Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597[a] under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts over 140 free public lectures every year. Since 2001, all lectures have been made available online. As of 2024 the Provost is Professor Martin Elliott.[3]
History
First four centuries
Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange, left his estate jointly to the City of London Corporation and the Mercers' Company, which today support the college through the Joint Grand Gresham Committee under the presidency of the Lord Mayor of London. Gresham's will provided for the setting up of the college – in Gresham's mansion in Bishopsgate, on the site now occupied by Tower 42, the former NatWest Tower – and endowed it with the rental income from shops sited around the Royal Exchange.
The early success of the college led to the incorporation of the Royal Society in 1660,[4] which pursued its activities at the college in Bishopsgate before moving to its own premises in Crane Court in 1710. Gresham College was mentioned "particularly and academically" alongside the Inns of Court and other colleges in London as part of a figurative University of London in Sir George Buck's tract, The Third Universitie of England: Or a Treatise of the Foundations of all the Colledges, Auncient Schooles of Priviledge, and of Houses of Learning, and Liberall Arts, within and about the Most Famous Cittie of London, published in 1615 as an appendix to John Stow's Annales. The 17th century saw various proposals for a third university in England, including one in London, taking in Gresham College.[5] The college remained in Gresham's mansion in Bishopsgate until 1768, and moved about London thereafter until the construction in 1842 of its own buildings in Gresham Street EC2. Gresham College did not become part of the University of London on the founding of the university in the 19th century, although a close association between the college and the university persisted for many years. In 1892 the foundation of a 'Gresham University' in London was proposed in Parliament, intended to be a "Teaching University worthy of this Metropolis."[6] This was opposed by the Victoria University on the grounds that its medical faculty would dominate medical teaching in the country to the detriment of Manchester.[7] The proposed university may just have borrowed the name from the college.
21st century
Since 1991, the college has operated at Barnard's Inn Hall, Holborn EC1. Since 2000, the college regularly invites visiting speakers to deliver lectures on topics outside its usual range, and it also hosts occasional seminars and conferences. The college provides over 140 lectures a year, all open to the public free of charge.
Since 2001, the college has been recording its lectures and releasing them online in what is now an archive[8][9] of over 2,000 lectures. Since 2007, lectures have also been available through YouTube, with 54 million views of 3,000 videos and 282,000 subscribers as of August 2024.[10][11]
Annual lectures series of particular note hosted by the college include: the Gresham Special Lecture, the Annual Lord Mayor's Event, and the Gray's Inn Reading.
These original endowed chairs reflect the curriculum of the medieval university (the trivium and quadrivium); but as a place for the public and frequent voicing of new ideas, the college played an important role in the Enlightenment and in the formation of the Royal Society. Early distinguished Gresham College professors included Christopher Wren, who lectured on astronomy in the 17th century, and Robert Hooke, who was Professor of Geometry from 1665 until 1704.[13]
The geometrician is to read as followeth, every Trinity term arithmetique, in Michaelmas and Hilary terms theoretical geometry, in Easter term practical geometry. The astronomy reader is to read in his solemn lectures, first the principles of the sphere, and the theory of the planets, and the use of the astrolabe and the staff, and other common instruments for the capacity of mariners.[14]
The professors received £50 a year, and the duties of their positions were specified tightly.
Today three further professorships have been added:
The professors generally hold their positions for three years,[18] extendable for a fourth year, and give six lectures a year. There are also regular visiting professors appointed to give series of lectures at the College, and a many single-lecture speakers.
Gresham Special Lecture series
The Gresham Special Lecture – now called The Sir Thomas Gresham Annual Lecture – originated in 1983 as a free public lecture delivered by a prominent speaker. It was devised as a focus-point among the many free public lectures offered every year.
1983: Lord Scarman – 'Human Rights and the Democratic Process'[51]
Excerpts from Sir Thomas Gresham's will
Frontage of Barnard's Inn Buildings
THIS IS THE LASTE WILL WRITTEN and disposition of me Sir Thomas Gresham of the cittye of London knighte, concerninge all my mannors, landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes, mentioned and conteyned in one quadripartite indenture, made betweene me the said Sir Thomas Gresham and dame Anne my wife on the one partye, and Phillippe Scudamore gent. and Thomas Celey on thother partie, dated the 20 day of May, in the seaventeenth yere of the raigne of our soveraigne lady queene Elizabeth....
