CHAPTER V

THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY

At the time of this movement in favour of the creation of a university in Manchester the writer of this memoir was, as already stated, a member of the teaching staff of the Yorkshire College, and was then, as for some years previously, in constant friendly communication with Roscoe. A letter informing him of the feeling in Leeds and the district concerning the action of Owens College, and the desire of the authorities of the Yorkshire College that its interests should in some way be safeguarded, brought the following reply under date January 31, 1877:

Thanks for the leader, which I had seen. What does Leeds want? A peripatetic university? First in Manchester, then in Leeds, then in Bristol, next in Newcastle? Or will it be content with an affiliation scheme? Do you want to come in _now_, incomplete as you are, or will you be content to wait till you are developed into more of a two-or three-sided sort of thing? How can the _unity_ of an institution be kept up if all kinds and conditions of other institutions claim an equal voice in all the arrangements? In short, would it not be much better for Leeds, and Bristol and Newcastle, to have separate universities as well as Manchester, than to make a union in which there would not be strength? However, our proposed scheme will provide for the admission and representation of other places if they like to come in, but a university, like most other things, must not only have a name, but also a local habitation, and hence I do not see how the idea of a wandering minstrel kind of university could possibly answer, and this is what, I take it, the writer of the article (who was he?) means.… I will send you a copy of our proposals as soon as they are settled.

After the special meeting of the governors of the Owens College, at which it was decided to take steps to obtain a university charter, Roscoe wrote to the present writer as follows under date March 27, 1877:

You may unofficially and on your own responsibility state to the Secretary of your College that you have reason to know that in the proposals to obtain a Charter to grant Degrees the authorities of this College have added a clause to enable other colleges, under certain conditions, to enter into union with the proposed University.

We were unable to accede to the request to forward the documents officially, as the Committee on the subject had not met. But you may say (privately) that it is the wish of those who are interested in the movement to make this admission of other colleges an essential part of the scheme.

This to show your Council that their claims will be properly and fairly considered.

The following letter, dated December 5, 1877, was received after the Manchester deputation to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, when the Lord President of the Council suggested some alteration in the government of the proposed university, which the memorialists considered and adopted.

At a meeting yesterday of the University Sub-Committee a more detailed scheme for the proposed Constitution was considered. I think you may like to know unofficially a few of the particulars, bearing in mind that it is simply as yet a proposal.

(1) The Charter to be granted to the Court of Governors of Owens College modified so as to give a somewhat larger representation of the Academical Element.

(2) The representation on the Court, when sitting for University purposes, of any other qualified College in union with the University to be as follows: the President, the Treasurer or Chairman of the Council; the Principal of such College; such proportionate numbers of (_a_) the Senate, and (_b_) the Governing Body of such College as may be determined by the University Court with the sanction of the Lord President of the Council.

(3) The Executive Body of the University to consist of members nominated by the Court and also, on the union of any other qualified College, the President, Treasurer, or Chairman, Principal and the members of the Senate of such Colleges nominated on the Court.

(4) The Court to be summoned for University purposes as distinguished from Owens College purposes by the Executive Body of the University.

Another point of importance to you is this: That power shall be given to the Court of the University, after considering the report of the Executive Body upon the subject, to accept the application of any other College for incorporation with the University, provided always that the Court should be satisfied: (1) that such College has established a reasonably complete curriculum and possesses a reasonably sufficient teaching staff in the Departments of Arts and Science at least; (2) that such College has furnished proofs of its means and appliances for teaching being established on a footing of permanent security; (3) that such College is under the independent control of its own Governing Body; and (4) that the admission shall receive the sanction of the Lord President of the Council.

Again, power to be given to any such College to appeal for final decision to the Lord President.

One other point. On incorporation the professors of such College shall take a proportionate share in all the examinations of the University as decided by the University Court.

I hope that these proposals will be found to meet your views.

