University of Glasgow

John J. Adam was a Scottish immigrant, member of Michigan legislature, holder of various state offices, regent and treasurer of the University of Michigan.

From the description of [Diploma, granting to Ioannis Iohnstone Adam a degree in liberal arts] 1826 April 7. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34368441

John Baird Hunter was born in 1837 in Paisley, the son of an apothecary named William Hunter. Together with his older brother, William Munn Hunter (born 1828), he attended the University of Glasgow, first matriculating in 1858. John and William both studied medicine and attended the same classes, as follows:

During his time at the University John won second class prizes in Practice of Physic, Surgery, Materia Medica and Forensic Medicine, and William won second class prizes in Materia Medica and Forensic Medicine. Both John and William graduated MD CM in 1862.

John worked as ship surgeon for the British and Canadian Royal Mail Service, then became the Parochial Medical Officer for the 2nd District Borough of Paisley, where he also lived. He passed away on 4 February 1915.

William's son, one of 11 children and also called William Munn Hunter, was born in 1869 and followed in his relatives' footsteps and studied medicine, attending the University of Glasgow and Anderson's College of Medicine and graduating MB CM in 1893. William snr died on 10 November 1921.

From the guide to the Papers of John Baird Hunter, 1837-1915, medical graduate, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1 May 1862, (Glasgow University Archive Services)

The University or College of Glasgow (the terms were interchangeable) was established by a bull of Pope Nicholas V granted on 7 January 1451 at the request of King James II of Scotland at the behest of William Turnbull, bishop of Glasgow . The first meetings of the College were held in the Blackfriars in High Street of Glasgow or in one of the Cathedral chapter houses. In January 1460 Lord Hamilton gave the College property adjacent to the Blackfriars which remained its home until 1870 . The fledgling university was given permission to teach in arts and the three higher faculties of theology, law, and medicine. These higher faculties could only present candidates for doctorates while the Arts faculty could award bachelor and masters degrees. The curriculum in arts followed the studium generale, which was common to all European universities. This consisted of Latin, Greek, moral philosophy, logic and natural philosophy and mathematics. A degree course in theory lasted five years with bachelor's degrees being awarded after three years and masters after five. In practice few students graduated until the nineteenth century and most only attended for one or two years taking subjects of their choice. Although there was teaching in canon law and divinity before the Reformation, there was little teaching in medicine until the seventeenth century .

The University was re-established by Andrew Melville in 1577 with a new charter of Nova Erectio granted by Regent Morton . This provided modest endowments from the lands of the cathedral and archbishopric, which were renewed periodically by the Crown. At first the teaching was undertaken by Regents, who taught every subject, but by the end of the seventeenth century these had begun to be replaced by professors with responsibility for teaching individual subjects. Chairs were established in practice of medicine ( 1637 ), divinity ( 1640 ), Humanity (Latin) ( 1682 ), mathematics ( 1691 ), Greek ( 1704 ), oriental languages ( 1709 ), law ( 1713 ), ecclesiastical history ( 1716 ) anatomy ( 1718 ), moral philosophy, logic and rhetoric, and natural philosophy ( 1727 ) and botany ( 1760 ). These thirteen were known as the professors of the old foundation and formed the Faculty, which effectively controlled the University's finances. They were badly paid and depended for their income on publications, taking students as boarders in their homes and the fees they charged for their classes. During the seventeenth century a fine building around two quadrangles was constructed in the High Street

Although the Medical Faculty could only award degrees to those who had already taken an Arts degree, this regulation was ignored and large numbers of undergraduates came to study medicine, particularly after the Glasgow Royal Infirmary was opened in 1794 . So as to distinguish between Arts and other students (mostly medical), the Arts students wore red gowns and were known as togati, while the other, who did not, were known as non-togati. This practice continued until matriculation became compulsory for all students in 1858 . By the end of the eighteenth century the University reputedly had some 1,500 students with the majority studying medicine. Although the University was closely associated with the Church of Scotland , there were no religious tests on admission and only at graduation in arts. Professors were supposed to subscribe to the Westminster Confession, but in practice this formality was only used to block unwelcome appointments forced on the University by the Crown. This requirement was repealed in 1853 .

