An attempt to create a chair of Russian language, literature and history at Queen’s University of Belfast

Abstract

This article deals with an attempt to create a chair of Russian language, literature and history at Queen’s University of Belfast. It relates the suggestion of the industrialist and philanthropist Henry Musgrave to donate a significant sum of money to the university, the circumstances of the gift, the actions of the university authorities at all levels — from the faculty to the Senate — on the organization of the chair. We then outline the circumstances which led to the modification of the original plan of using the funds and its role in the organization of teaching the Spanish language at the university. The attempt to create a chair of Russian language, literature and history at Queen’s University of Belfast is examined in the context of Russian-British relations during the First World War and the revolutionary events in Russia, and also as an episode in the development of the teaching of modern languages in universities in the United Kingdom. Refs 44.