Meanwhile the Council of the Yorkshire College, acting in conjunction with its Academic Board, had been carefully considering the situation. Influenced to a large extent, no doubt, by the local Press, public feeling in the district set strongly in the direction of immediate action. Although the infant institution was barely three years old, there could no longer be any doubt that it was already firmly implanted in the estimation and regard of the community in which it was placed. Indeed, nothing in its short career up to that time stimulated and strengthened this regard more than this particular crisis in its fortunes. The call for sympathy and support which now was spread throughout the Ridings was the finest _réclame_ it could possibly have. It served to deprive the College of the last semblance of being a merely local foundation; henceforth it was in fact as in name a county organization.

In the following May a deputation arranged by the Yorkshire College waited upon the Lord President of the Council. The report of the Council of the College pointed out that whilst the Owens College scheme admitted of the admission of other colleges to the university, the provisions that the charter should be granted to the Owens College, and that the university should be named after the City of Manchester were very generally considered incompatible with the future incorporation of institutions in other towns. Lord Ripon, in introducing the deputation, gave forcible expression to these views. The memorial was supported by representatives of the municipalities of the large towns in the West Riding and elsewhere in the county, by a number of scientific organizations, and by many eminent educational authorities.

As the Owens College memorialists had already expressed their willingness to consider favourably the inclusion of other colleges, under reasonable conditions, there was little difficulty in opening friendly negotiations between the two Colleges with the desire on both sides to arrive at a satisfactory arrangement. The Duke of Devonshire, who was a liberal supporter of both Colleges, and had shown great interest in their welfare—Lord Frederick Cavendish being President of the Yorkshire College—convened a conference at Devonshire House between representatives of the two Colleges, when after full discussion the basis of a federal scheme was devised. The details of this were worked out by committees of the two Colleges. Eventually complete agreement was arrived at, and it was decided to present a joint memorial from the two Colleges praying that Her Majesty might be advised:

(1) To create a new university, in which the Owens College, Manchester, and such other institutions as may now or hereafter be able to fulfil the conditions of incorporation laid down in the Charter, may be incorporated colleges.

(2) To grant to each of such incorporated colleges a share in the government of the university, depending only upon its magnitude and efficiency, in accordance with the suggested Constitution.

(3) To be graciously pleased to allow the said university to be called the Victoria University.

In the various conferences needed to reach this solution the late Sir Arthur Rücker, who acted as one of the representatives of the Yorkshire College, took an active and leading share, and it was in no small degree due to his tact, urbanity, and diplomatic skill that it was secured.

In reference to this matter the present Master of Peterhouse, Sir A. W. Ward, who was at the time Principal of the Owens College, bears the following testimony:

“I remember very well how admirably he conducted the case of the Yorkshire College, which was at first adverse to our wishes at Manchester, and afterwards was conjoined with our own application. He had great difficulties to contend against; for the Yorkshire College seemed to be opposing our application for a university charter without being able to set up a similar claim for itself, and the federal principle to which resort was ultimately had was by no means free from objections. He had, if I remember right, very effective parliamentary support, especially in the late Mr. W. E. Forster, and then, or afterwards, in the late Lord Ripon. But he was the active representative of Leeds, and the virtual success of the action of the College was very largely due to him.

“Personally he was a man of great charm of manner and a very pleasant as well as effective speaker.”

The deputation presenting the joint memorials waited upon the Lord President, who was accompanied by the Marquis of Salisbury, on May 5, 1879. It was headed by the Duke of Devonshire, as president of the Owens College, and the Archbishop of York, as representing the Yorkshire College, and consisted of noblemen and gentlemen of influence connected with the two counties; representatives of different denominations, municipalities, scientific and educational bodies, as well as other gentlemen interested in higher education. It received the customary promise “that the proposal should have the most attentive consideration of Her Majesty’s Government.”

The various steps in the procedure needed to obtain a royal charter are many and devious. They need only be indicated by stating that they seem expressly designed to afford abundant occupation for lawyers. The following letter from Roscoe, sent to the writer from the Athenæum Club, and dated June 19, 1879, bears upon this point:

It is most important that you should at once get a Petition to “The Queen in Council” drawn up and sent to the Parliamentary Agents for presentation. We are doing so. The Duke of Devonshire will sign our petition, and yours in identical terms should be signed by the Archbishop [of York] and Lord Frederick Cavendish.

…

The Council meets on the 26th June, and everything must be sent in before that date.

I have seen Mr. [W. E.] Forster who has telegraphed to your secretary this evening.