During the early nineteenth century there was pressure to widen the curriculum to include new subjects, particularly in the sciences and medicine, which were resisted by the Faculty. New chairs were, however, established by the Crown, but their incumbents were not admitted to the Faculty. Consequently there was increasing tension within the University, leading to the Universities of Scotland Act of 1858 , which abolished the Faculty and replaced it with the University Court composed largely of lay members. By this time the professors were disenchanted with their antiquated building in the High Street . Moreover with the rapid growth of the City in the previous century the area had become very run down and seedy. The site was sold to a railway company to make way for a goods station and the University moved in 1870 to a new building, designed by Gilbert Scott , on Gilmorehill in the west end of the City. Two years later an undergraduate science degree was introduced. With the passing of further legislation in 1889 new chairs were established and the curriculum. In 1892 Queen Margaret College for the higher education of women became part of the University and women were admitted for the first time. Despite these reforms the number of students had only increased to just about 2,000 by the end of the century. One of the barriers to recruitment was the cost of the fees and it was only with the establishment of the Carnegie Trust in 1901 , which provided generous bursaries, that student numbers began to rise appreciably, reaching almost 3,000 by the outbreak of the first world war.

In 1913 an affiliation agreement was signed with the Glasgow Royal Technical College , whereby joint degrees would be offered in certain specified technical subjects such as applied chemistry, engineering and mining. From the outset this agreement was a bone of contention, which continued until the Royal Technical College became the University of Strathclyde in 1964 .

Following the reunion of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church in 1929 , Trinity College , which had been established as the Free Church training college merged with the University's divinity faculty. The college had always been on the progressive wing of the church and had numbered amongst its professors such prominent men as T.D. Lindsay (father of A.M. Lindsay ) and George Adam Smith , later principal of Aberdeen. By the second world war there was a growing consensus that all medical, veterinary and dental education should be brought under the jurisdiction of the university sector. As a result in 1946 the Glasgow Dental School joined the medical faculty, to be followed in 1947 by the two independent medical schools in Glasgow, St Mungo's College and Anderson's College of Medicine . Three years later the Glasgow Veterinary College also became part of the medical school with a new hospital at Garscube . The Glasgow School of Architecture also became part of the university in 1964 .

In the post war years student numbers grew rapidly to reach over 9,000 by 1970 and almost 20,000 by the end of the century. With the restructuring of higher education in the 1990s St. Andrew's College of Education joined the university to form for the first time a faculty of education. It also began to validate degrees provided by the Glasgow School of Art and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) . In 1997 the University opened a new campus in Dumfries on the site of the former Royal Mental Hospital as a component of the University College of Dumfries . In 2001 the university celebrated the 550th anniversary of its foundation.

From the guide to the Records of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1304-[ongoing], (Glasgow University Archive Services)

When the University of Glasgow was created at the instigation of Bishop William Turnbull in 1451, it did not have any building of its own and had to use the chapter house of the cathedral. Over the years, the university expanded and relocated several times, as a result of historical events and of the generosity of rich grantors. The 500 Blackhouse charters recount this evolution, giving a great exemplification of this aspect of the history of the university through acts of transfer of land, settlements of court, donations and royal grants.

The main group of documents (BL 1 to BL 311), and also the oldest one, consists of the charters relating to the rights belonging to religious orders before the Reformation. The most important of them was the order of the Dominican Friars of Glasgow, also known as 'Black Friars', active in the city since at least 1246. They possessed many lands and tenements on the High Street in a place called 'Black Friars Wynd', and as every ecclesiastical establishment, they carefully kept their deeds and charters to prove their rights to their lands and their privileges. Another important institution was the Cathedral and its Vicars Choral, closely linked to the university as the masters also held offices in the religious foundations of the city. The first set of documents also contains the university's title to those rights, as in 1563 and 1573, the Blackfriars' properties were made over to the college in two different grants by Mary, Queen of Scots. Additionally, in 1595 a decree of the Lords of the Council designated the masters of the university as successors of the vicars of the choir. Thus, the 'Old College', as the university was called, inherited not only the Black Friars Wynd and the other lands, buildings and rents belonging to the Dominican monks, but also all the legal documents proving their rights.

Those expansions after the Reformation played an important role in enabling the university to flourish during the 17th century. The rest of the collection, divided in "progresses", recount the subsequent acquisitions by the university. It could be either by purchasing lands from laymen, or by appropriating revenue from nearby parishes and vicarages such as Colmonell, Cadder, Stobo, Renfrew and Kilbirnie. Since such cases were often prone to litigation, it was particularly important for the masters to keep all the legal documents proving their rights. Additionally, the university, now well-established, received many generous donations from important people such as Anne Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton and Archbishop Robert Leighton.

From the guide to the Blackhouse charters, 1304-1717, (Glasgow University Archives Services)