled by both separatists and the cathedral clergy; his lectureship was briefly suspended by the dean and archdeacon, but was reinstated by Archbishop George Abbot upon receiving a petition from the prominent citizens of Canterbury and members of the local gentry; contemporary biographer records that he was not at this time persuaded of the unlawfulnesse' of either episcopal church government or some of the ceremonies then in use, but generally opposed Laudian innovations (Life', 420); in Canterbury Palmer preached every sabbath afternoon at St Alphege and he also preached to the French congregation; instituted to the rectory of Ashwell, Hertfordshire, Feb 1632 and about the same time he was appointed as a university preacher in Cambridge, which gave him licence to preach anywhere in England; at Ashwell Palmer perfected his system of catechism, which was greatly admired and first published in 1640 under the title An Endeavour of Making the Principles of Christian Religion ... Plain and Easie; he was later involved in the drafting of the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism (1647), which was also published according to Palmer's own method after his death as A Brief and Easie Explanation of the Shorter Catechisme (1648) by John Wallis; many of Palmer's publications were aimed at making the principles of the Christian faith clear and easy to understand; in 1644, for example, he published a brief spiritual guide to fasting based on the book of Nehemiah, chapters 9 and 10, with the intention of helping the weak' and thewilling' to avoid the greate Evill of Formalitie in our solemne Humiliations' (The Soule of Fasting, or, Affections Requisite in a Day of Solemne Fasting and Humiliation, 1644, foreword). Chosen as one of the clerks of convocation for Lincoln diocese with Anthony Tuckney, 1640, and on 19 July 1642 appointed by the House of Commons as one of fifteen Tuesday lecturers at Hitchin, Hertfordshire; Appointed, 1643, to the Westminster Assembly and moved to London, leaving Ashwell in the charge of his half-brother, John Crow; collaborated with a number of other divines in writing Scripture and Reason Pleaded for Defensive Armes (1643), a tract justifying Parliament'sdefensive' war against the king, in which they argued that an open and publike resistance by armes, is the last Refuge under Heaven, of an oppressed, and endangered Nation' (p. 80); preached to both the House of Lords and the House of Commons on several occasions between 1643 and 1646; the central thrust of sermons such as The Necessity and Encouragement of Utmost Venturing for the Churches Help (1643), The Glasse of Gods Providence (1644), The Soule of Fasting (1644), and The Duty and Honour of Church Restorers (1646) was the need for further spiritual and church reforms; On 28 June 1643 he addressed the Commons on their fast day and urged them to undertake further reforms of the church especially in the matters of idolatry and the abuse of the sabbath and called for laws against clandestine marriages and drunkenness and the suppression of stage plays; in a sermon to both Houses of Parliament on 13 August 1644 he urged caution in the matter of religious toleration, and support for the recommendations of the Westminster Assembly; supported a presbyterian church settlement within limits; Lecturer at St James's, Duke Place, and later at thenew church' in the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster; one of the seven morning lecturers appointed by Parliament at Westminster Abbey; On 11 April 1644 he was appointed Master of Queens' College, Cambridge, by the Earl of Manchester; As Master Palmer donated money to the college library for books and helped to maintain poor scholars and refugee students from Germany and Hungary; died in September 1647; John Crow was his sole executor and the main beneficiary of his will; left all his history books in English, French, and Italian to his brother Sir Thomas Palmer, except for those already in the possession of Philip Delmé; ordered that his papers, apart from those that had been transcribed', should be burnt (PRO, PROB 11/203, fol. 340r); reputation as a biblical scholar; in a letter written in 1643 Robert Baillie described him asgracious and learned little Palmer' (on account of his small stature) and in a letter of 1644 as the best Catechist in England' (R. Baillie, quoted in Shaw, 1.342). Palmer's biographer commented that it was almost a miracle that a man withso weak a body as his' should be able to achieve so much, including speaking publicly for six to eight hours on the sabbath (Life', 431). So small was Palmer's frame that when he first preached to the French congregation at Canterbury an elderly Frenchwoman cried outWhat will this child say to us?'. She was overjoyed when she heard him pray and preach `with so much spiritual strength and vigour' (ibid., 421).
