Univ., Habil.-Schr.--Bielefeld, 2000.

The Scottish Reform Act of 1832 and the Scottish Municipal Reform Act of 1833 destroyed the domination of the Tory party over Edinburgh politics. The champions of reform, the Edinburgh Whig lawyers, emerged as the triumphant new political leaders of the new, overwhelmingly liberal electorate. But by the late 1830s a large number of middle class electors had grown critical of the Whigs. Some radicals resented the domination of a legal clique over the constituency and attacked the Whig government for its slowness in dealing with outstanding grievances, such as the corn laws and the desire for further franchise reform. Another dissident group were the Dissenters who called for the abolition of the state church relationship and the annuity tax (the Edinburgh property tax maintaining the Established Church clergy). The Non-Intrusionist (later Free Church) movement was strong in Edinburgh and from 1840 onwards increasingly hostile to the Whigs. In 1847 an alliance fashioned out of these three disgruntied groups by the Dissenter leader, Duncan McLaren, achieved the humiliating defeat of the Whig candidate, T.B. Macaulay. The Liberal party that emerged out of this election was aiming at the complete overthrow of the Edinburgh Wnigs, but due principally to the inability of the Dissenters and Free Churchmen to reconcile their ideological differences over voluntaryism and their jealous rivalry for control of the Liberal party, the alliance collapsed in 1852. In the election of that year, Macaulay was triumphantly re-elected and McLaren was defeated. Although the latter's attempts to replace the Whig oligarchy with a broadly based Liberal party of alienated sectarians and middle class radicals failed in 1852, McLaren's efforts can be seen as one of the earliest and most significant attempts to create the basis of the Gladstonian Liberal party. This thesis describes in detail the local socioeconomic, religious and political circumstances which crucially affected McLaren's activities, while trying to isolate those aspects of Edinburgh politics which reflect national political developments in early Victorian Britain. I have used the terms Tory and Conservative interchangeably in this thesis since in newspapers, private letters and public speeches both terms were used interchangeably throughout the early Victorian period. The use of the term liberal in the 19th century was subject to much variation. Many Whigs styled themselves Liberals after 1832, but in Edinburgh at least, this change was never very popular and most journalists and letter writers continued to speak of the Whigs as Whigs, especially after McLaren's coalition of Dissenters and middle class radicals began to term themselves Liberals. Since this group did have a separate party structure and a self-conscious sense of independence from the Whig oligarchy, I have used the term Liberal for McLaren's party and not for the Whig party. Confusion may be avoided by pointing out here that the Whig party structure was called the Liberal Aggregate Committee, but functioned very much for Whiggish purposes. When the terms liberal and conservative are used without capitalization, they are used in an ideological rather than party sense. This is particularly relevant when discussing the Whigs among whom were politicians with conservative and liberal attitudes towards further reform after 1832; these differences are dealt with in Chapter Two below.

This practice-led thesis is based on a study of the use of encased voids or bubbles in glass. The study is grounded in practice and draws out through antecedents in philosophy, psychology and epistemology, a methodology called Reflective Risk. It shows that through a rigorous analysis of practice, using video and personal reflection that new insights emerge. The study is framed by craft practice (the word craft here used as a collection of ‘genre’ of which glass is part). The thesis uses experiential learning as a tool and a means of understanding the practice of creating and controlling encased voids in glass in the context of contemporary applied arts practice. The framework, Reflective Risk, is constructivist in approach. It is based on Experiential Learning Theory (ELT), but it also draws on epistemological theories of tacit knowledge. The thesis shows that through an understanding of technique and material qualities, process can be deconstructed to reveal new insights. The thesis documents how an understanding ELT and a range of self-regulatory antecedents can influence the cognitive process of craft practice through praxis. The results of this study, on the one hand, are directed to glass practitioners and on the other, to provide a theoretical approach appropriate for the reflective practitioner working in other media by adopting a parallel method of enquiry.

Recent scholarship has suggested that transformist ideas had a wider currency in Edinburgh in the first half of nineteenth century than had previously been acknowledged. The first objective of this study is to delve deeper into the reception of transformist theories there in the years 1790 to 1844. The main figures whose theories on the transmutation of species were discussed in contemporary sources are Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), George-Louis Leclerc, Conte de Buffon (1707–1788), Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829) and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772–1844); this study therefore concentrates on the reception of their work. The principle Edinburgh contexts in which the reception of their theories is explored are the University of Edinburgh, the extra-mural medical schools and the city’s various learned societies and scientific journals, although the opinions of all those in Edinburgh known to have discussed transformism in this period are considered. The sources examined reveal that transformist theories were largely received with interest. Discussion of them was generally confined to scientific, or naturalistic, arguments, except in the cases of some Evangelical natural historians, who rejected them outright on theological grounds. This thesis also explores how some thinkers in Edinburgh went beyond discussing received ideas about transformism and developed their own theories, synthesising the work of earlier thinkers. The most important of these were Robert Edmond Grant (1793– 1874), Robert Jameson (1774–1854), Robert Knox (1791–1862) and Henry H. Cheek (1807–33). This thesis also explores the genesis of the later transformist theory of Robert Chambers (1802–71), the anonymous author of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), to establish to what extent he may have been influenced by the earlier transformists of the 1820s and 30s. Events in Edinburgh in the 1820s also had a wider resonance for the history of evolutionary ideas in Britain, as Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was a student at the University of Edinburgh between 1825 and 1827. It has long been suspected that his experiences in Edinburgh had a larger part to play in the development of his theory of evolution than he later cared to admit. Careful to avoid associating himself with the more speculative theories of earlier transformist thinkers, Darwin made little mention of them in his published writings. We already know, however, that Darwin had a close relationship with Grant during his time in Edinburgh and must have been familiar with his transformist ideas. This thesis aims to show to what extent the intellectual environment that Darwin found himself in was suffused with the idea of the transmutation of species. In broad outline, it can be concluded that transformism was much less controversial in Edinburgh in the first half of the nineteenth century than might be supposed from the prevailing historiography and had a significant number of sympathisers and adherents.