We have the draft of our petition at O[wens] College if you wish to consult it.

It is most important to get this done and to get your Archbishop to sign.

The next letter, so far as regards the Victoria University, requires some explanation. The then Chairman of the Council of the Yorkshire College, the late Dr. Heaton, was not wholly friendly to the idea of a new northern university, and ultimately he dissociated himself from his colleagues on this particular question. He was never able to persuade himself that another university was actually needed or was desirable. In his judgment the interests of higher education, so far at least as the creation of degree-granting bodies could serve them, were sufficiently assured in England by the existence of the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London. He viewed with considerable apprehension the attempt to establish rival universities: he imagined that the stress of competition for students might lower the standard of scholarship. Above all he was strongly opposed, in what he thought the true interests of the medical profession, to the increase in the number of possible avenues to practice: in his opinion there were already too many for an efficient standard of qualification to be maintained. It was perhaps characteristic of him to suppose that the immediate, and indeed the ultimate, effect of the establishment of the university in Manchester would be not to hearten and rouse his colleagues to fresh exertions in order to make the Leeds College worthy to be received as a member of the University: on the contrary, he thought that, by force of circumstances, the enthusiasm of the friends of that institution would be gradually damped, and their energy proportionally weakened, as the neighbouring College grew in power and prestige after being raised to the dignity of a university. He was specially concerned about the future of the Leeds Medical School, of which he had been a member for many years. It was well established and had an excellent record, but its position would, he considered, be undermined and its continued existence jeopardized by the proximity of a school attached to a degree-giving body. He was not able to carry his colleagues on the Council of the Yorkshire College with him in his view of the probable influence of the new University on its fortunes. As the sequel proved, he entirely misconceived its effect: so far from weakening the energies of its friends, events showed that it acted as the most powerful stimulus the Leeds College ever received. But Dr. Heaton’s authority and influence with respect to the Medical School enabled him to carry his point in regard to the proposed medical degrees, and the Yorkshire representatives were instructed to disavow any wish that power should be sought to grant them. A suggestion to send a private message to the Lord President to this effect was made after it had been represented by the legal agents that no observations on the draft chapter could be received by the Privy Council. Under the circumstances the authorities of Owens College were not without justification for their disappointment and annoyance.

In the first place I would propose to you that we should together do the atomic weight of Titanium. You and I both thought of doing it. You are busy with other things.… I will sketch a method out, prepare some more TiCl₄ and send the proposals to you. If you like, that is. So much for private affairs.

Now with regard to the Victoria University. We all have been much annoyed and surprised to find that you at Leeds, having so far acquiesced in our proposals—see memorial, etc.—now at the last moment put in a _caveat_ about Medical Degrees! This appears to us rather too bad. If this move was intended we ought to have had previous information of it. If you have only now determined on this course it is more obviously unfair to us to start the hare now! Fancy what the University will be without such power. Think of Glasgow and Edinburgh thus emasculated. Is this what you wish us to come to?

Then I think that R.’s proposal to send a private message through your President to the Duke of Richmond still more objectionable. “Openly we agree, but we come to inform you privately that you will please us by striking out the provision.” This is really what you propose to do! This, coupled with the petition from Liverpool and the opposition and jealousy of other Medical Schools, may suffice to so mutilate our Charter that it won’t be worth having.

_Do_ see what can be done to dissuade your people from sending any such message to the Duke.

The private message above referred to was not sent. At the same time Dr. Heaton’s views, backed up as they were by the action of the College of Surgeons and British Medical Association, and a great number of the leading hospital surgeons and teachers in London and elsewhere, prevailed, and the application for power to grant degrees in medicine and surgery was, for the time at least, withdrawn, in the expectation that legislative action on the general question of medical education and qualification was contemplated. As no such action was taken, a supplementary charter removing the restriction was granted on April 20, 1883.

The next letter, under date February 14, 1880, shows a further stage in the progress of the application. By a then recent Act it had to be laid before both Houses of Parliament for thirty days before any report on the subject could be submitted to the Sovereign.

…

By the way, you know, of course, that the Charter (unaltered) is now lying on the table of both Houses, and if we can only keep everybody quiet it will be law in less than thirty days!