Cornwallis, Sir Charles (c.1555-1629), courtier and diplomat, was the second son of Sir Thomas Cornwallis (1518/19-1604), and his wife, Anne (d. 1581), daughter of Sir John Jerningham or Jernegan of Somerleyton, Suffolk. Cornwallis's father was a noted Catholic who had taken part in the coup which gave Mary I the throne, and under her was appointed a privy councillor and comptroller of the household. Despite his religion he raised both his sons as protestants; matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1566, and in 1578 he married Anne (bap. 1551, d. 1584), daughter and coheir of Thomas Fincham of Fincham, Norfolk, and widow of Richard Nicholls of Islington, Norfolk. Their union produced two sons, including Sir William Cornwallis the younger, essayist, before Anne died. In 1585 Cornwallis married Anne (d. 1617), daughter of Thomas Barrow of Barningham, Suffolk, and widow of Sir Ralph Shelton, of Shelton, Norfolk. Cornwallis pursued a life at court and he had a meteoric rise under the patronage of Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, to whom he was connected by marriage. On 11 July 1603 he was knighted. The following year he was elected MP for Norfolk, and he was allowed to retain his seat in the Commons even when, the next year, he was appointed resident ambassador to Spain. He had an uncomfortable trip to Madrid, being ill and confined to a litter for most of the journey, as well as quarrelling over precedence with the earl of Nottingham, who had been sent to Spain to ratify the 1604 peace treaty. Cornwallis's main task in Madrid was to oversee the provisions of the treaty which allowed the English to practise their religion in private and protected merchants from the harassment of the Inquisition. He was required to deal with many complaints from English merchants that their goods had been seized by the Spanish under the pretence of searching for forbidden protestant literature. While in Madrid he provided valuable intelligence on Spain for Salisbury and busied himself writing treatises on the state of the country, the history of Aragon, the structure of the Spanish court, and the wealth of the nobility (BL, Add. MSS 4149, 39853). From 1607 he petitioned to be relieved from his post, claiming poverty and harassment from English Catholic exiles. He was finally granted leave to return to England in 1609. Cornwallis resumed his place in the Commons when he returned and in 1610 was appointed treasurer of the household to Henry, prince of Wales. He was often in attendance upon Henry and found him an impressive figure, later writing A discourse of the most illustrious Prince Henry, late prince of Wales' (1641). It was rumoured in 1612 that he would be made master of the court of wards but after the deaths of Henry and Salisbury the same year he received no further court or government office. In 1613 he was appointed a commissioner to investigate the elections to the Irish parliament and while there he set down his views on the people and the nation, describing them asnaked barbarians' (BL, Add. MS 39853, fol. 2v). Upon his return to England, Cornwallis sought election to the 1614 parliament for Eye in Suffolk but before he arrived there he learned that the election had already taken place. During the parliament John Hoskins bitterly denounced the Scots and their influence over James I and, when questioned, claimed that he was echoing the views of Cornwallis, whom he had met on the road to Eye. Called before the privy council, Cornwallis denied that he had suggested Hoskins attack the Scots but his guilt was seemingly confirmed when a letter was published in London in which he asked the king for forgiveness. He was committed to the Tower and on his release in June 1615 retired to the country to live at his ancestral home, Brome Hall, Suffolk, and at Harborne, Staffordshire. His second wife died in 1617 and three years later on 29 April 1620 he married Dorothy, daughter of Richard Vaughan of Nyffryn in Llyn, Caernarvonshire, bishop of London, and widow of Bishop John Jegon of Norwich. Cornwallis died at Harborne on 21 December 1629, survived by his wife.
Arthur William Symons was born at Milford Haven on 28 February 1865. At the age of twenty-one Symons wrote his first critical work An Introduction to the Study of Browning, 1886. From 1889 Symons made frequent trips to France and became interested in its literature and art. He contributed regularly to the Athenaeum, Saturday Review and Fortnightly Review. Symons published several books of poetry including Collected Poems 1900 and The Fool of the World and other Poems 1906. In 1906 he bought Island Cottage, at Wittersham, Kent, where he died on 22 January 1945.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Augustus Désiré Waller was born in 1856 in Paris to the eminent physiologist A. V. Waller. Following in his father's footsteps, Waller went on to be elected to the Royal Society and become the Director of the Physiological Laboratory at the University of London. He held similar posts in Paris, Moscow, Rome and Belgium. He died in 1922.
