Lord Lindsay of Birker | |
|---|---|
| Principal ofKeele University | |
| In office 1949–1952 | |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Lennard-Jones |
| Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University | |
| In office 1935–1938 | |
| Preceded by | Francis John Lys |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Lennard-Jones |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alexander Dunlop Lindsay 14 May 1879 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 18 March 1952(1952-03-18) (aged 72) |
| Political party | Popular Front |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow University College, Oxford |
Alexander Dunlop Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker,CBE (14 May 1879 – 18 March 1952),[1] known asSandie Lindsay, was a Scottish academic andpeer.[2][3][4]
Lindsay worked at a number of universities, beginning his career as a fellow in moral philosophy at theUniversity of Edinburgh and as an assistant lecturer atVictoria University of Manchester. He then moved toBalliol College, Oxford where he had been elected a fellow in 1906. He served in theBritish Army during theFirst World War. He wasProfessor of Moral Philosophy at theUniversity of Glasgow from 1922 to 1924, before returning to the University of Oxford asmaster of Balliol College 1924. He also served asVice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1935 to 1938. Having retired from Oxford in 1949, he became the first principal of the University College of North Staffordshire (nowKeele University).
Lindsay had unsuccessfully stood for election to theHouse of Commons in the1938 Oxford by-election, as an independent candidate opposed to theMunich Agreement. He was, however, made a baron on 13 November 1945, and thereby sat as a peer in theHouse of Lords.
He was born inGlasgow on 14 May 1879, the son ofAnna andThomas Martin Lindsay. Lindsay was educated from 1887 at theGlasgow Academy, then at theUniversity of Glasgow, where he gained aMaster of Arts degree in 1899, and lastly atUniversity College, Oxford, where he took aDouble First in 1902.[5]
In 1903 he won the Shaw fellowship inmoral philosophy at theUniversity of Edinburgh, as had his father, the first recipient of this award. He was assistant lecturer in philosophy at theVictoria University of Manchester from 1904 to 1906, when he was elected a fellow and tutor in philosophy atBalliol College, Oxford.[5]
During theFirst World War he served in France, was mentioned twice in dispatches, and was aLieutenant-colonel.[5]
He wasProfessor of Moral Philosophy at theUniversity of Glasgow (1922–24). He was president of theAristotelian Society from 1924 to 1925. In 1924 he became master of Balliol College and becamevice-chancellor of theUniversity of Oxford from 1935 to 1938. He worked withLord Nuffield who donated £1 million to fund a new physical chemistry laboratory and a postgraduate college for social studies,Nuffield College, Oxford[5] in 1937.
At Oxford, Lindsay was a leading figure in the adult education movement. On his retirement from Balliol, in 1949, Lindsay was appointed the first Principal of the University College of North Staffordshire which opened in 1949 and is nowKeele University.[5]
In 1938, Lindsay stood forParliament in theOxford by-election as an 'Independent Progressive' on the single issue of opposition to theMunich Agreement, with support from theLabour andLiberal parties as well as from manyConservatives including the futurePrime MinistersWinston Churchill,Harold Macmillan, andEdward Heath, and the President of the Oxford Union,Alan Wood, but lost to the official Conservative candidate,Quintin Hogg.
In 1949 Lindsay became the Founding Principal of the University College of North Staffordshire, which opened atKeele Hall in 1950. This unique institution - the first UK University of the 20th Century - tested many of Lindsay's educational principles and reflected the postwar idealism of its day. Known by many as the "Keele Experiment", many of the features of the New Universities of the 1960s were tested at Keele. The University College became theUniversity of Keele in 1962.
Lindsay married Erica Violet Storr (1877 - 28 May 1962), daughter of Francis Storr, in 1907 and they had one daughter and two sons.[5]
He was elevated to the peerage on 13 November 1945 asBaron Lindsay of Birker, of Low Ground in the County of Cumberland. He wasintroduced to theHouse of Lords on 5 December 1945.[6] He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest sonMichael Francis Morris Lindsay.
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Master of Balliol College, Oxford 1924–1949 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1935–1938 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by New Creation | Principal, University College of North Staffordshire (now Keele University) 1949–1952 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Lindsay of Birker 1945–1952 | Succeeded by |
