Main Building Centenary

A Proud History

The formal opening followed some four years later, on 14th October 1909, when the Earl of Plymouth – then President of the university college – performed the ceremony. Students processed from the existing building in Newport Road to be part of the occasion.

This was a grand affair, and the celebrations continued the next evening, when the Earl and his wife, the Countess, hosted a reception in the building’s library – known as the Draper’s Library, which was officially opened by the Master of the Worshipful Drapers’ Company as part of the same proceedings. The Council Chamber next to it became the ‘conversation room’, with music, lantern slide shows and dramatic performances by past and present students.

Part of the entertainment included a solo by a Mr Anthony Jones, The Freshman, whose words and music were written by the Principal, Ernest Howard Griffiths, who had replaced Viriamu Jones and would remain Principal until his retirement in 1918.

We are told the audience was encouraged to join in the chorus, which ran:

The Second Year Man has discovered ‘Life isn’t all skittles and beer,
And the Third is depressed by the knowledge ‘Exams’ are unpleasantly near,
While the Dons, they are most of them married, so plenty of worries they’ve got;
The Freshman, alone, has no troubles. Oh! Freshman we envy your lot!

Behind the merriment was the knowledge that the building’s appeal fund had reached only half its target. Indeed, the building which was opened 100 years ago was only the West front. The wings would be added later.