Durham University

“ The Alfred tradition need not keep us longer.
University College owes its existence to William of Durham, who, at his death in 1249, beqeathed to the University the sum of three hundred and ten marks for the use of ten or more Masters (at that time the highest academical title) to be natives of Durham or its vicinity. Certain tenements were purchased, one of them on a part of the site of Brasenose, and here, in 1253, Durham's scholars first assembled; but only in 1280 were they granted powers of self-government. ”

“ Upon the foundation of Durham University in 1833 the readership in chemistry and mineralogy was bestowed on Johnston, and he retained the appointment until his death. Except during term time, however he continued to reside in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh; and in 1843 he was elected chemist to the Agricultural Society of Scotland. When that society dissolved he made Durham his home. Johnston travelled frequently on the continent, and visited North America from August 1849 to April 1850, making valuable observations on agriculture. ”

“ The first warden, and a prime mover in the scheme of foundation, was Archdeacon Charles Thorp (d. 1862) . In 1837 the university received its charter from William IV. The dean and chapter of the cathedral are governors, and the bishop of Durham is visitor, but the active management is in the hands of the warden, senate and convocation. The system and life of the university are broadly similar to those of the greater universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Proctorial administration is carried on by two proctors annually nominated by the warden. ”

“ A college, modelled on the plan of those at the older universities, and designated University College, Durham, was founded in 1837, Bishop Hatfield's Hall in 1846, and Bishop Cosin's Hall (which no longer exists) in 1851. The university includes all the faculties, and in 1865 there was added to the faculty of arts a school of physical science, including pure and applied mathematics, chemistry, geology, mining, engineering, &c. ”

“ It was partly for the benefit of poor scholars and partly for the benefit of their founders’ souls, for which these scholars should pray, that the early colleges and chantries were founded. Morals, learning and poverty were the qualifications for a fellowship on Durham’s foundation. Poverty, “the stepmother of learning,” it is which the University in its letters and petitions always and truly represents as the great hindrance to the student “seeking in the vineyard of the Lord the pearl of knowledge.” ”

“ Other interesting portions are the Norman gallery, with its fine arcade, Bishop Hatfield’s hall of c. 1350, a reconstruction of the previous Norman one by Bishop Pudsey, and the Black Staircase of fine woodwork of the 17th century. The keep is a modern reconstruction. The castle, with the exception of some apartments used by the judges of assize, is appropriated to the uses of Durham University. ”

“ At Durham, where Alice and I spent three and a half delightful days at the house of F. B. Jevons, Principal of one of the two colleges of which the University is composed, I had a good deal of talk with the very remarkable octogenarian Dean of the Cathedral and Lord of the University, a thorough liberal, or rather radical, in his mind, with a voice like a bell, and an alertness to match, who had been a college friend of Ruskin's and known him intimately all his life, and loved him. ”

“ There was, however, no royal charter of incorporation, no provision for corporate self-government, or for the succession of fellows, no organised society, no distribution of powers or definition of duties. In a word, the institution founded by William of Durham was not a college, but an exhibition-fund to be administered by the University. ”

“ It is connected with the bishopric of Durham, the office of warden being annexed to the deanery of Durham, and a canonry in the cathedral being annexed to each of the professors of divinity and classical literature. There are also professors of mathematics, Hebrew, medicine, &c. The students mostly reside within the university buildings, but in 1870 a regulation was passed dispensing with the necessity of residing in any college, hall, or house connected with the university in order to be admitted as a member. ”

“ The valley of the Wear in the neighbourhood of Durham is well wooded and picturesque, but there are numerous collieries on the uplands above it, and the beauty of the county is marred.
Among educational establishments in Durham the university stands first. The earliest connexion of the ecclesiastical foundation at Durham with an actual educational foundation was made by Prior Richard de Hoton (1290–1308) , who erected a hall in Oxford for students from Durham, who had previously enjoyed no University.such provision. ”

“ Statutes were not granted to the masters admitted to the benefits of this foundation until the year 1280, and by that time a precedent had been created. From the year 1280, then, may be dated the incorporation of what is now known as University College. A very small society of poor masters were, according to the revised plan, to live together on the bounty of William of Durham and devote themselves to the study of theology. ”

“ Durham (15) , an ancient city on the Wear, with a noble cathedral and a castle, once the residence of the bishop, now a university seat, in the heart of a county of the same name (1,106) , rich in coal-fields, and with numerous busy manufacturing towns.
Durham, Admiral, entered the navy in 1777; was officer on the watch when the Royal George went down off Spithead, and the only one with Captain Waghorn who escaped; served as acting-lieutenant of a ship under Lord Howe at the relief of Gibraltar, and commanded the Defence, a ship of 74 guns, at the battle of Trafalgar (1763-1815) . ”

“ I quote the later portion: "One appeal I should like to make to those whom we still regard as our friends, though for the moment they are opposed to us. It is that they may not be led to think that a separate University for women can be the true solution of the difficulty.
"Can we imagine what the position of such an institution would really be? If it were merely a body for conferring degrees without holding examinations, its degrees must be given alike on the [103] examinations of Cambridge, Oxford, and Durham; all the other Universities having opened their degrees. ”

“ Students who had passed the required examinations were made admissible as associates in physical science of the university. There is also at Newcastle the College of Medicine which stands in similar relations to Durham, of which university Codrington College, Barbados, and Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, are likewise affiliated colleges. ”

“ The bishop's unpopularity in Durham was very great, and there were riots after his death. James married three times. His eldest son, William, by his first wife, Katharine Kysbie of Abingdon, was a student of Christ Church, and public orator of Oxford University in 1601, and became prebendary of Durham 6 Oct. ”

