Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
wonder if, after all, there was someone up there looking out for
him.
Durham University had been established in 1832, but for one
reason or another - largely the competition from colleges in
nearby Newcastle - science had not flourished, and until 1924
the range of subjects taught at Durham was largely confined to
the arts, particularly those subjects associated with theology.
Essentially it was a small private collegiate university benefiting
from its close relations with the clergy and cathedral, whose
members served on the Durham Colleges' Council and who held
considerable influence over all university matters.
As a result of provisions made in the Education Acts of 1918
and 1921, which ensured that no person was debarred from
education because they could not a¬ord to pay, there was an
increasing demand for teachers in the expanding schools.
Responsibility for training these new teachers lay with local
councils, thus a fruitful alliance developed in the early 1920s
between Durham County Council and the Durham Colleges'
Council. As a result, in 1924, science was reborn at Durham
University. Four new departments were created, a new building
was constructed to house them, and seven new appointments
were made - a professor, reader and lecturer in chemistry; a
professor and lecturer in physics, and a reader in each of botany
and geology.
Holmes was amongst eighteen applicants for the single
geology post, and Bob Lawson amongst fifteen applicants for
the professorship in physics. They were both placed on short-
lists of three and called to attend interviews on Thursday 29th
May, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It must have been a strange
reunion for the two men who had seen each other only occa-
sionally since Holmes had returned from Burma, now that
Lawson lived in She~eld. Throughout their friendship Holmes
