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Glasgow University

 

Established in 1451 by Bishop William Turnbull, the university spent the first 400 years of its life in the east end of the city originally by the cathedral then off the High Street. As the industrial revolution developed, Glasgow would be coined the 2nd city of the empire by Queen Victoria. The city and the surrounding area around the university gradually became more and more unpleasant with the smog and pollution. Therefore, when the opportunity came to move to the west end, the countryside at the time, it would prove to be extremely timely.. However, it was not plain sailing as the sale of the land to Glasgow, Airdrie & Monklands Railway company fell through eventually taking litigation by the university to fund the move and even then they had to raise money to complete it  through public subscriptions and donations.

 

Once there though, the Scottish-French Gothic building by Sir George Gilbert Scott was impressive. It was the second largest and oldest Neo-Gothic/Gothic Revival piece of architecture in the UK behind the Houses of Parliament, built ten years previously. Controversially though, there was no competition held for architects to bid and given that at the time the city had a  number of talented architects including Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson the design did not go down well with everyone especially Frank Wordsall declaring it ‘sham medievalism’.

 

Sadly, Gilbert Scott died before completion and his son would finish it adding the 278 feet Gilbert Scott Tower which is now home to a Peregrine Falcon’s reflecting the range of wildlife which can be found in this area next to Kelvingrove Park. This can be best appreciated from the southside of the campus where you can see the missing statues. Now, the architect would like you to believe these were stolen during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. However, we know this is a 19th century building and the university ran out of money! So, you decide.

 

Back inside the confines of the building flanked by the east and west quadrangles sit the majestic cloisters. Meaning a covered area in a college with colonnades to a quadrangle with its archways of fluted columns and ribbed vaults, Harry Potter vibes aplenty going on here. Although, this is where Albert Einstein came for a cigarette break during his guest lecture on the History of the General Theory of Relativity in 1933. He would receive an honorary degree here having turned down a few because he felt like he was walking in the footsteps of his academic heroes Adam Smith, James Watt and Lord Kelvin of Largs who attend this institution in some capacity.

 

Above the cloisters sits Bute Hall named after the Marquis of Bute who in 1877 donated £3 million pounds to the university. Strangely, shipping magnate Charles Randolph gifted £5 million for the smaller Randolph Hall although this was bequeathed which may account for that. Art work include George Sharkey’s three square gyratory structure where large kinetic structures with moving parts was his thing. An American artist, he spent time growing up in Helensburgh as his father was a manager at the Singer Factory as well as being an engineer and clockmaker. Across the cloisters, there is Jephson Robb’s piece of art Alma Mater commemorating all the philanthropists over the years including the public which is the reason this area is open to all 24/7.

 

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Glasgow's West End

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A bustling, vibrant area popular with students, academics and ‘celebrities’ it really developed in the late 19th century after the relocation of the University of Glasgow from the High Street in town to Gilmorehill. At this point, the area was mostly countryside and rolling landscape punctuated by large mansions belonging to the Old Glasgow Gentry. These were wealthy families formed through the success of the Tobacco trade then Cotton and latterly during the industrial revolution making them the billionaires of their day.

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Development was led by James Gibson, as in the Gibson’s of Hillhead, who were involved in the first transatlantic tobacco trade to the Americas in 1674. He would feu lands to similar wealthy families to build their mansions away from the pollution of the city in a location that was only two miles west neighbouring tenant farmers, coal mines and quarries. Along the west bank of the Kelvin River, were the estates of Kelvinside, Kelvingrove and Hillhead soon to be followed by developing ones like Dowanhill, Gilmorehill and Northpark. 

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Hillhead grew to the extent that it acquired burgh status in 1869 becoming the Burgh of Hillhead. The area had grown from a few hundred to a few thousand and with this title came the construction of the burgh. Sadly, it demolished in 1970 and replaced by Hillhead Library in 1975. Meanwhile, James Gibson would campaign for better commuter routes to the city to entice more folk to the area and in the mid-19th century Great Western Road was built. Soon, omnibuses and carriages pulled by horses then trams would operate along the three-mile route from Glasgow Cross to the Botanic Gardens. Underneath ran the railway line which would stop at the Botanic Gardens railway station which used to stand just left to where the blue police box is today. Designed by James Miller, it was built around 1894-96, closed in 1939 then burnt down in 1970.

