The Vice-Chancellor

Summary

According to the new Statutes (D. Chap. III) the Vice-Chancellor is to be elected annually by the Regent House. “At the election of a Vice-Chancellor, the Proctors shall stand in scrutiny with the two senior members of the Regent House present. The scrutineers shall first give their own votes in writing and then take the votes in writing of all persons present who have the right of voting. That one of the two persons nominated, for whom the greater number of votes is given, shall be declared to be elected.”

Looking back, we find that the Chancellor was required generally to be in residence, but that, if he were absent for more than fifteen days, a Vice-Chancellor (vicarius) was appointed. Dr Tanner, in The Historical Register, gives a list of such offices from early in the fifteenth century; two centuries later, when Dr Fisher was chosen as Chancellor for life, the Vice-Chancellor's standing increased in importance; and when the Chancellor was a non-resident magnate, his substitute became the leading official at Cambridge.

It is not necessary here to record all the details of the election of the Vice-Chancellor; but certain of the proceedings at his installation may be noticed.

First of all, it may be pointed out that formerly a collection of books descended from generation to generation through the hands of successive Vice-Chancellors. A list of these may be seen in MS. CVI, C.C.C., signed “bie mee Walter Haddon,” Master of Trinity Hall, and passed on to his successor Dr Madew in 1550.