View source for Rector of the University of Edinburgh

{{Use British English|date=November 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

[[File:Gordon Brown (2008).jpg|thumbnail|right|[[Gordon Brown]], elected Rector while a student, later served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]]]
The '''Lord Rector of The University of Edinburgh''' is elected every three years by the students and staff at [[The University of Edinburgh]]. Seldom referred to as ''Lord Rector'', the incumbent is more commonly known just as the ''Rector''.

== Role ==

The Rector chairs the University's highest governing body, the University Court; in addition the Rector chairs meetings of the General Council in the absence of the Chancellor. In more recent years the role has included a function akin to that of an [[ombudsperson]] for the university community. In their position, the Rector can exert considerable influence in Court and in the body politic of the University. They can be well-informed about student and staff issues and concerns, can champion their causes, and can make sure that these issues are fully aired in Court.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Rector|url=http://www.rector.ed.ac.uk/index3.htm|publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]]|access-date=14 October 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016061641/http://www.rector.ed.ac.uk/index3.htm|archive-date=16 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=How the Rector’s Role has Changed|url=http://www.rector.ed.ac.uk/history.htm|publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]]|access-date=14 October 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828030550/http://www.rector.ed.ac.uk/history.htm|archive-date=28 August 2012}}</ref>

== History ==

The position of [[Rector (academia)|Rector]], along with the positions of Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, was only created in 1858. Prior to this, the University was governed by the [[List of Lords Provost of Edinburgh|Lord Provost]], Magistrates, and town council of Edinburgh. The rector's place in the university was codified by statute of the [[Westminster Parliament]], the [[Universities (Scotland) Act 1889]], which provided for the election of a Rector at all universities then in existence in [[Scotland]].  To this day only the [[Ancient universities of Scotland|ancient universities]] of [[Rector of the University of St Andrews|St Andrews]], [[Rector of the University of Glasgow|Glasgow]], [[Rector of the University of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]] and Edinburgh plus the newer [[University of Dundee|Dundee]], elect a Rector; the 20th-century universities do not.

In 1935 students went to great lengths to invite Russian revolutionary [[Leon Trotsky]] to become Rector. Trotsky turned down the offer stating: "The elections to the rectorate are conducted on a non-political basis and your letter itself is signed by representatives of every political tendency. But I myself occupy too definite a political position. … [I could not] appear on any public tribune not under the Bolshevik banner."<ref>{{cite web|title=Letter from Leon Trotsky to the students of Edinburgh University, 7 June 1935|url=http://www.archives.lib.ed.ac.uk/polopoly/amspu.php?cat=Coll-1158|publisher=Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections|access-date=15 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924131202/http://www.archives.lib.ed.ac.uk/polopoly/amspu.php?cat=Coll-1158|archive-date=24 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Leon|last=Trotsky|title=Students at Edinburgh Offer Trotsky Rectorship|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1935/06/edinburgh.htm|publisher=[[Marxist Internet Archive]]|date=7 June 1935|access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>

Successful candidates are typically well-known figures with some connection to the city. [[Gordon Brown]] was unusual in being elected at the age of 21 while still a student, several years before he became politically prominent.

==List of rectors==
===Rectors in the 17th century===
The post of Rector was separated from that of [[List of Principals of the University of Edinburgh|Principal]] in 1620.<ref name="C17">{{cite web|title=Rector (office of)|website=The University of Edinburgh: Our History|url=http://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Rector|access-date=3 July 2019}}</ref>

*1620 [[Andrew Ramsay (minister)|Andrew Ramsay]] (1st term, resigned 1626)
*1627 [[Alexander Morison, Lord Prestongrange|Sir Alexander Morison]]
*1631 ''Vacant''
*1640 [[Alexander Henderson (theologian)|Alexander Henderson]]
*1646 [[Andrew Ramsay (minister)|Andrew Ramsay]] (2nd term, ejected 1648)
*1649 [[Robert Douglas (minister)|Robert Douglas]]

In 1665, the Town Council of Edinburgh resolved that the role of Rector should rest thereafter with the [[Lord Provost of Edinburgh]].<ref name="C17"/>

(The then Lord Provost was [[Andrew Ramsay, Lord Abbotshall|Andrew Ramsay]], son of Andrew Ramsay, who had served twice as rector.)