When are you coming over?

The Charter was granted by the Queen in Council on April 6th, and was finally ratified on April 20, 1880.

The next letter (March 30, 1880) shows that this event was to be celebrated, as a matter of course, in the customary British method.

I am very sorry that you cannot dine with the P.C.S. [President of the Chemical Society—Roscoe himself] on the 16th. I intended you to have been there as Longstaff medallist! I am asking the officers and some of the Council.

You must all reserve yourselves for July 14th or 15th. The opening of the V.U. [Victoria University] and a Banquet at the Town Hall!!

The following letter (January 16, 1881) shows how cordial the relations between the sister Colleges had now become, thanks to the frank and friendly discussion between their representatives, and how loyally those in authority at Owens were prepared to carry out the compact:

Accept my sincere though tardy thanks for your beautiful photograph, which is a marvellous study of volcanic action.

I have lately heard that P⸺ has been making a statement (on whose authority I cannot think) that the Yorkshire College would not be allowed to join the V.U. Though I know that you would take this for what it is worth, I think that others may misunderstand, and I think that you should inform any one who reports such a statement that it is wholly without foundation. In the first place, the V.U. cannot refuse even if they desired to do so. In the second, I for one, and many with me if not _all_, will cordially welcome any addition to ourselves, for those who have to work the new University desire to have other competent persons to help to share their great responsibility.

Roscoe, in fact, from the very beginning of its career had always shown a sympathetic interest in the fortunes of the Yorkshire College. Badly housed and poorly endowed at its start, its early struggles and difficulties were watched by him with a kindly regard, based, no doubt, to some extent on the memory of his own experiences. He was not unfrequently in Leeds in those days, and his breezy optimism and cheerful confidence that things would come right, in spite of checks and disappointments, were at once stimulating and encouraging to the small band of young professors who were striving to mould the institution according to the pattern of that which he had himself done so much to fashion. An indication of that interest was manifested by his presence, in December 1880, at the formal opening of the new buildings which the College owes to the wise liberality of the Clothworkers’ Company. At the banquet which followed he responded to the toast of “The Victoria University,” and expressed, on behalf of the authorities of Owens College, the hope that before long the Yorkshire College would become one of the incorporated Colleges, and would help the Owens College to uphold the dignity and usefulness of the new University.

Roscoe took a leading part in shaping the curriculum of the new University, and at the meeting of the Court which settled its general lines he might be said to have been the mouthpiece of the party which succeeded in impressing upon it its characteristic features. What had to be considered were the needs of great industrial communities. What sort of knowledge do they desire, and what should they be encouraged to pursue? The discussion mainly turned upon the place which the classical languages should hold in the university courses. “Compulsory” Greek was no longer regarded as a practical question. Should “compulsory” Latin also be eliminated? Are these ancient languages, or either of them, still to be regarded as an indispensable part of a liberal education and an indispensable requisite for a degree? The claims of the Classics were not without defenders, but as a local newspaper pointed out in a leading article, curiously enough it would seem that among the stoutest of these were to be found some of the very men who might have been supposed to be the natural champions of the newer learning, and if orthodox academic traditions received a rude blow, it was because they were deserted by the very men who had been nursed in them. With two exceptions, the professorial members of the Court were unanimous in recommending that Latin should not be made obligatory for a degree. The Chancellor and Lord Derby supported the contention that whatever may be the value as mental food and training of the Classics when thoroughly mastered, the wretched minimum of ill-learnt Latin and soon-forgotten Greek prescribed in university examinations as preliminary to more serious studies possesses no educational value whatever. Perhaps the argument most decisive with the Court was that given by Roscoe. He said they had to consider the large number of persons who came to the Owens College for special instruction, and more particularly for engineering and mathematics, but who had never been at any school where Latin was taught. Those were the men who carried off the best engineering prizes, and for them it was that this door had wisely been kept open. They must not be guided by what Oxford or Cambridge had done, but by what was good for their own district and what was advisable at the present moment. Let them remember what a number of men such as he had mentioned there were in their neighbourhood, and how flourishing were the mathematical schools, and then let them say whether they could cut off those schools and men from university education. The “innovators” won the day by a majority of 2 to 1, and thus effected “the dethronement, never to rise again, of this mischievous idol.”