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The Botanic Gardens had also relocated to the West End in the mid-19th century, an institution formed by Sir Thomas Hopkirk of Dalbeath in the early 19th century, it was originally based at Sandyford nearer to the city centre. However, it made sense for Botanical experts to be closer to the university for medical research and even though it was a private society with members, it did open to the public for a schilling every Saturday. In fact, if you walk into the gardens today, turn left and stroll a short distance you can see down through the ventilation shaft to the original platform.

Strangely, railways did not really take off in Glasgow’s West End given their success around the rest of the city. But this was probably because there were more commercially profitable routes around the city.

 

They also had competition in the form of trams and then in 1896 the subway opened. Glasgow Subway’s Hillhead Station along Byres Road from the Botanics is the third oldest in the world behind London (1863) and Budapest (May 1896). It opened on the 14th of December 1896 only 7 months behind Budapest! Referred to as the Clockwork Orange, in reference to the 1970s Stanley Kubrick film starring Malcom McDowell, it has always consisted of just an inner and outer cycle. Never expanded. This is the main stop in the West End for students at the university who will also use it for the ‘Sub crawl’. That’s right, a pub crawl incorporating the Subway’s fifteen stops involving participants disembarking and finding the nearest pub to sink a drink before descending underground again for the next one. In the case of this stop, that pub would be the Curler’s Rest.

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The oldest building on Byres Road, ‘Curler’s’ dates to the 17th century when it was a coffee house and even entertained King Charles II and Oliver Cromwell. It takes its name from what used to be the nearby Partick Curling Club, and this was their chosen watering hole after practice hence the name. It is along from this pub outside the subway station itself that I start my tour so if that has whetted your appetite (pun fully attended) then drop me an email at strollthrutime@gmail.com.

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Alumni

 

Where do you begin with the famous alumni of this university? With no less than seven Nobel Prize winners, two UK Prime Ministers and three First Ministers of Scotland, it’s a challenge alright. Well here goes.

 

My favourite is James McCune Smith, the first African-American to graduate with a medical degree in the world, and he did it here. Born in New York, he was a slave who would be turned down by all the US universities he applied to before boarding the Caledonian Line across the Atlantic then getting the Steamer to Glasgow. Graduating in 1837, he returned to New York where he opened a medical practice and went on to become a leading abolitionist.

 

Sir William Thomson or Lord Baron Kelvin of Largs (named after the location of his holiday home) was actually born in Belfast in 1824 and only moved to Glasgow when his father was appointed Professor of Maths here. Both the youngest and oldest student matriculated at the university first at the age of ten to study Natural Philosophy then again at the age of 75 as a research student. He was a genius and the university are actually celebrating his 200th anniversary this year. He was credited with turning the Natural Philosophy department into a modern-day Physics one heading it at the age of 22. He also helped pioneer the city during the Industrial Revolution recognising the practical application of his experiments, he was an expert in electricity, nautical instruments and responsible for the Kelvin Absolute Scale of Temperature. Not so popular with his students though, they used to stand outside his house in Professor’s Square and throw eggs at it whilst also stamp their feet during his lectures.

 

Margaret or Madge Easton Anderson graduated from the university in 1920 with a Law degree and would go on to become the first professional female lawyer in the UK. Although only after a struggle, she had been born in Pollockshields in the south-east of the city and attended Hutchesons Grammar School for Girls before becoming known as the ‘Poor Man’s’ Lawyer in London.

 

Then there’s Lord Boyd Orr of Brechin coined the Father of Modern Day Nutrition, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949 for  recognising the link between poor nutrition and poverty. He had been a student at the university and would rise through the ranks to become Rector and eventually Chancellor thanks to his academic ability and achievements.

 

Essex Born Joseph Lister actually worked in Glasgow during the 1860s as Professor of Surgery rather than attend the university but had close links and became known as the Father Day of Modern Day Antiseptic. Recognising the importance of sterile conditions in hospitals regarding instruments used during surgery and even surgeons washing their hands, he would save many lives and even had the mouthwash Listerine named after him in 1879.

 

Finally, Jesse Campbell and Janet Galloway formed the Association for the Higher Education of Women in Glasgow then Queen Margaret College at North Park House. It was actually Isabella Elder, who ran the Fairfield Shipping Engineering company, who bought the former mansion of Tobacco Merchant John Hamilton and BBC Headquarters for Scotland on their behalf giving them a home. The two pioneering women would organise lectures, unions and eventually for women to study Medicine at Glasgow University although they would have to wait until around 1935 before they were allowed in with the men.

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Next time, I’ll be writing about the rich history of two iconic buildings in the West End, the Kelvin Hall and Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum

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