The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S. / A Biographical Sketch

by T. E. Thorpe

He remained a member of the Senate until 1910, when age and increasing deafness necessitated his retirement. In the resolution of condolence which the Senate passed at its first meeting after his death, they recalled with gratitude and admiration the great services he had rendered to the University during the twenty-one years of his membership of the Senate, at first as Fellow and later as one of the representatives of His Majesty in Council; and especially the wisdom, born of long experience in academic administration, with which he guided the University during the six years of his Vice-Chancellorship, which witnessed its reconstitution under the Act of 1898.

Roscoe was a Fellow of Eton College, as a representative of the Royal Society, from 1889 to 1912, and did what he could during the twenty-three years he served on the Governing Body to overcome what he terms “the enormous inertia of this ancient machine.” He sought to further the teaching of physical science in the School by himself giving lectures, and through his efforts it is the richer by no less than one large and one small physical laboratory, a physics lecture-room, a workshop, and two more chemical laboratories, with store-rooms, etc. He also reorganized the system of teaching, and introduced graduated courses, which have resulted in an all-round improvement. Nevertheless, the results have not been commensurate with all the hard work and enthusiasm he put into his efforts. They have been largely discounted by factors over which he had no control. No one realized this more clearly than himself, and he felt keenly the disappointment of his hopes, so much so that more than once he considered the advisability of resigning his Fellowship as a protest. He earned the gratitude of the science staff by his uniform kindness and sympathy, and by the readiness with which he would discuss their difficulties with them and help them with advice and encouragement.

As the representative of the Royal Society, his chief interests lay with the teaching of physical science, but they did not rest there. No Fellow worked harder for the general welfare of the School. In order to make himself acquainted first-hand with facts connected with the subjects to be discussed at the meetings of the Provost and Fellows, he constantly visited Eton. His opinion and advice on all sorts of questions were sought and respected, and he has left behind him a record of whole-hearted service to the School that will long be remembered with appreciation and gratitude.

Roscoe’s experience as an educationist, and his success in furthering the development of Owens College, naturally caused him to be consulted when institutions of a similar type were projected, and he was occasionally induced to take part in their foundation and government. Thus he had a large share in the arrangement of the curriculum of the University College of Dundee in 1881, and he was afterwards concerned, as a member of the Scottish Universities Commission, in establishing the connection of that College with the University of St. Andrews. He was appointed by the Duke of Devonshire to a governorship of University College, Liverpool, a position particularly gratifying to him as a member of a distinguished Liverpool family. He represented the University of London on the Council of Firth College, Sheffield, which has since risen to the dignity of a university, and was of service with respect to its science curriculum.

In 1888 Roscoe acted as a member of an Executive Commission appointed to carry out the provisions of the Scottish Universities Act. The Commission succeeded in devising ordinances which in many respects revolutionized the systems of the Scottish Universities, and by providing new avenues to degrees are destined, it may be hoped, to have an important effect upon the character of scientific education in Scotland.

In 1890 he was appointed a member of a Committee along with Lord Playfair, Lord Kelvin, Professor Huxley, Mr. Mundella, Sir Norman Lockyer, and Dr. William Garnett, to advise the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition on the question of establishing scholarships to aid the development of scientific education in the manufacturing districts of the country.

Roscoe remained a member of that body after it had presented its Report and had been entrusted with the duty of putting into operation the scheme which had been devised for the distribution and regulation of the scholarships. The character of these scholarships cannot be better described than in his own words:—

It was decided that these should be of a higher order than most of those existing; in fact, that their functions should begin where the ordinary educational curriculum ends, this system having been adopted with excellent effect in the French École Pratique des Hautes Études. In other words, the scholarships were to be entirely confined to research, and strict conditions were laid down as to the capability of the candidate to carry out original investigation. The scholarships were to be £150 a year in value, tenable for two years, and to be limited to those branches of science the knowledge of which is specially important for our national industries. The Commissioners from time to time were to select a number of institutions throughout the Empire in which high scientific instruction is given. Each university or college was to have the power of nominating a student to a scholarship on the condition that he exhibited a capacity for advancing science or its applications; these scholarships, when awarded, were to be tenable in any university, either at home or abroad, or other approved institutions.…

The fact that a large number of the nominating institutions are situated in the colonies, and that the scholars from these institutions come to the mother-country to carry out their scientific work, must exert an important influence in strengthening the relations between different parts of the Empire. The value of this system is fully appreciated by the authorities at home and abroad, and many are the instances in which men of ability, who would otherwise have been unable to follow a scientific career, or to assist the progress of our national industries, are now coming to the front in both respects. It has been well remarked that if, in the course of a century, even one Faraday should have been discovered, the sum spent would have been amply repaid.

The policy laid down by the original committee has since been pursued without essential variation, and what was at first regarded as an educational experiment has proved itself by the test of time an entirely successful undertaking, and one which has served as a model for the institution of similar foundations, both in this country and abroad.