It was amusing to notice the perturbation which this departure from a time-honoured tradition caused in certain scholastic circles and among the self-styled “friends of culture.” But on the whole the action was favourably commented upon by the more influential newspapers and leading educational journals. It was regarded as the inevitable consequence of modern necessity, and of the gradual recognition that the traditions of mediæval schoolmen were not sacrosanct or necessarily the best adapted to new requirements.

In drafting the Constitution of the new University power was of course taken in accordance with established procedure, and in deference to the democratic tendencies of British seats of learning, to form the body known as Convocation, and those of the former students of Owens College who came within certain definitions were made its first members.

It would seem to be the inevitable tendency of all Convocations to play the part of a Parliamentary Opposition. Their primary duty, as they conceive it, is to criticize and to take an independent view of the policy of the university, as determined by the governing or executive powers. No doubt such criticism is salutary if wisely directed, but experience has shown that it is sometimes factious and occasionally obstructive. Much, therefore, depends upon the chairman. It was felt by many of the members that it was specially important at the outset to make a prudent selection if Convocation was to secure from the beginning its proper influence and dignity as a deliberative assembly. The Extreme Left—there is always such a group in such a gathering—had promptly proposed Dr. Richard Marsden Pankhurst, a student of the College in the Quay Street days, and now mainly remembered as the husband and father of certain ladies who have distinguished themselves in the cause of Woman Suffrage. Dr. Pankhurst was never regarded quite seriously in College circles—least of all by his former associates, who on a dull evening at the Union would occasionally put him up to make a political harangue in the style of the Convention, when he would declaim the most blood-curdling sentiments in a highly pitched falsetto, with all the fiery eloquence and fervid passion of a Danton or a Hebert. But however powerful the appeals to a youthful enthusiasm, the stones of Quay Street remained unmoved, nor was Deansgate at any time blocked with barricades.

Later on Dr. Pankhurst went to the Bar, when he followed in the footsteps and sought to better the example of a once well-known Chartist orator whose name is well-nigh forgotten, became an active local politician, and made one or two futile attempts to gain a parliamentary seat as the most extreme of advanced Radicals. It was possible, of course, that when weighted with the responsibilities of office Dr. Pankhurst’s conduct of the chair might have been irreproachable. But the majority of Convocation were not disposed to take the risk. Accordingly an “influentially signed” memorial was issued suggesting Roscoe as first chairman. The advantage of securing at this early period a chairman well acquainted with the work of the other co-ordinate bodies of the University was obvious. But there was another reason, as the terms of the memorial indicated. The general body of the members were anxious to testify their appreciation of the services of the man who had been so largely instrumental in making a Convocation at all possible.

By knowledge and experience no man was more qualified to promote administrative accord than Dr. Roscoe. From him came the first proposal of the new University; and no one worked with greater zeal and devotion in the movement, which after a long struggle was so happily successful. No sacrifice of time and labour was too great for him, and his forethought and knowledge of business were of untold advantage during the negotiations.

The suggestion that he should be the first chairman was made without Roscoe’s knowledge, but it was so well received that he consented to be nominated and was elected by a large majority. The _Intransigeants_, of course, affirmed that they were fighting solely for a principle, and “as a protest that those who teach and train ought not to govern and examine and fill all the positions in the University.” They next proceeded to move “a kind of vote of censure on the Executive Council for anticipating the jurisdiction of Convocation in arranging for degrees, examinations, and so forth.” This was met by “the previous question” and lost, whereupon the meeting proceeded to discuss the absorbingly interesting subject of academic costume, and the dissident minority melted away.

At this first meeting the clerk informed Convocation that at the next ordinary meeting of the Court the Council proposed to report as to the University making use of its power to grant degrees to persons being at the date of the University Charter associates of the Owens College. The first graduation ceremony of the University took place in the autumn of 1882, when Professor Ward in presenting the Associates said:

The Associates of the Owens College, whom it is my privilege to present to you to-day, are spontaneously linking their names and reputations with the name and fame of our University, and it seems a twice-blessed relationship which on both sides is founded on goodwill. Many of those whom I am about to lead to you are men distinguished in letters and science, and in the several learned professions and other occupations to which their lives are devoted. Some are members of the governing and teaching bodies of our own University. A great number hold the degrees of other Universities—of those older Universities from which our own has received so many signs of kindly and ready sympathy, or of that great examining University without which much of the educational progress of the last half-century—without which such progress as was made within the walls of Owens College, would itself have lacked its trustworthiest tests.

