Abstract
FULL university status was conferred on University College, Nottingham, by the King in Council on July 9, 1948 (see Nature, August 14, p. 240) ; Lord Trent was installed as chancellor of the new University on May 4, 1949. It was a day of magnificent pageantry, and the occasion was described by the great historian, Dr. G. M. Trevelyan, as truly historic. The long procession included representatives of seventeen foreign universities and of eighteen British and Commonwealth universities and university colleges, members of the University Grants Committee, students and staff of the University of Nottingham, the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, and the mayors of neighbouring towns. The vice-chancellor (Mr. B. L. Hallward) opened the meeting and called upon the senior pro-chancellor (the Duke of Portland) and the registrar to lead in the Chancellor. As the Chancellor's procession entered the hall, preceded by the mace-bearer in colourful costume, it was greeted by a fanfare of trumpets. On reaching the platform, the Chancellor was installed by the Duke of Portland, who delivered an address of welcome ; he was followed by representatives of other universities. Then Lord Trent received the University's first honorary degree, that of doctor of laws. In returning thanks, Lord Trent described a university "as a seat of learning at which the habit of exact thinking is inculcated and the quest for truth is pursued for its own sake. It is in this sense that our University must be judged as a training ground for future leaders, at every level, of science, and of the arts and professions. The most important factor in industry to-day is the human one. Technical ability is not enough without leadership and vision, and to my mind the best training for these qualities is a course in the humanities."
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University of Nottingham : Installation of the Chancellor. Nature 163, 757 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163757b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163757b0