Rector of the University of St Andrews
Encyclopedia
The Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews is a university official chosen every three years by the students of the University of St Andrews
. Seldom referred to as Lord Rector, he or she is more commonly known simply as the Rector
, the office having been created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom
when it passed the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858, which regulated academic governance and provided for the election of a Rector at all of the universities in existence at the time in Scotland
. To this day it is only the four ancient universities of Scotland
: University of St Andrews
, University of Glasgow
, University of Aberdeen
, and University of Edinburgh
, as well as the University of Dundee
, that elect a rector, whereas modern universities do not.
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
. Seldom referred to as Lord Rector, he or she is more commonly known simply as the Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
, the office having been created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
when it passed the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858, which regulated academic governance and provided for the election of a Rector at all of the universities in existence at the time in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. To this day it is only the four ancient universities of Scotland
Ancient universities of Scotland
The ancient universities of Scotland are medieval and renaissance universities which continue to exist until the present day. The majority of the ancient universities of the British Isles are located within Scotland, and have a number of distinctive features in common, being governed by a series of...
: University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
, University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
, University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
, and University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, as well as the University of Dundee
University of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....
, that elect a rector, whereas modern universities do not.
List of Rectors
- 1859-1862 Sir Ralph Anstruther
- 1862-1865 William Stirling-MaxwellWilliam Stirling-MaxwellSir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet, of Pollok , was a Scottish historical writer and art historian, politician and virtuoso.-Early life:...
- 1865-1868 John Stuart MillJohn Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
- 1868-1871 James Anthony FroudeJames Anthony FroudeJames Anthony Froude , 23 April 1818–20 October 1894, was an English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fraser's Magazine. From his upbringing amidst the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, Froude intended to become a clergyman, but doubts about the doctrines of the Anglican church,...
- 1872-1874 Charles NeavesCharles NeavesCharles Neaves, Lord Neaves FRSE was a Scottish advocate, judge, theologian and writer. He served as Solicitor General , as a judge of the Court of Session, the supreme court of Scotland , and as Rector of the University of St Andrews .Neaves was known as one of the early analysts of the history...
- 1874-1877 Arthur Penrhyn StanleyArthur Penrhyn StanleyArthur Penrhyn Stanley was an English churchman, Dean of Westminster, known as Dean Stanley. His position was that of a Broad Churchman and he was the author of works on Church History.-Life and times:...
- 1877-1880 Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of SelborneRoundell Palmer, 1st Earl of SelborneRoundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne PC , was a British lawyer and politician. He served twice as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...
- 1880-1883 Sir Theodore MartinTheodore MartinSir Theodore Martin KCB KCVO was a Scottish poet, biographer, and translator.-Biography:Martin was the son of James Martin, a solicitor in Edinburgh, where Theodore was born and educated at the Royal High School and University...
- 1884-1886 Donald Mackay, 11th Lord Reay
- 1886-1889 Arthur BalfourArthur BalfourArthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
- 1889-1892 Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and AvaFrederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and AvaFrederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society...
- 1892-1898 John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of ButeJohn Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of ButeJohn Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute KT, KSG, KGCHS was a landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist and architectural patron.-Early life:...
- 1898-1901 James StuartJames Stuart (politician)James Stuart was a British educator and politician. He was born in Markinch, Fife, and attended the University of St Andrews before going to Trinity College, Cambridge. He later became a Fellow of the College and Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics at Cambridge University from 1875; he...
- 1901-1907 Andrew CarnegieAndrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
- 1907-1910 John Lubbock, 1st Baron AveburyJohn Lubbock, 1st Baron AveburyJohn Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC , FRS , known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was a polymath and Liberal Member of Parliament....
- 1910-1913 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of RoseberyArchibald Primrose, 5th Earl of RoseberyArchibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
- 1913-1916 John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and TemairJohn Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and TemairJohn Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC , known as The Earl of Aberdeen from 1870 to 1916, was a Scottish politician...
- 1916-1919 Field Marshal Sir Douglas HaigDouglas Haig, 1st Earl HaigField Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, was a British senior officer during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of the War...
- 1919-1922 Sir J. M. BarrieJ. M. BarrieSir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
- 1922-1925 Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
- 1925-1928 Fridtjof NansenFridtjof NansenFridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
- 1928-1931 Sir Wilfred GrenfellWilfred GrenfellSir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, KCMG was a medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador.He was born at Parkgate, Wirral, England, the son of Algernon Grenfell, headmaster of Mostyn House School, and Jane Georgiana Hutchison and married Anne Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan of Chicago, Illinois, in...