“ Relying on the liberality with which the College of Science of the University of Durham has been thrown open to women, I venture to request that you will pursue a similar liberal policy with reference to your College of Medicine, and will admit to it those women who are desirous to enter the medical profession, and for whose education absolutely no provision exists at this moment in Great Britain. ”

“ In 1878 it made “every degree, honour, and prize awarded by the university accessible to students of both sexes on perfectly equal terms.” Since 1889 all disqualification for women in Scotch universities has ceased. The Victoria university, by its original charter 20 April 1880, admitted both sexes equally to its degrees and distinctions; and in 1895 Durham became a “mixed” university. All the more recent universities treat men and women equally. ”

“ The academical year is divided into three terms—Michaelmas, Epiphany, and Easter. For the degree of B.A., or a licence in theology, a residence of two years (of six months each) is necessary. The M.A. degree may be obtained by a graduate who is of the standing of nine terms since taking his degree of B.A. Armstrong College, founded in 1874, and the College of Medicine, both at Newcastle-on-Tyne, form part of the University of Durham. ”

“ He was created Earl of Ravensworth, a title that died with his son, when the Barony passed to a cousin. The Very Rev. Henry George Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and some time Vice-Chancellor of that University, was one of the compilers of the well-known Greek lexicon.
The Bowes family was once as widely scattered over Durham as the Conyers. Streatlam Castle and Gibside, Bradley Hall, Biddick, and Thornton Hall, were all residences of the Boweses at one time. One branch only in the male line survives, and is now resident at Croft. ”

“ He graduated from that institution with high grades, but the endeavor to reform him was nevertheless only partly successful. Enrolling at "Old Asbury" (DePauw University, Greencastle) , he promptly got in trouble with the Methodist administration for organizing a dance at "The Delts," his fraternity house. ”

“ A good pattern for all ministers who are called to preach on the like occasion. He continued with the king till he went to England, and then returned.
Towards the end of January 1651, the common session of Glasgow, appointed Mr. Patrick Gillespie to write a letter to Mr. Durham, concerning Mr. Robert Ramsay's being professor of divinity in place of the said Mr. James Durham, in the university of Glasgow. In consequence of which, Mr. Durham came to Glasgow, for he is mentioned present in the session in the beginning of April next. ”

“ After Richard Cromwell had been elected Chancellor in July 1657, he appointed Dr. Conant, Rector of Exeter, vice-chancellor, and from this moment Conant, whose importance had long been growing, became the real governor of the University. With a firmness and zeal for reform fully equal to Owen’s, he combined a more conciliatory and statesmanlike character, and while he resisted, as the champion of academical privileges, Cromwell’s scheme for a new University at Durham, he stoutly upheld the autonomy of colleges against the project for superseding all episcopal Visitors. ”

“ While maintaining their Russellville interests, Pap's parents moved to nearby Greencastle in his youth. After graduating from high school, he was sent to Western Military Academy, Alton, Illinois, to "straighten out" after his strict Kentucky-bred mother discovered that he had been hanging around the local pool parlor. He graduated from the academy in 1899 with high honors, and continued his education graduating from Indiana University in 1903 and from Indiana School of Law in 1906. ”

“ The eternal question in everybody’s mouth is what is Lord Durham to have, or if it is indispensable that he should have anything. When Durham left England, he was the elected chief of the Radicals, and he was paving the way to future Court favour through a strict alliance with the Duchess of Kent and Sir John Conroy. ”

“ I bought that lavatory from you in person, direct, about 1942—or just about the time the Government stopped your selling to the proletariat. I was frantic for some bathroom fixtures. The family had taken a fancy to yours on account of its alleged quietness. The girls were in the University here. It was brooded among my womenfolk that every time they had company the "old man" started the water going in the bathrooms and it sounded like Coulee Dam after a hard rain. I got in the car and drove to Robinson. You folks finally fixed me up with two lavatories. I brought them home in the car. ”

“ Asbury College (now DePauw University) a staid Methodist school here in Greencastle, opened its doors to women students in 1870—an unheard-of thing. And here came Bettie, bringing along her charming southern ways. Females were frowned- on by the young college men as interlopers and undesirables, and were subjected to some indignities. Bettie et. als. persisted. Bettie, along with three other young women students, founded the first Greek Letter Sorority in the world, Kappa Alpha Theta. ”

“ VI.—THE STAR SHAPED MARKS. ON a certain Sunday in the spring of 1897, as Dufrayer and I were walking in the Park, we came across one of his friends, a man of the name of Loftus Durham. Durham was a rising artist, whose portrait paintings had lately attracted notice. He invited us both to his studio on the following Sunday, where he was to receive a party of friends to see his latest work, an historical picture for the coming Academy. ”

“ Durham is served by the Southern, the Seaboard Air Line, the Norfolk & Western, and the Durham & Southern railways, the last a short line connecting at Apex and Dunn, N.C., respectively with the main line of the Seaboard and the Atlantic Coast Line railways. Durham is nearly surrounded by hills. Its streets are shaded by elms. The city is the seat of Trinity College (Methodist Episcopal, South) , opened in 1851 as a normal college, growing out of an academy called Union Institute, which was established in the north-western part of Randolph county in 1838 and was incorporated in 1841. ”

“ There is no evidence that William of Durham intended the masters who benefited by his bequest to live together and form a separate community, and he cannot be regarded in any way as the founder of the collegiate system [see Merton, Walter de] , but his benefaction was the first that was subsequently evolved into a college or hall. ”

“ If notoriety upon any terms could satisfy anybody, Lord Durham would have ample reason for contentment, as his name is in everybody’s mouth, and the chief topic of every newspaper and political periodical. ”