AND I will and dispose, that ... the said maior and corporation of the said cittye [London] ... shall give and distribute to and for the sustentation, mayntenaunce, and findinge foure persons from tyme to tyme to be chosen, nominated, and appointed by the said maior and cominalty and cittezens and theire successors, mete to read the lectures of divynitye, astronomy, musicke, and geometry, within myne owne dwellinge house in the parishe of St. Hellynes in Bishopsgate streete and St. Peeters the pore in the cittye of London ... the somme of two hundred pounds of lawfull money of England, in manner and forme followinge, viz. to every of the said readers for the tyme beinge the somme of fifty pounds of lawfull money of England yerely, for theire sallaries and stipendes, mete for foure sufficiently learned to read the said lectures; the same stipendes and sallaries, and every of them, to be paid at two usuall tearmes in the yere yerely, that is to say, at the feastes of thannunciation of St. Mary the Virgin and of St. Mighell tharchangell, by even portions to be paid....
AND ... that they and theire successors every yere yerely shall give, and pay, and distribute to and for the findinge, sustentation and maynetenaunce of three persons, by them the said wardeins and cominalty and theire successors from tyme to tyme to be chossen and appointed, meete to reade the lectures of law, phissicke, and rethoricke, within myne nowe dwellinge house in the parrishe of St. Hellyns in Bishopesgate streete and St. Peters the pore, in the said cittye of London ... the somme of one hundred and fifty poundes of lawfull money of England, in manner and forme followinge, viz. to every of the said readers for the tyme beinge the somme of fiftye poundes, for theire sallaries and stipendes, mete for three sufficiently learned to reade the said lectures, at two usuall tearmes in the yere, that is to say, at the feast of thannunciation of the blessed Virgin Marye and of St. Mighell the Archangell, by even portions to be paid....
AND ... shall permitte and suffer seaven persons, by them from tyme to tyme to be elected and appointed in manner and forme aforesaid, meete and sufficiently learned to reade the said seaven lectures, to have the occupation of all my said mansion house, gardeins, and of all other thappurtenaunces, for them and every of them there to inhabite, study, and daylie to reade the said severall lectures. And my will is, that none shall be chossen to reade any of the said lectures, so longe as he shall be married, nor be suffered to reade any of the said lectures after that he shalbe married, neither shall receave any fee or stipend appointed for the readinge of the said lectures....
Sir Thomas Gresham's grasshopper crest, used as a symbol of the College
IN WITNES whereof I the said Sir Thomas Gresham have written this will all with myne owne hand, and to each of the eight leaves have subscribed my name ; and to a labell fixed there unto all the eight leaves have setto my seal with the grasshopper, the 5 day of July, in the seventeenth yere of the raigne of our soveraigne lady queene Elizabeth, and in the yere of our Lord God, ann. 1575.
By me THOMAS GRESHAM
Witnesses to this last will and testament of the said Sir Thomas Gresham the persons whose names be subscribed,
Gresham College occupied the house of Sir Thomas Gresham, in Bishopsgate Street, from 1596, when Lady Gresham, Sir Thomas’s widow, died. The meeting which Pepys attended [23 January 1660/61, PG] was an early one of the Royal Society, which was incorporated by royal charter in 1663.
This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.
From Newton's Apple P24, by Peter Aughton : " The Ballad of Gresham Colledge" the CamOx Rival: The Colledge, Gresham, shall hereafter ...Be the whole world's Universitie, Oxford and Cambridge are our Laughter; ...Their learning is but Pedantry. Those Colleagues doe assure us, ...Aristole's an Asse to Epicurus.
The Noble learned Corporation Not for itselfe is thus combyn'd But for the publique good oth' Nation And general benefit of Mankynd. These are not men of commmon mould; They covet fame contemn gold Joseph Glanville
Gresham College occupied the house of Sir Thomas Gresham, in Bishopsgate Street, from 1596, when Lady Gresham, Sir Thomas's widow, died. ---Wheatley, 1896.
The tradition of free educational programs continues at Gresham College, and ... for those of us abroad and unwilling to log on at unearthly hours ... their lectures are available free of charge on-line on request.
For Londoners, there is a hint that people may be able to attend again in June 2021 after a year of being on-line only.
This one is about Kepler's mother, who was accused of being a witch in 1615 in Germany, which might be interesting: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/gresha…
Or this one about how the English Reformation shattered society instead of binding it seamlessly under the Church of England: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lecture…
Or a lecture about the crush Queen Anne had on Capt. Jennens' niece (the Duchess of Marlborough) which resulted in Barbara Villiers Palmer's boy toy (now the Duke of Marlborough) being presented with two of the greatest houses of the late Stuart age? "Blenheim and Marlborough House encapsulate the architectural rivalries and ambitions of patrons and architects illuminating the febrile atmosphere of the last days of the Stuart dynasty." https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lecture…
The 2023 book, “A Cultural History of Democracy in the Age of Enlightenment”, surveys the burst of political imagination that created multiple Enlightenment cultures in an era widely understood as an age of democratic revolutions.
