| Description | Minute book of University of Birmingham General Purposes committee, containing minutes of meetings from 12 July 1900 to 28 May 1902. All minutes except those of the last meeting are signed and confirmed.
The General Purposes committee appears to have been established to 'prepare an appeal...for an annual grant for the University and to take into consideration the question of attaining a coat of arms for the University and the preparation of a seal', according to minutes of the first meeting. This meeting was attended by the Vice-Chancellor, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Treasurer, the Vice-Principal, the Dean of Medical Faculty, and members of University Council G. J. Johnson and J. H. Lloyd. The first meeting was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, but G. J. Johnson was appointed chairman for subsequent meetings.
The first few meetings of the committee were held on a monthly basis, but meetings in and 1901 and 1902 took place at longer intervals.
Minutes include reports by members on the design of coat of arms and the application for a grant of arms. They also contain details about the preparation of the University Ordinances and the design of the seal, and include a copy of the printed memorandum to the Treasury for an increase in the grant to the University and transcripts of subsequent correspondence between the University and the Treasury.
According to minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 1900, the committee was also given the responsibility of drafting Regulations, and of organising improvements to facilities for women students, and to rooms used by the men students. Minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 1900 include a transcript of a letter from the Principal, Oliver Lodge, concerning the lack of space in the Edmund Street building for increased numbers of students and staff, and the expenditure required for making alterations to teaching space. The committee obviously had the power to grant additional expenditure in these circumstances, and there are other references to the grant of relatively small sums of money for other, similar, requirements. In addition, the committee discussed the use of rooms in the University buildings at Edmund Street by external societies and organisations, and minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 1901 record that the committee was asked to consider the appointment of representative governors of local schools, and the possible appointment of a tutor for the women students at the University.
Minutes of the meetings held on 28 November 1901 and 30 April 1902 include copies of the report of the General Purposes committee to Council.
There is no indication in the minute book that the committee was abolished after the end of May 1902, but no further minutes survive, and it is possible that once the specific terms of reference of the committee were accomplished, its other responsibilities were absorbed by other University committees |