Handbook of Birmingham / Prepared for the Members of the British Association, 1886

by British Association for the Advancement of Science

The affairs of the college were by the original charter to be conducted by a council of eighteen, of whom twelve were to be elected by the first body of Governors, and two were to be Professors elected from their own body; the Principal, Vice-Principal, Treasurer, and Dean of the Faculty completed the number. Vacancies in the council were to be filled up by co-optation, and vacancies in the Professorial staff by the council from a list supplied by the Professors. By the supplemental charter of 1847, the Principal and Council were constituted one body politic and corporate, and were allowed to acquire property of an annual value not exceeding £2,500, and the same amount for the hospital. The council was also greatly widened by twelve ex-officio Governors, of whom two were members of the council of the hospital, which was represented also by the senior Physician and senior Surgeon; the others were the Lord-Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Warwickshire, the Dean of Worcester, Archdeacon of Coventry, the Mayor of the borough, the High Bailiff of the Manor, and the Rectors of St. Martin’s and St. Philip’s.

To this body of ex-officio governors was entrusted the appointment of the Warden, who later became the real ruler of the college, all matters of general organisation and discipline, and all religious duties, being in his hands. The council was further widened by the admission of two members of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and two each from the Birmingham Architectural and Law Societies. An east wing was added to the college, for engineering and architecture, containing lecture rooms and an engineering workshop. A three years’ course and the passing of two public examinations constituted the requirements for the degree of C.E. of Queen’s College. A Department of General Literature was formed, Dr. Warneford endowing it in 1852 with £2,000. A full collegiate system was established for this department, with resident, and later non-resident students, at which a three years’ course was to be passed. The subjects of study were to be Greek, Latin, Mathematics, Logic, Modern Languages, History, Civil Engineering, Natural, Political, and Moral Philosophy, and the doctrines of the Church of England; the subjects selected having particular reference to the requirements for the examination of the University of London. A Junior Department was also established in or about 1851, for a two years’ preparatory course with collegiate discipline. The whole constitution of the college was, however, codified by the “Rules and Regulations” of 1857; by which it appears that these somewhat ambitious views, pointing to the establishment of a University, had become modified. The design of the college, as now laid down, was “to provide instruction for young men intending to engage in one or other of the following professions:—(1) Medicine and Surgery; (2) Civil Architecture and Engineering; (3) Theology (with a view to ordination); and any other professional study which may from time to time be added.[21] This instruction is combined with a system of collegiate training and moral discipline according to the religious principles of the English schools and colleges connected with the Church of England, and with so much of the ordinary branches of a liberal education, in a department of arts and general literature, as may be properly given in subordination and in reference to such special studies.” For the collegiate education the inclusive fees were to be £75 a year.

There can be little doubt that this idea of creating a resident University in Birmingham was the result of mistaken, though religious, zeal. For the deep and earnest feelings which prompted it we must refer to the record of the meeting of April 20, 1843, contained in Mr. Sands-Cox’s Annals of Queen’s College, published in 1873. But the conditions of life in the town were not favourable, and the scheme broke down through its own weight. Resident students there were, indeed, in small numbers; but the pecuniary loss which they caused to the college was considerable, and in 1873 that part of the scheme from which, thirty years before, so much had been hoped, was declared not to be “an essential part of the College,” and was allowed to lapse. Lord Lyttelton, the President, in a letter written in December, 1873, strongly, though reluctantly, urged this step. As strongly, too, he urged that the theological department should be discontinued. “The more simply and singly the college can henceforth be limited to the objects of a place of instruction for medical students, the better and more likely it is to attain those objects. The hopes that the college might become a University, with the consequent attempt to engraft upon it Faculties of Arts, Law, and others, are now, as I fear, mere dreams of the past.”

