§ 5 The Administration of the Press
All the activities of the Press may be described as a function of the corporation known as the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford, acting through the Delegates of the Press. The constitution of this Delegacy is in some respects peculiar. So long ago as 1757 the statute promoted by Sir William Blackstone for the better management of the Press established the principles of continuity and of expert knowledge by the constitution of Perpetual Delegates; and these principles have been maintained.
The Delegacy is now composed of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors for the time being ex officio, and (normally) of ten others, of whom five are Perpetual. Delegates are appointed for a term of years by the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors, by whom they may be re-elected; but when a vacancy occurs among the perpetual Delegates, the Delegates as a whole are enjoined by statute to ‘subrogate’ one of the junior Delegates to be perpetual, ad supplendum perpetuo numerum quinque Perpetuorum Delegatorum.
The roll of the Delegates contains the names of many famous scholars. Among those of recent times may be mentioned William Stubbs, Ingram Bywater, Frederick York Powell. Within the last few years the Press has sustained very heavy losses in the death of some of the most experienced of its Delegates. William Sanday, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, took an active part in the many works of profound learning upon New Testament criticism, by which Oxford has maintained its fame for the prosecution of Biblical learning. Henry Tresawna Gerrans, Fellow of Worcester College, was active in financial administration and in the organization of educational publications. David Henry Nagel, Fellow of Trinity College, gave invaluable advice on scientific books and on technical processes of manufacture. He was chiefly responsible for the plan of the new Bindery, recently completed, which bears his name. The services of Sir William Osler, Regius Professor of Medicine, and of Charles Cannan, of Trinity College, for over twenty years Secretary to the Delegates, are noticed elsewhere in these pages.
The composition of the board on 1 December 1921 was as follows:
The Vice-Chancellor (Dr. L. R. Farnell, Rector of Exeter College) and the Proctors; T. B. Strong, Bishop of Ripon and formerly Dean of Christ Church (extra numerum, by Decree of Convocation); C. R. L. Fletcher, Magdalen College; P. E. Matheson, Fellow of New College; D. G. Hogarth, Fellow of Magdalen College and Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum; N. Whatley, Fellow of Hertford College; Sir Walter Raleigh, Fellow of Merton College and Professor of English Literature—all perpetual Delegates: H. J. White, Dean of Christ Church; Sir Archibald Garrod, Student of Christ Church and Regius Professor of Medicine; Cyril Bailey, Fellow of Balliol College; H. E. D. Blakiston, President of Trinity; and N. V. Sidgwick, Fellow of Lincoln.
The principal officers are: in Oxford, R. W. Chapman, Oriel College, Secretary; J. de M. Johnson, Exeter College, Assistant Secretary; F. J. Hall, Printer to the University; in London, Humphrey Milford, New College, Publisher to the University; in New York, W. W. McIntosh, Vice-President of the American Branch; in Toronto, S. B. Gundy, Manager of the Canadian Branch; in Bombay, G. F. J. Cumberlege, Worcester College, Manager of the Indian Branch; in Melbourne, E. R. Bartholomew, Manager of the Australian Branch.