Easdale spent her adult life on the margins of the London literary and musical scene. She wrote about her life in an autobiography, Middle Age, 1885-1932, published in 1935, first anonymously and then under the surname of Killin.
Details of the creator were unknown at the time of the compilation of this finding aid.
Samuel Wilderspin was the controversial self-styled founder of the Infant School System. He was born in Hornsey, North London in 1792 and was an apprentice clerk in the City before being introduced to infant education by Buchanan. He trained with Buchanan at a school in Vincent Square, London and then became master of his own school in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. From 1824 he worked for the Infant School Society and as a freelance, teaching others about his system of schooling. He ran an infant school supply depot in Cheltenham for supplying apparatus and in 1839 set up the Central Model School in Dublin which was subsequently run by Sarah Anne and Thomas Young (his daughter and son-in-law). After returning from Dublin he was heavily involved with the Mechanics' Institute movement. In 1848, having founded several hundred schools, he retired to Wakefield on a civil list pension.Wilderspin's theories on education were mainly a product of his Swedenborgian beliefs. He saw education as a life long training of the child's soul and as such approached education from social, moral and religious aspects.
Publications include:
'Early discipline illustrated; or, the infant system progressing and successful' (1832)
'The importance of educating the infant poor from the age of eighteen months to seven years' (1824)
'The infant system, for developing the intellectual and moral powers of all children, from one to seven years of age' (1834)
'Manual for the religious and moral instruction of young children' (1845) co-author with Thomas John Terrington
'On the Importance of educating the Infant Children of the Poor ... Containing also an account of the Spitalfields Infant School' (1823)
'A system for the education of the young: applied to all the faculties' (1840)
Frederic Seebohm was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, and educated in York. In 1855 he moved to Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where he lived for the rest of his life. He had begun to read for the bar at the Middle Temple whilst still living in Yorkshire and was called to the bar in 1856. In 1859 he became a partner in Sharples and Co bank, which his father-in-law had co-founded. He later became president of the Institute of Bankers. Besides being a committed Quaker and political liberal, Seebohm was strongly interested in history, particularly the medieval period and agricultural history; he wrote and published several books on historical and religious topics and his writings are still influential today.
Masefield was born in Ledbury in 1878. Having entered the Merchant Navy Masefield deserted ship in America where he drifted for some time. Returning to England he became a journalist and his interest in writing was explored, publishing several volumes of poetry before the outbreak of World War One. During the war Masefield was a member of the Red Cross and witnessed the disaster at Gallipoli, which he later wrote about in his position as head of the War Propaganda Bureau. During the twenties and thirties Masefield wrote numerous volumes of poetry which were most successful, as well as two novels and an autobiography. Masefield continued to write until his death in 1967.
Samuel Wilderspin was the controversial self-styled founder of the Infant School System. He was born in Hornsey, North London in 1792 and was an apprentice clerk in the City before being introduced to infant education by Buchanan. He trained with Buchanan at a school in Vincent Square, London and then became master of his own school in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. From 1824 he worked for the Infant School Society and as a freelance, teaching others about his system of schooling. He ran an infant school supply depot in Cheltenham for supplying apparatus and in 1839 set up the Central Model School in Dublin which was subsequently run by Sarah Anne and Thomas Young (his daughter and son-in-law). After returning from Dublin he was heavily involved with the Mechanics' Institute movement. In 1848, having founded several hundred schools, he retired to Wakefield on a civil list pension. Wilderspin's theories on education were mainly a product of his Swedenborgian beliefs. He saw education as a life long training of the child's soul and as such approached education from social, moral and religious aspects.
Publications:
Samuel Wilderspin's publications include:
'Early discipline illustrated; or, the infant system progressing and successful' (1832)
'The importance of educating the infant poor from the age of eighteen months to seven years' (1824)
'The infant system, for developing the intellectual and moral powers of all children, from one to seven years of age' (1834)
'Manual for the religious and moral instruction of young children' (1845) co-author with Thomas John Terrington
'On the Importance of educating the Infant Children of the Poor ... Containing also an account of the Spitalfields Infant School' (1823)
'A system for the education of the young: applied to all the faculties' (1840).