Meanwhile the work of the college appears for some years to have been conducted with considerable vigour, and a certain success. Gradually, however, whether from bad management, or from the inherent faults of the constitution, it began to decay, and then its decline was rapid. In 1863, an appeal was put out to relieve it from a debt of nearly £4,000; and in 1864, its condition fell under the eyes of the Charity Commissioners. As the result of their enquiry “it appeared in effect that the college had fallen into a state of decay, and was on the verge of bankruptcy; that the buildings were suffering from want of funds for repairs, and the students diminishing, and that the college could not be made effective and answer the purpose for which it was founded, without the interference of the Court of Chancery, and that the present constitution of the said college was defective.” Accordingly, in February, 1867, a scheme was ordered to be drawn up for the future management, approved by the Master of the Rolls, May 7, 1867, and confirmed by “The Queen’s College, Birmingham, Act.” The council was henceforth to consist of the President, Vice-President, Warden, and twelve others. No condition of churchmanship was attached to the last named. All vacancies were to be filled up, no longer by co-optation, but by the annual meetings. Officers of the college might serve on the Council, but no one who was concerned in the profits of any work done or materials provided for the college. The three original departments, theology, medicine, and arts,[22] were maintained, the Warden to be the resident head of all three. Architecture and engineering were dropped out. Until the debt was cleared off, the offices of Warden and Professor of Theology were to be held by the same person, afterwards by different persons, the Professor to be appointed by the President, Vice-President, and Visitor. There were to be also Professors of Classics and Mathematics and a Medical Tutor. The rights of the church were further secured by a clause referring all questions touching her doctrine and discipline to the President and Vice-President, and in the last resort to the Visitor, whose decision was to be final. With the obvious exceptions, however, of the Warden and Theology Professor, all religious tests on the members of the staff were abolished. Methods were laid down for the payment of the existing debt. A clause, specially declaring that the natural history and anatomy museum were to be preserved in the college, along with the models of machinery and philosophical apparatus, and were to be open to properly qualified persons free of charge, was violated in 1870 by their being removed to Aston Hall, the rooms thus set free being given up to the School of Art. Finally, the college and hospital were entirely separated, the latter being compelled to repay Warneford’s endowment of £1,000.

During 1873 and 1874, evening classes in connection with the Arts Department were started “to afford to young men who have had a good education, and who desire to maintain and improve their acquirements, an opportunity of doing this at a small expense.” Morning Classes for ladies in connection with the Birmingham Higher Education Association were also attempted. The Arts Department of the College itself appears to have died a natural death in 1872: in 1871 it contained “three or four students preparing for admission into the Theological or Medical Departments.”

The Theological Department also has led a languishing existence. In 1874 it contained but 11 students[23] and from then until 1882 the number fluctuated between 11 and 23. Since then it has again been declining. The report of 1885 laments this fact, but gives no figures. An attempt has been made in this year to raise the standard of this department by appointing the Cambridge Preliminary Examination as the final examination of the College.

It is by the Medical School, its original raison d’être, that Queen’s College has a distinct claim upon Birmingham and the Midlands. This part of the scheme has always flourished and still is flourishing; and it is justly regarded as one of the most important provincial schools of medicine in the kingdom. It started with almost its full development from the beginning. Thus in 1828 the plan of lectures included anatomy, physiology, and pathology, materia medica and medical botany, chemistry, and pharmacy, principles and practice of physic and surgery, midwifery and other diseases of women and children. In 1845, we find this list increased by the division of anatomy into “General and Surgical,” and “Descriptive and Comparative.” Chemistry also was added. In 1874, the Chair of Pathology, which had dropped out of the original list, was recreated, and an additional Professorship of Physiology and Anatomy appointed. In 1880, following the Act for the Registration of Dentists, a School of Dental Medicine and Surgery was formed, and this was recognised in 1882 by the Royal College of Surgeons. The lectures on anatomy and chemistry were recognised as qualifying for the degrees of the University of Edinburgh. In 1885, the Borough Lunatic Asylum was associated with the College, students being now at liberty to obtain instruction in lunacy and mental diseases. Summer dissections were also carried on for the first time in this year.

In 1882, consequent upon the organisation of the Mason Science College, an important change was made. It was felt that if both institutions carried on, within a stone’s throw of each other, parallel courses of lectures, great waste of power would ensue. It was therefore arranged that the lectures on chemistry, botany, and physiology should in future be delivered by the Professors of Mason College, acting as lecturers for Queen’s College, and delivering courses of lectures suited to the requirements of medical students. In this way not only was the overlapping avoided, but the endowments of Queen’s College were materially relieved, while the resources of the Mason College magnificent library were also available to the students of the former. The Birmingham Medical School was now placed in a position of equality with the richest and best organised Colleges in the United Kingdom.

It should be mentioned that in 1879, in addition to the already existing Ingleby Scholarships, two new classes of entrance scholarships were created by the Council, the Sydenham and Queen’s. The former were to be given by the vote of the Council to the orphan sons of legally qualified medical men; the Queen’s were to be awarded by examination to sons of medical men; the sons of former students having the preference in both cases. At the present time the college contains considerably more than 100 students, that being the normal number. That its condition, so far as medicine is concerned, is one of vigorous vitality, may be gathered from the following extract from the last Report. “The students have passed examinations at five Universities, in six cases gaining distinction, one being the highest attainable. At the Primary Examination for the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, thirty students passed in one or both branches. At the above mentioned examinations there were only four complete rejections during the year. It must be borne in mind, also, that this result does not accrue from careful weeding out of students by a test examination. All students, having attended the required number of lectures, were permitted to present themselves for examination.”

Mason College.—The scheme of a University at Queen’s College had, as we have seen, broken down through the inherent defects of its design. We come now to the establishment of another University, which in its building, equipment, and aims, forms a worthy completion to the educational system of the town.