Professors' Court in the University of Glasgow, looking towards High Street, 1868. The quadrangle was formed by houses built from 1722 for University professors. The ungainly structure in the centre of the courtyard contained the University's gasometer, and was topped with a pointed obelisk that had once been the cover of the University well.
The philosopher Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856) was the son of a professor of Anatomy and Botany and was born in a house in Professors' Court. Originally intending to study medicine at Edinburgh in 1806 he changed his mind and went to Oxford to study philosophy and classics, subsequently becoming one of Britain's most famous philosophers. In 1821 was elected to the chair of Civil History at the University of Edinburgh, and in 1836 became professor of Logic and Metaphysics there.
Reference: TEMP.2039.698
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
anatomy, botany, classics, courtyards, gasometers, houses, logic, medicine, metaphysics, philosophers, philosophy, professors, Professors' Court, quadrangles, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, wells