Born in 1771, Fellowes was educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford, where he received a BA in 1796 and an MA in 1801. He published A Picture of Christian Philosophy of Illustration of the Character of Jesus in 1798. From 1804-1811, he edited Critical Review. Fellowes wrote and lectured on politics and religion. In 1826 he gave benefactions to encourage the study of philosophy at Edinburgh University and at London University (now University College London). He died in London on 6th February 1847.
James Hogg was born in Ettrick, Selkshire, Scotland in November 1770. Having received little formal education, Hogg taught himself to read and write in his late teens. He continued to work as a labourer and shepherd for twenty five years. Between 1794-1810 Hogg wrote songs which appeared in magazines and in two small collections. Determined to make a career as a professional writer, Hogg, aged 40, moved to Edinburgh in 1810. In Edinburgh, Hogg established a weekly paper entitled, The Spy but only managed to keep it going for a year and in 1813 he decided to return to writing poetry again. He died in 1835.
James Barrie was born at Kirriemuir, Forfarshire on 9 May 1860. He received his education from, the Glasgow Academy, Dumfries Academy, 1873-1878 and Edinburgh University, 1878-1882.
He was appointed leader writer and sub-editor on the Nottingham Journal in January 1883. In March 1885, Barrie moved to London, where he wrote for many magazines including, the British Weekly.
Barrie published his first book Better Dead in November 1887 and his first play, Richard Savage, on which he collaborated with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1891. His plays were performed in theatres in London's West End. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens was published in 1906, the same year as his play, Alice by the Fire, which was produced at the Duke of York's Theatre. Barrie continued to write many plays, including Shall We Join the Ladies in 1921 and The Boy David, 1936, the last work which Barrie wrote.
He received honorary degrees from the universities of St. Andrews, 1898, Edinburgh 1909, Oxford, 1926, and Cambridge, 1930. He was appointed as Lord Rector of St Andrews University in 1919 and chancellor of Edinburgh University in 1930. He was appointed the Order of Merit in 1922. Barrie died in London on 19 June 1937.
Herbert Ernest Bates (later known to his friends and wife as 'H.E') was born in Rushton, Northamptonshire on 16 May 1905. He received his education at Kettering Grammar School and when he left at the age of sixteen he became, first, a clerk and then a provincial journalist. His first novel, The Two Sisters, was published in 1926 by Jonathan Cape after being rejected by 9 other publishers. By 1931, Cape had published three further novels.
In 1941, the Royal Air Force recruited Bates as a short story writer under the pseudonym of 'Flying Officer X'. This work included, The Greatest People in the World (1942) and Fair Stood the Wind for France. The latter was published by Michael Joseph who was to be his publisher for the rest of his life.
The Darling Buds of May (1959) began a popular series of earthy novels set in a rural context and for this work, he may be best remembered. His acclaimed autobiography was published in three volumes: The Vanished World (1969), The Blossoming World (1971) and The World in Ripeness (1972). Bates died in Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury, Kent on 29 January 1974.
Liam O'Flaherty was born in the Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland on 28 August 1896. He was educated at Rockwell College, Black Rock College and University College Dublin. From 1915 to 1917 O'Flaherty served with the Irish Guards. On returning to Ireland he became active in the Irish Civil War. Between 1918 and 1921 he worked at various jobs in London, New York and Hartford Connecticut. He started writing in 1921 and published his first novel, The Neighbour's Wife in 1924. In 1974 he was awarded a Honorary D Litt from the National University of Ireland. O'Flaherty died on 7 September 1984.
Details of William Langland's life are chiefly supplied from his work The Vision of Piers Plowman. He was born around 1330, probably in Shropshire, and is thought to have been educated in a monastery, possibly at Great Malvern. Piers Plowman was produced in three versions (1362, 1377, and 1392).
The Botanical Supply Unit was established in 1950. It was sited on land belonging to Royal Holloway College and was managed by them. It was administered on behalf of the University by the Council of the College and closed in the early 1990's.
No information available at the time of compilation
No information was available at the time of compilation.
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies was founded in 1949 as part of the University of London to promote advanced study of the Commonwealth. It became part of the School of Advance Study in 1994. The Institute offers opportunities for graduate study, houses several research projects and offers a full conference and seminar programme.
