| Administrative History | The John Farquhar Thomson Lectureship was founded by the bequest of John Thomson of the Aberdeen University Press, in memory of his son, John Farquhar Thomson (1865 - 1889), MA Aberdeen 1886.
Thomson (senior) had in mind a lecture series similar to Reid's Popular Lectures on Anatomy, that he had himself attended at the turn of the century. He wished that lectures along similar lines 'for the special purpose of affording information to young persons as to the due care of the body and the prevention of its abuse by intemperance and its frequent concomitant venereal disease' should become a permanent part of the general work of the University (see introductory lecture in MS 3753/2/4).
The series comprised an annual course of six weekly lectures delivered in the winter session, in Marischal College, by a member of the University's teaching staff. The first course of lectures was assigned to the Anatomy Department and delivered by Professor Reid in January 1921. In the interests of ensuring breadth and interest, regulations prevented the same lecturer being appointed for two years in succession |