===Rectors since the Universities (Scotland Act) 1858===
The position of rector was recreated by the Universities (Scotland Act) 1858. Rectors of the university have been:<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/officials/rector| title=The Rector of the University| publisher=University of Edinburgh| access-date=17 August 2008}}</ref>

*1859 [[William Ewart Gladstone]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1865 [[Thomas Carlyle]]
*1868 [[James Moncreiff, 1st Baron Moncreiff|Sir James Moncreiff]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|Bt}}
*1871 [[Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet|Sir William Stirling-Maxwell]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|Bt|MP}}
*1874 [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|The Earl of Derby]]
*1877 [[Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire|The Marquess of Hartington]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1880 [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery|The Earl of Rosebery]]
*1883 [[Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh|Sir Stafford Northcote]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|Bt|MP}} (from 1885 [[Earl of Iddesleigh]])
*1887 [[Schomberg Kerr, 9th Marquess of Lothian|The Marquess of Lothian]]
*1890 [[George Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen|George Goschen]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1893 [[James Robertson, Baron Robertson|James Robertson]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|QC|FRSE}}
*1896 [[Alexander Bruce, 6th Lord Balfour of Burleigh|The Lord Balfour of Burleigh]]
*1899 [[Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava|The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava]]
*1902 Sir [[Robert Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay|Robert Finlay]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1905 [[Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane|Richard Haldane]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1908 [[George Wyndham]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1911 [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto|The Earl of Minto]]
*1914 [[Field Marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|The Earl Kitchener]]
*1917 [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] [[David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty|Sir David Beatty]] (promoted [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]] in May 1919 and created [[Earl Beatty]] in Oct. 1919).
*1920 [[David Lloyd George]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1923 [[Stanley Baldwin]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1926 [[Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet|Sir John Gilmour]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|Bt|MP}}
*1929 [[Winston Churchill]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}<ref>{{cite web| author=Paul Addison| author-link=Paul Addison| work=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|title= Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (1874–1965)| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]| date=30 September 2004| url=http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk:80/view/article/32413| access-date=10 September 2007}}</ref>
*1932 [[General (British Army)|General]] Sir [[Ian Hamilton (British Army officer)|Ian Hamilton]]
*1935 [[Field Marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|The 1st Viscount Allenby]]
*1936 Sir [[H. J. C. Grierson]]
*1939 Sir [[John Donald Pollock]]
*1945 [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]] [[Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope|The Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope]]
*1948 [[Alastair Sim]]
*1951 Sir [[Alexander Fleming]]
*1954 Sir [[Sydney Smith (forensic expert)|Sydney A. Smith]]
*1957 [[James Robertson Justice]]
*1960 [[Jo Grimond]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1963 [[James Robertson Justice]]
*1966 [[Malcolm Muggeridge]] (resigned 1968)
*1968 [[Kenneth Allsop]]
*1971 [[Jonathan W. G. Wills]]
*1972 [[Gordon Brown]]
*1975 [[Magnus Magnusson]]
*1979 [[Father (title)|Fr.]] [[Anthony Ross (rector)|Anthony Ross]]
*1982 [[David Steel]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
*1985 [[Archie Macpherson]]
*1988 [[Muriel Gray]]
*1991 [[Donnie Munro]]
*1994 [[Malcolm Macleod]]
*1997 [[John Mark Colquhoun]]
*2000 [[Robin Harper]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MSP}}
*2003 Sir [[Tam Dalyell]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|Bt|MP}}
*2006 [[Mark Ballard]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MSP}}
*2009 [[Iain Macwhirter]]
*2012 [[Peter McColl]]
*2015 [[Steve Morrison (TV producer)|Steve Morrison]]
*2018 [[Ann Henderson (campaigner)|Ann Henderson]]
*2021 [[Debora Kayembe]]
*2024 [[Simon Fanshawe]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Lucy |title=BREAKING: University of Edinburgh confirms LGB rights activist Simon Fanshawe as Rector |url=https://studentnewspaper.org/breaking-university-of-edinburgh-confirms-lgb-rights-activist-simon-fanshawe-as-rector/ |website=studentnewspaper.org |access-date=13 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-02-12 |title=Activist Simon Fanshawe named as University of Edinburgh rector |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68272222 |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ancient university governance in Scotland]]
* [[Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh]]
* [[Principal of the University of Edinburgh]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/officials/rector}}
* [http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=T2298 Interview with Gordon Brown as Rector]

==Bibliography==
*{{cite web|title=List of rectors|work=Previously Answered Reference Questions| publisher=Edinburgh University Library| url=http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/faqs/parqsutz.shtml#Rec1|access-date=29 July 2006}}
*{{cite web|title=List of chancellors|work=Previously Answered Reference Questions| publisher=Edinburgh University Library| url=http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/faqs/parqsutz.shtml#Chanc1|access-date=29 July 2006}}
*{{cite book|first=Donald|last=Wintersgill|year=2005|title=The Rectors of The University of Edinburgh 1859–2000|publisher=Dunedin Academic Press|isbn=1-903765-44-7}}

{{University of Edinburgh}}
{{University officials of the Ancient Universities of Scotland}}

[[Category:Rectors of the University of Edinburgh| ]]
[[Category:Lists of rectors of Scottish universities|Edinburgh]]