The Finance and General Purposes Committee, which was also known as the Joint Finance and General Purposes Committee between 1966 and 1983, was created in 1901. The Committee was responsible for the central administration of the University, including the appointments, and conditions of service and examination finances. Through the Services Sub-committee the Finance and General Purposes Committee was responsible to the Senate and the Court for the maintenance of the Senate House and other University buildings. Under the heading of General Purposes the Committee dealt with residual matters not falling within the purview of the Statutory Councils.
In the mid-1980s the University felt that the FGPC was not well placed to form judgements on a number of matters within its remit, particularly those dealing with the Central administration of the University and its Terms of Reference precluded consideration of the academic work of the Senate Institutes and Activities. Taking on board the recommendations of the Jarratt Report 1986, the Senate decided to dissolve the FPGC in 1987.
The Registrar's Collection is an entirely artificial collection, since the Registrar did not create it; indeed there are papers within the collection that were created after the Office of the Registrar was abolished in 1901.
This collection comprises of records brought together by Miss Dorothy Matthew, a former member of the Court Department, between 1950 and 1954 and records found in the University Library book stack in the late 1970s, early 1980s.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
In 1871 Sir Julian Goldsmid gave £1000 to the University of London so that it could establish, 'a first class University Library, which....will not only improve the position of the university, but also will be of great service to its students and graduates.' In the same year the library received 4000 volumes from Baron Overstone and a further 7000 volumes on the death of the classical historian, George Grote. In 1871 the Library Committee was appointed to devise regulations for the Library's use and to direct the Registrar to have a catalogue compiled. In 1873 the Treasury agreed to give the Library £100 per year to pay for the maintenance of the library.
The University of London Library was formally opened to readers in 1877. In 1879 the library of the British Association was presented and in 1880 the Library received a collection of Russian books from the widow of Sir John Shaw-Levre. At the reconstitution of the University of London in 1900 the library was moved from Burlington Gardens to South Kensington.
In 1901 the Company of Goldsmiths purchased Professor Foxwell's library of economic literature, some 30,000 volumes, and presented it to the University Library in 1903. This gift doubled the size of the collection. Mr L W Haward was appointed Goldsmith's Librarian in 1905. Reginald Rye succeeded him in 1906, and remained in the post until 1944.
In 1910 the Travelling Libraries began, when at the request of the Library Committee (from 1973, University Library Board) to promote the extension of University teaching, the University Library agreed to accommodate a small collection of books for issue to Tutorial Class students. Collectively known as the Travelling Libraries it was renamed the Extra Mural Library in 1955. It continued to be administered by the University Library until 1975 when it became a separate unit of the Central Library Services under the control of the Library Resources Co-ordinating Committee. In August 1981 the Extra Mural Library became part of the Department of Extra Mural Studies.
The Library grew at a tremendous rate before the Second World War. In 1924 a music library was established. The Teachers Guild of Great Britain presented the Library of R H Quick in 1929 and in 1931 the Library received the Durning-Lawrence Library. The Harry Price Collection was put on deposit in 1936 and came as a bequest on the death of Harry Price in 1946. The growth of the collection made the acquisition of new premises a matter of extreme urgency. When the University moved to the Bloomsbury Site in 1937-1938 the Library was given space in the Senate House building.
During the Second World War the tower and three stack rooms were heavily damaged, but only around 200 books were lost. The Goldsmith's Library was evacuated to the Bodleian and other valuable books were sent to the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge.
After the war the Library continued to acquire collections. Notable donations include the Sterling Library opened in 1956, the United State Information Service Library, 1965 and the Sturge Moore papers, 1963. In 1952 the Library set up the open Lending Library - hitherto nearly all books except reference and music books were housed in closed stacks. In 1961 the Depository Library was opened in the grounds of Royal Holloway College at Egham to house little used books and theses.
The University Librarian is head of the Library and is served by the following Senior Officers: Sub librarian (Academic Affairs), Sub librarian (administrative Affairs), Information Systems Manager, Head of Special Collections and the University Archivist.