Univ., Diss.--Edinburgh, 2005.

The International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art held in Edinburgh in 1886 was the first universal international exhibition to be staged in Scotland. This thesis examines the event as a reflection of the character and social structure of its host city and as an example of the voluntary organisation of an ambitious project. The background to the Exhibition is located in the progress of large-scale exhibitions in Victorian Britain, in competition between cities, and in Edinburgh’s distinction as an administrative and cultural centre and a national capital. The Exhibition’s organisers are situated within the city’s networks of power and influence and its circles of commerce, industry and municipal government. The space created to host the Exhibition is examined as an ideal depiction of Edinburgh as both a modern and a historic city. The origins of the exhibitors populating the Exhibition space are analysed, and their motivations and exhibiting strategies are scrutinised. The composition of the visitors to the Exhibition is considered and the development of the event as a venue for popular entertainment and spectacular display is discussed. In conclusion the chaotic aftermath of the project is examined, together with its influence on subsequent British exhibitions.

This thesis maps the different geographical processes by which people in Enlightenment Edinburgh encountered, understood and ordered space. It analyses the knowledge-making practices that were an integral part of Enlightenment reasoning, and that contributed to the construction of Edinburgh’s identity as an Enlightenment capital. In particular, it focuses on four aspects of mapping: planning, surveying, travelling, and compiling. The thesis explores how people in Enlightenment Edinburgh made sense of their city, their environs, their nation, and their world via these placed and place-making geographical processes. It focuses intimately on the work of planners, surveyors, travellers and compilers. It is concerned, moreover, with the transmission of plans, surveys, travel accounts and geographical compilations, and with the people who constituted a receptive commercial audience for them. The discussion makes use of a diverse range of sources, including manuscript maps of the New Town and the confessional diary of a hack writer, but it is primarily based on the substantial business ledgers of two Edinburgh booksellers, which cover the period 1771- 1809. By analysing the production and performance of the geographical works that were bought by the city’s inhabitants, this thesis demonstrates that Enlightenment mapping was the process by which the authority of vernacular spatial knowledges was replaced by a professedly ‘scientific’ paradigm. By emphasising the vernacular subjectivities of the production and performance of Enlightenment maps, however, the thesis denaturalises and challenges the legacy of Enlightenment.

No

Zugl.: Chemnitz, Univ., Diss., 2004

This thesis is a case study of six organisations and two pilot organisations to investigate the implementation of strategic planning in small charitable organisations in the voluntary sector in Edinburgh. The case studies utilised semi-structured interviews, observations and questionnaires on multiple occasions over a two-year time period. The data collected provided insight into the financial management systems utilised by these organisations and the training level attained by the financial person of each of the organisations. The findings supported the concept that the more developed the training of the financial person, the more developed the level of planning attained and the more complex the funding arrangements accessed by that organisation become. The research also supported the position that the barriers to planning were the same barriers that have been previously noted in the literature as indigenous to the voluntary sector: time, money, resources, and communication. In addition, the research developed evidence to support a listing of characteristics which are indicative of when an organisation is ready to plan more strategically. These include such items as a teamwork approach, knowing the staff and their backgrounds, knowing and planning for the training needs of staff, supporting the staff, and developing in the staff the feeling that they can talk to their supervisor. The research also developed that there are certain general characteristics, such as being aware of changes in the law, having, and being perceived to have, fair and up to date policies and procedures as being indicative of an organisation which is ready for the changes intrinsic in the implementation of strategic planning models involving continuous improvement such as the EFQM Excellence Model®. Although the organisations are not opposed to planning in general and strategic planning in particular, the need for survival by conforming to the requirements of funders takes precedence over longer term planning. Part of the impetus for this behaviour is the evocative behaviour of supporting 'the cause' for which they were founded. Frequently in the voluntary sector, 'the cause' also involves working with vulnerable groups of people. The limited progress observed in their strategic planning indicated that the period of time available for observation was too short and the measurements needed to be taken too soon.