Series OS26/1 - School of Oriental and African Studies

Identity area

Reference code

GB 891 OS26-OS26/1

Title

School of Oriental and African Studies

Date(s)

  • 1935 (Creation)

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Extent and medium

5 items typed

Context area

Name of creator

Administrative history

Name of creator

(1823-)

Administrative history

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.

Name of creator

(1916 -)

Administrative history

The School of Oriental Studies was founded in 1916 at 2 Finsbury Circus, London, the then premises of the London Institution. The school received its royal charter on 5 June 1916 and admitted its first students on 18 January 1917. For a period in the mid-1930s, prior to moving to its current location at Thornhaugh Street, Bloomsbury, the school was located at Vandon House, Vandon Street, London SW1, with the library located at Clarence House. Its move to new premises in Bloomsbury was held up by delays in construction and the half-completed building took a hit during the Blitz in September 1940. With the onset of the Second World War, many University of London colleges were evacuated from London in 1939 and billeted on universities in the rest of the country. The School was, on the Government's advice, transferred to Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1940, when it became apparent that a return to London was possible, the school returned to the city and was housed for some months in eleven rooms at Broadway Court, 8 Broadway, London SW1. In 1942, the War Office joined with the School to create a scheme for State Scholarships to be offered to select grammar and public school boys with linguistic ability to train as military translators and interpreters in Chinese, Japanese, Persian, and Turkish. Lodged at Dulwich College in south London, the students became affectionately known as the Dulwich boys.
A college of the University of London, in 2011, the Privy Council approved changes to the school's charter allowing it to award degrees in its own name.

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Correspondence between the School of Oriental Studies and the Royal Asiatic Society. These are:

  • Letter from G.W. Rossetti, Secretary, School of Oriental Studies, to Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to bring to the Society's attention that the present appointment of Governors will terminate in August 1935 and to ask for the Society to inform him of their representative for the forthcoming five years. Typed with printed letterhead, dated 20 February 1935.
  • Letter from Col Hoysted, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to G.W. Rossetti, Secretary, School of Oriental Studies, to inform him that Sir Edward D. Maclagan would represent the Society for the forthcoming five years. Typed, dated 15 March 1935.
  • Letter from G.W. Rossetti, Secretary, School of Oriental Studies, to Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to thank for the letter notifying of Maclagan's appointment, Typed with printed letterhead, dated 18 March 1935.
  • Letter from Col Hoysted, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to G.W. Rossetti, Secretary, School of Oriental Studies, to inform him that Sir Edward D. Maclagan was no longer able to represent the Society and he would be replaced by Sir Oliver Wardrop. Typed, dated 19 November 1935.
  • Letter from G.W. Rossetti, Secretary, School of Oriental Studies, to Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to thank for his letter notifying of the change of representative. Typed with printed letterhead, dated 20 November 1935.

In 1938 the School of Oriental Studies became the School of Oriental and African Studies by a change in its charter. The Society also holds correspondence from this later time period:

  • Correspondence between J.R. Bracken, Secretary, School of Oriental and African Studies, and the Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to inform that the Society's representative on the university's Governing Body term of office was to expire and to confirm that Mr Dennis J. Duncanson would be reinstated. Typed with handwritten annotations, 3 letters, dated 11 February -21 April 1980.

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  • English

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