Imperial College was established in 1907 by Royal Charter, by the merger of Royal School of Mines, the Royal College of Science and the City and Guilds College. All three institutions retained their separate identities after their incorporation. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was an important factor in the development of South Kensington as a centre for Science and the Arts, and consequently the establishment there of Imperial College. The Exhibitions' large profits funded the purchase of some of the land the College now stands on. Prince Albert was a keen supporter of the idea, as were Lyon Playfair and Henry Cole, Secretaries of the Department of Science and Art. The three worked closely to achieve the realisation of the scheme, and the opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1857 and the Natural History Museum in 1881 partly realised their ambitions.
The Royal College of Chemistry was the first constituent college of Imperial College to be established, in 1845. It was the result of a private enterprise to found a college to aid industry, and opened with the first Professor, August von Hofmann, and 26 students. The College was incorporated with the Royal School of Mines in 1853, effectively becoming its department of Chemistry.
The Royal School of Mines was established in 1851, as the Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Arts. The School developed from the Museum of Economic Geology, a collection of minerals, maps and mining equipment made by Sir Henry De la Beche, and opened in 1841. The Museum also provided some student places for the study of mineralogy and metallurgy. Sir Henry was also the director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. The Museum of Practical Geology and the Government School of Mines Applied to the Arts opened in a purpose designed building in Jermyn Street in 1851. The officers of the Geological Survey became the lecturers and professors of the School of Mines. The name was changed in 1863 to the Royal School of Mines.
The Royal College of Science was formed in 1881 by merging some courses of the Royal School of Mines with the teaching of other science subjects at South Kensington. It was originally named the Normal School of Science (the title was based on the Ecole Normale in Paris), but in 1890 was renamed the Royal College of Science. Thomas Henry Huxley was Dean from 1881 to 1895, and had been a prominent figure in the establishment of the College in South Kensington.
The City and Guilds College was originally known as the Central Institution of the City and Guilds of London Institute. The Institute has its origins in a meeting of the livery companies in 1877, which led to the foundation of the City and Guilds Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education, to improve the training of craftsmen. One of the Institute's objectives was to create a Central Institution in London. As they were unable to find a site for the Institution, Finsbury Technical College was established in 1878 in Cowper Street. The College closed in 1926. The Central Institution opened in 1884, in a purpose designed building in South Kensington. It became known as the City and Guilds College after its incorporation into Imperial College in 1907.
Lord Haldane was a key figure in the establishment of Imperial College, together with Lord Rosebery and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Haldane continued Prince Albert's project to use the land owned by the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition in South Kensington to develop a centre for science and engineering. A Committee was appointed by the London County Council, and recommended the establishement of Imperial College. The support of generous benefactors, notably Sir Julius Wernher, and Sir Alfred and Otto Beit was instrumental in the development of the new College.
The remodelling of the College site from the 1950s has seen the City and Guilds building demolished in 1962, and the Imperial Institute building in 1963. The Collcutt Tower of the Imperial Institute (now Queen's Tower) was saved and became free-standing in 1968. New buildings were erected and residential student accommodation improved. The College established a residential field station in 1938 at Hurworth near Slough, and in 1947 at Silwood Park near Ascot, which remains today.
St Mary's Hospital Medical School and the National Heart and Lung Institute merged with Imperial College in 1988 and 1995 respectively.The Imperial College School of Medicine was formed in 1997 from the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, with the existing schools at the St Mary's and Royal Brompton campuses. As a result of the mergers, the College received a new Charter in 1998.In 2000 Wye College and the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology merged with the College. The Kennedy Institute became a Division of the School of Medicine and Wye College is now known as Imperial College at Wye.
The Department of Science and Art was set up by the Board of Trade in 1853 to develop science education. It later became the Board of Education, the Ministry of Education, and the Department of Education and Science.
Born, 1847; educated at Rugby, Christchurch College Oxford; Steward and senior student at Christchurch; Senior Bursar and Honorary Fellow of Balliol College Oxford; Vice-president, Committee of Council on Education, 1892-1895; MP for Rotherham, Yorkshire, 1885-1899; member of the Governing Body, Imperial College, 1907-1925; Chairman, Executive Committee, Imperial College; died, 1926.
