Westminster politicians and rectorial elections in Scotland's universities, 1820–1920

This article focuses on the relationship of Westminster politicians to rectorial elections at Scottish universities between the first obviously ‘political’ contest at Glasgow in 1820 and Lloyd George’s triumph in Edinburgh in 1920. It argues that the widely reported return of Sir Robert Peel at the University of Glasgow in 1836 underlined the partisan political potential of the elections and established many of the features of the subsequent elections at Glasgow and elsewhere. After mid-century, such political contests – often fierce and bipartisan – were increasingly normal following the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858, and the article examines how rectorial contests functioned to offer parliamentarians and their supporters a range of opportunities. Finally, the article engages in a closer examination of two rectorial contests towards the end of the period to indicate how far these had become sites of professionalization and training grounds for aspiring politicians by the early twentieth century.