- 1931-1934 Field Marshal Jan SmutsJan SmutsJan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
- 1934-1937 Guglielmo MarconiGuglielmo MarconiGuglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
- 1937-1938 Robert MacGregor MitchellRobert MacGregor MitchellRobert MacGregor Mitchell was a Scottish lawyer and judge, Liberal Member of Parliament and University Rector.Mitchell was the son of a solicitor from Perth. He was educated at Perth Academy and the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh.He practised as a solicitor in Perth for some years and...
- 1938-1946 Sir David Munro
- 1946-1949 Sir George CunninghamGeorge CunninghamGeorge Cunningham is a British politician.Cunningham was educated at Dunfermline High School, Blackpool Grammar School and the University of Manchester. He worked for the Labour Party as Commonwealth officer....
- 1949-1952 David Cecil, Lord BurghleyDavid Cecil, 6th Marquess of ExeterDavid George Brownlow Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter KCMG , styled Lord Burghley before 1956 and also known as David Burghley, was an English athlete, sports official and Conservative Party politician...
- 1952-1955 David Lindsay, 28th Earl of CrawfordDavid Lindsay, 28th Earl of CrawfordDavid Alexander Robert Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres, KT, GBE , known as Lord Balniel from 1913 to 1940, was a British Unionist politician....
- 1955-1958 David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Viscount KilmuirDavid Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of KilmuirDavid Patrick Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir GCVO, PC, KC, , known as Sir David Maxwell Fyfe from 1942 to 1954 and as The Viscount Kilmuir from 1954 to 1962, was a British Conservative politician, lawyer and judge who combined an industrious and precocious legal career with political ambitions...
- 1958-1961 Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby
- 1961-1964 C. P. SnowC. P. SnowCharles Percy Snow, Baron Snow of the City of Leicester CBE was an English physicist and novelist who also served in several important positions with the UK government...
- 1964-1967 Sir John RothensteinJohn RothensteinSir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein CBE was an English art historian. He grew up in London the son of Sir William Rothenstein. The family was loosely connected to the Bloomsbury Set. John Rothenstein studied at Oxford University and became friends with T. E. Lawrence...
- 1967-1970 Sir Learie ConstantineLearie ConstantineLearie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine MBE was a West Indian cricketer who played 18 Test matches before the Second World War. He took West Indies' first wicket in Test cricket and was the team's leading all-rounder and opening bowler for the entirety of his career...
(from 1969 Baron Constantine) - 1970-1973 John CleeseJohn CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
- 1973-1976 Alan CorenAlan CorenAlan Coren was an English humorist, writer and satirist who was well known as a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz The News Quiz and a team captain on BBC television's Call My Bluff...
- 1976-1979 Frank MuirFrank MuirFrank Herbert Muir was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wrote BBC radio's Take It From Here for over 10 years, and then appeared on BBC radio...
- 1979-1982 Tim Brooke-TaylorTim Brooke-TaylorTimothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
- 1982-1985 Katharine WhitehornKatharine WhitehornKatharine Elizabeth Whitehorn is a British journalist, writer, and columnist who was known for her wit and humour and as a keen observer of the changing role of women.-Early life:...
- 1985-1988 Stanley AdamsStanley Adams (whistleblower)Stanley Adams is a former pharmaceutical company executive and corporate whistleblower, whose case was a cause célèbre in the 1970s....
- 1988-1991 Nicholas ParsonsNicholas ParsonsNicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...
- 1991-1993 Nicholas CampbellNicky CampbellNicholas Andrew Argyll "Nicky" Campbell is a Scottish radio and television presenter and journalist. He is known for his time presenting on programmes such as the consumer affairs programme Watchdog...
- 1993-1999 Donald FindlayDonald FindlayDonald Findlay QC, is a well-known senior advocate and Queen's Counsel in Scotland. He has also held positions as a vice chairman of Rangers Football Club and twice Rector of the University of St Andrews...
- 1999-2002 Andrew NeilAndrew NeilAndrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...
- 2002-2005 Sir Clement FreudClement FreudSir Clement Raphael Freud was an English broadcaster, writer, politician and chef.-Early life:Freud was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig Freud and Lucie née Brasch. He was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the brother of artist Lucian Freud...
- 2005-2008 Simon PepperSimon PepperSimon Pepper, OBE, was Director of the World Wildlife Fund from 1985 to 2005. He was also Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews between 2005 and 2008, having been inaugurated on March 10, and was succeeded by Kevin Dunion, OBE....
- 2008-2011 Kevin DunionKevin DunionKevin Dunion OBE is the first and current Scottish Information Commissioner, as well as the current Lord Rector of the University of St Andrews.-Early life:...
- 2011- Alistair MoffatAlistair MoffatAlistair Moffat is an award winning writer and journalist, former director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Rector of the University of St Andrews.-Education:...