The following letters from Roscoe to the writer have reference to this function, which took place in the Manchester Town Hall—with, as the descriptive reporter stated, “all the ceremony and pageantry that help to cast a glamour over the older seats of learning.”

MANCHESTER, _October 14, 1882_.

I write a line to say how much we all hope that you will run over on November 1st to have the degree of the V.U. conferred upon you. It is of importance that our best Associates should show up on the occasion, and I am particularly anxious that you should not be wanting. The ceremony is to be held in the Town Hall, and we hope that Lord Derby and Mr. Mundella will be present.

How are you getting on? We are full in our laboratories and hard at it.

Unfortunately, the recipient of these letters (and of the degree) was unable to be present. He had just succeeded by effluxion of time to a position formerly held by Roscoe himself in “that great examining University” which had in the past so efficiently tested the educational progress of Owens College, and his official duties kept him in London.

_October 22, 1882._

I think in spite of Mrs. A. B. B.Sc. it would be as well if you would come to have the V.U. degree granted. If you do not come, unpleasant remarks may be made as to the cause of your absence.

I never supposed you did care for the degree as a degree: it is simply an enrolment of yourself as a _bona-fide_ member of the University.… My feeling is that all those who have an interest in the University and who have taken active steps in its foundation should not hold aloof on this occasion, but show that they are willing and anxious to support the new University to the best of their power.

You took an active part in modifying the original lines on which we had decided to lay our University, and I think that therefore you are, perhaps, more bound than other people to help now to make it a success on its present footing.…

I am very glad you are coming to open our Chemical Society’s Session here on Friday. I fear I may be away as my Commission [Technical Instruction Commission] meets on Wednesday for some consecutive days. If I can get back I will.

The time, perhaps, has not yet arrived to attempt to assess the effect on the higher education of the country which has followed from the establishment of these modern universities, but that it has already been very great there can be no question. Since they are free, for the most part, from the influence of the schoolmen, and are unhampered by mediæval traditions and the prepossessions of the past, they are the more readily able to shape their course in accordance with the demands of industrial progress and the necessities of modern life. From the circumstance that they are nearly all situated in large towns and in the midst of industrial communities, the study of science is, as a rule, a prominent feature in their scheme of instruction, and accordingly their science faculties are usually strongly developed. A spirit of emulation makes them all active centres of research, especially in physical science and in its technical applications, and their aggregate output of original scientific inquiry is now very considerable, and in extent and quality compares most favourably with that of continental nations. Their influence upon the conduct of those industries which ultimately depend upon science is already very marked, and as the number of scientifically trained men becomes larger, as the result of their instruction, that influence is bound to become still greater. With the diffusion of a knowledge of scientific principles new applications of science to practice will follow, and these in their turn will react upon the instruction in the schools of science. The ultimate effect of all this will be a still clearer recognition by the community that the permanence and eventual success of our manufacturing industries depends upon the intelligent application of science.

We are thus able to perceive how Roscoe’s action in helping on the development of Owens College on modern lines and in raising it eventually to the status of a university has reacted, and is bound still further to react, upon the intellectual and material welfare of this country. It was the great success of the Manchester College as a centre for the diffusion of knowledge in its own district that incited other towns to seek to emulate its example, and when Owens College sought for the position as a university to which she was entitled, the same spirit of emulation quickened the efforts of her friendly rivals to make themselves not less worthy of such a dignity.

Of course it is not claimed for Roscoe that he actually initiated this remarkable movement—a movement which must be regarded as one of the most significant features of our times; he shares the credit with others. But he certainly was one of the mainsprings of it. It may be said the time was ripe for the step. Nevertheless, it is due to him to affirm that he was one of the earliest to perceive that fact, and to take occasion boldly by the hand. If he cannot justly be said to have actually started the action, he was at least one of its most powerful prime movers.