The Making of a University

Thu, 10 Nov 2016 15:34:00 GMT

The Making of a University: The Path to Higher Education in Huddersfield by Professor John O’Connell covers the history of institution from the 1840s to the early 1990s

Martin O'Connell, Tim Thornton and Bob Cryan ◄ Pictured with Professor John O’Connell’s son, Martin O’Connell (centre), are the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Thornton (left) and the Vice-Chancellor Professor Bob Cryan (right)

THE year 2016 has seen commemorations of the 175^th anniversary of the foundation of the educational institution from which the University of Huddersfield is directly descended. Now, a new book by a former professor tells the story in detail.

Titled The Making of a University, the book has been launched at a special event. But there was a bittersweet note, because the author, Professor John O’Connell, died before it could be brought into print.

Professor O’Connell – who served in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm during WWII – became a history lecturer at the then Huddersfield College of Technology in 1964. During a career that ended with his retirement in 1989, he became a Professor and held a series of senior roles at the Polytechnic of Huddersfield as it had become, prior to adopting university status.

He carried out detailed research, starting with the establishment of Huddersfield Mechanics’ Institution in 1841, and he contributed a chapter to the book Huddersfield: A Most Handsome Town. But on his death in 2011, Professor O’Connell also left the manuscript for a full-length book on the University’s history from the 1840s to the early 1990s.

This was edited by the University’s former Director of Computing and Library Services, Professor John Lancaster, into the 160-page The Making of a University, which includes a large number of illustrations.

Professor John Lancaster The book was launched at the University’s Heritage Quay archives centre and present was Professor O’Connell’s son Martin, accompanied by his wife Mel, and his son Dom and wife Sam.

Mr O’Connell spoke of his late father’s passion for his subject, for the institution and for the town of Huddersfield.

‌“He did everything with enthusiasm, dedication and commitment and in this book we have a living testament to this institution’s journey to becoming a university. The fact that my father didn’t live to see his book in print is a shame, but that doesn’t detract from the satisfaction he took in a creating a history that is a reference point for the University, and it is a joy for us to be here at the launch,” said Mr O’Connell.

The event was opened by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Tim Thornton, who said it was deeply sad that Professor O’Connell could not be present.

‌“Nevertheless The Making of a University stands as a memorial to John and to the kind of historian he was – painstaking, highly attentive to detail and absolutely insistent on accuracy.

As a result, the University of Huddersfield has acquired an exceptionally authoritative account of the evolution of its precursor institutions.”

The book’s editor, Professor Lancaster (pictured right), was unable to attend the launch, but his successor as Director of Computing and Library Services, Sue White, delivered a message that he had sent.

“Professor John O’Connell’s skills as a historian, his remarkable attention to detail, his profound knowledge of a multiplicity of sources and his innumerable contacts have all conspired to bring about the production of a fascinating book which tells a wonderful story of human endeavour,” stated Professor Lancaster.

“As John himself said, it is a book that has been a long time in gestation but the result is a record of the development of an institution that has done so much for the economy and society of Huddersfield and its environs. The University of Huddersfield encapsulates all that is best in higher education. Professor John O’Connell was very proud of his long association with the University and in these pages he has undoubtedly captured the remarkable spirit that inspired its beginnings and that still guides its progress.”