Publications: include: A Handbook in Outline of the Political History of England ... chronologically arranged with Cyril Ransome (Rivingtons, London, 1882 [1881]); The Education of Citizens. Being the substance of lectures delivered ... to ... Co-operative Societies ... Decr 1882 and January 1883 (Central Co-operative Board, Manchester, [1883]); Working Men Co-operators ... An account of the Artisans Cooperative Movement in Great Britain, with information how to promote it Benjamin Jones (Cassell & Co, London, 1884); A Guide to the Choice of Books editor (E Stanford, London, 1891); Studies in Secondary Education edited with Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith (Percival & Co, London, 1892); The patriotic poetry of William Wordsworth. A selection, with introduction and notes (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1915).
Born, 1874; educated at St Paul's School; studied botany at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating, 1896; called to the bar, 1898; studied zoology at Oxford, 1899; Assistant Naturalist, Marine Biological Association's Laboratory, Plymouth, 1900; Director of the Sutton Broad Laboratory, Norfolk, 1902; Naturalist to Ulster Fishery and Biology Department, Northern Ireland; Assistant in Biology at Queen's College, Belfast, 1906; Lecturer in Botany at Queen's University, Belfast; Lecturer in Entomology, University of Cambridge, 1913; served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, 1915-[1916]; Lecturer in Zoology (Entomology), University of Cambridge, 1917; Professor of Entomology, Imperial College, 1925-1930; President, Royal Microscopical Society, 1934-1935; Vice-President, Royal Entomological Society, 1934-1935; President, Zoological Section of the Royal Association, 1935; President, Association of British Zoologists, 1935; President, Society for British Entomology, 1939; died, 1967.
Publications: include: Keys to the Orders of Insects; Concerning the Habits of Insects; Textbook of Practical Entomology (1932).
Born, Devon, 1850; educated at Cambridge University; Fellow of Queen's College Cambridge; assistant engineer, Mersey Docks and Harbour Works; Professor of Civil Engineering and Applied Mathematics, 1897, Dean of Applied Science, 1898, McGill University, Canada; Vice-President, 1896-1897, President, 1900, Canadian Society Civil Engineers; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, President of Section III, 1896; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1902; Rector, Imperial College, 1908-1910; died, 1912.
Publications: include: Theory of Structures and Strength of Materials (J Wiley & Sons, New York, 1893); Results of Experiments on the Strength of White Pine, Red Pine, Hemlock and Spruce reprinted from the Transactions of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (Montreal, 1898); A New Extensometer reprinted from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (Montreal, 1902); On the Stresses developed in Beams loaded transversely reprinted from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada (Montreal, 1902); A Treatise on Hydraulics second edition (J Wiley & Sons, New York, 1908).
Born, 1861; educated at Christ Church, Oxford; called to Bar, Inner Temple, 1884; Liberal MP for Cambridge, 1906-1910, Keighley, Yorkshire, 1911-1914; Counsel to the University of Oxford, 1911-1913; knighted, 1913; member of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster; Solicitor-General, 1913; Director of the Press Bureau, 1914-1915; created 1st Baron Cheddington, 1915; Lord Chancellor, 1915-1916; member of the Interallied Conference in Finance and Supplies; Chairman, Governing Body of Imperial College, 1923-1934; Chairman, Political Honours Review Commitee, 1924, 1929; created 1st Viscount Buckmaster, 1933; died, 1934.
Born, London, 1858; educated at Harrow, Trinity College Cambridge; Assistant Private Secretary to Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 1883-1884; 2nd Baron Houghton of Great Houghton, Yorkshire, 1885; Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen, 1886; Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, 1892-1895; created Earl of Crewe, 1895; Lord President of the Council, 1905-1908, 1915-1916; Chaiman, Governing Body of Imperial College, 1907-1922; knighted, 1908; Lord Privy Seal, 1908, 1912-1915; Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1908-1910; Secretary of State for India, 1910-1915; created 1st Marquess of Crewe, Earl of Madeley, 1911; HM Lieutenant, County of London, 1912-1944; President, Board of Education, 1916; Chairman, London County Council, 1917; H M Ambassador in Paris, 1922-1928; Secretary of State for War, 1931; Chancellor, Sheffield University; died, 1945.
Publications: include: Lord Rosebery (John Murray, London, 1931).