Enlightenment as precursor to liberal democratic modernity was once secular catechism for generations of readers. Yet democracy did not elicit much enthusiasm among contemporaries, while democracy as a political system remained virtually nonexistent through much of the period.
If 17th- and 18th-century ideas did underwrite the democracies of succeeding centuries, they were often inheritances from monarchical governments that had encouraged plural structures of power competition. But in revolutions across France, Britain, and North America, the republican integration of constitutional principle and popular will established rational hope for public happiness. Nevertheless, the tragic clashes of principle and will in fraught revolutionary projects were also democratic legacies.
Each chapter focuses on a distinct theme: sovereignty; liberty and the rule of law; the “common good”; economic and social democracy; religion and the principles of political obligation; citizenship and gender; ethnicity, race, and nationalism; democratic crises, revolutions, and civil resistance; international relations; and the transformations of sovereignty -- a synoptic survey of the cultural entanglements of “enlightenment” and “democracy.”
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8 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro • Link
SIR THOMAS GRESHAM and Gresham College.
http://www.thebookofdays.com/mont…
cumgranosalis • Link
From Newton's Apple P24, by Peter Aughton :
" The Ballad of Gresham Colledge" the CamOx Rival:
The Colledge, Gresham, shall hereafter
...Be the whole world's Universitie,
Oxford and Cambridge are our Laughter;
...Their learning is but Pedantry.
Those Colleagues doe assure us,
...Aristole's an Asse to Epicurus.
The Noble learned Corporation
Not for itselfe is thus combyn'd
But for the publique good oth' Nation
And general benefit of Mankynd.
These are not men of commmon mould;
They covet fame contemn gold
Joseph Glanville
cumgranosalis • Link
addendum for the full treatise:
Retrieved from "http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bal…"
Second Reading
Bill • Link
Gresham College occupied the house of Sir Thomas Gresham, in Bishopsgate Street, from 1596, when Lady Gresham, Sir Thomas's widow, died.
---Wheatley, 1896.
Terry Foreman • Link
Ballad of Gresham College [a satire in 28 stanzas]
Anonymous
In Praise of that choice Company of Witts and Philosophers who meet on Wednesdays weekly att Gresham Colledg.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ba…
Terry Foreman • Link
Gresham College is in the SE corner of this segment of the 1746 map
http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/Se…
San Diego Sarah • Link
The tradition of free educational programs continues at Gresham College, and ... for those of us abroad and unwilling to log on at unearthly hours ... their lectures are available free of charge on-line on request.
For Londoners, there is a hint that people may be able to attend again in June 2021 after a year of being on-line only.
This one is about Kepler's mother, who was accused of being a witch in 1615 in Germany, which might be interesting:
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/gresha…
Or this one about how the English Reformation shattered society instead of binding it seamlessly under the Church of England:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lecture…
Or a lecture about the crush Queen Anne had on Capt. Jennens' niece (the Duchess of Marlborough) which resulted in Barbara Villiers Palmer's boy toy (now the Duke of Marlborough) being presented with two of the greatest houses of the late Stuart age?
"Blenheim and Marlborough House encapsulate the architectural rivalries and ambitions of patrons and architects illuminating the febrile atmosphere of the last days of the Stuart dynasty."
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lecture…
Never a dull moment.
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
The 2023 book, “A Cultural History of Democracy in the Age of Enlightenment”, surveys the burst of political imagination that created multiple Enlightenment cultures in an era widely understood as an age of democratic revolutions.
Enlightenment as precursor to liberal democratic modernity was once secular catechism for generations of readers. Yet democracy did not elicit much enthusiasm among contemporaries, while democracy as a political system remained virtually nonexistent through much of the period.
If 17th- and 18th-century ideas did underwrite the democracies of succeeding centuries, they were often inheritances from monarchical governments that had encouraged plural structures of power competition. But in revolutions across France, Britain, and North America, the republican integration of constitutional principle and popular will established rational hope for public happiness. Nevertheless, the tragic clashes of principle and will in fraught revolutionary projects were also democratic legacies.
Each chapter focuses on a distinct theme: sovereignty; liberty and the rule of law; the “common good”; economic and social democracy; religion and the principles of political obligation; citizenship and gender; ethnicity, race, and nationalism; democratic crises, revolutions, and civil resistance; international relations; and the transformations of sovereignty -- a synoptic survey of the cultural entanglements of “enlightenment” and “democracy.”
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/cul…