Born in Treorchy in the Rhodda Valley on 7 July 1924. In July 1925 his father died and Davies moved with his mother and twin sister to Portsmouth to live with his maternal grandmother and aunt. In 1941, on the completion of his school education at the Portsmouth Boys Southern Secondary School, he took up a `Royal' Scholarship at Imperial College London where he studies physics. In 1943 he graduated with first-class honours and was directed to work at Birmingham University as a research assistant in the Tube Alloys Project (the British contribution to the development of nuclear weapons) under R.E. Peierls and later A.H. Wilson. Davies's main work was concerned with the stability and control problems for the gaseous diffusion plant. In 1944 he continued to work for the Tube Alloys Project at ICI, Billingham, on Teeside and in 1945 at the close of the project he returned to Birmingham to work in the Physics Department under M.L.E. Oliphant. The overlap between the courses at Imperial College allowed Davies to complete the requirements for a mathematics degree in a year and he resumed the scholarship for that purpose, graduating with first class honours in 1947.
The National Physics Laboratory was setting up a group to build a stored program computer under the direction of A.M. Turing and Davies joined this group and began working on the logic design and later the building of the ACE Computer. When the Pilot ACE was built, Davies became a user, working on a variety of simulations, including the behaviour of road junctions controlled by traffic lights. In 1954 Davies was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to study in the USA. He came to view his choice of MIT as an error because all the interesting computer work was classified. The period at MIT was interrupted by a special mission for the United Nations, investigating a request from the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta for funds to buy equipment from the USSR. Subsequently he was involved for a number of years on two new projects. One was the development of the cryotron, a superconducting device with potential for the large-scale integration of logic and storage. However, efforts in this area foundered on engineering problems of many kinds. The other was the translation by computer from Russia to English. Davies concluded that although `we were not able to set up a serviced based on this work ... it is noteworthy that our real experience ... was very different from the accepted public view of machine translation.
In the early 1960s time-sharing whereby a large computer gave an online service to a number of users was very much the coming thing. In 1965 Davies proposed, in a privately circulated paper, the principle for a data communication network which he subsequently named 'packet switching'. In March of the following year he lectured to a large audience, advocating the use of techniques in a public switched data network.
In 1966 Davies was appointed Superintendent of the Division of Computer Science where the programme of research included data communication systems, information systems, pattern recognition and man-computer interaction. The data communication proposals for specialised networks using packet switching were widely publicised in 1967 and greatly influenced the early development of ARPA Network. Davies successfully promoted packet switching for public networks at the CCITT (International Consultative Committee for Telephones and Telegraphs) and elsewhere. In 1973 he published (with D.L.A. Barber) Communication Networks for Computers and in 1979 (with Barber, W.L. Price and C.M. Solomonides) Computer Networks and their Protocols.
In 1975 Davies received the John Player Award of the British Computer Society for his work in packet switching and shared the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Internet Award for 2000 for work on packet switching.
In 1978 Davies was given the status of an 'individual merit' appointment at the NPL enabling him to relinquish administrative responsibilities, and he led a small research team concerned with security of data in networks. The team developed the application of cryptographic methods to the practical work of network security, especially the use of asymmetric (public key) cryptography. Consulting work under contract to financial institutions and others provided the practical experience. After Davies retired from NPL in 1984, he provided consultancy to financial institutions on high value payment systems and advised suppliers and users of secure systems of many kinds, for example mobile telephony and direct broadcast satellite television. In 1984 he published (with W.L. Price) Security for computer networks: an introduction to data security in teleprocessing and electronic funds transfer. Davies also pursued his interest in cryptography as a hobby with research on Second World War cipher machines and published an number of articles on the topic.
Davies was appointed CBE in 1983 and elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1987. In 1955 Davies married Diane Burton which whom he had three children. He died on 28 May 2000.
Born, London, 1893; educated at Dame Alice Owen's School; Royal College of Science (Imperial College), 1912-1915; conducted research at Institute of Plant Physiology; Horticultural Research Station, Cheshunt; Rothamsted Experimental Station; member of staff, Imperial College, 1932; Professor of Plant Physiology, Imperial College, 1937-1958; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1940; Royal medal of the Royal Society, 1957; Emeritus Professor, 1959-1961; died, 1961.
Publications: scientific papers in botanical journals.