MacTutor
Sidney Luxton Loney
Times obituary
MATHEMATICS AT ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE
Professor S. L. Loney, Chairman of the Convocation of the University of London, and from 1888 to 1920 Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Holloway College, died at Parkside, Kew Road, Richmond, on Tuesday, at the age of 79.
Sidney Luxton Loney was born at Tiverton on March 16, 1860, his father being Mr. S. Loney. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School, at Tonbridge School, and at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he was Third Wrangler in 1882. From 1885 to 1891 he was a Fellow of Sidney Sussex. During his long association with the University of London, he played a prominent part in the life of the University In 1905 he became a senator, in 1920 a trustee and governor of the Royal Holloway College, in 1923 Chairman of Convocation, and in 1929 Deputy Chairman of the Court. He also took a leading part in local government and other public work, as a member of the Surrey County Education Committee from 1909 to 1937, as Mayor of Richmond from 1920 to 1921, as a J.P. for the Borough of Richmond, and as chairman of the Kingston and Elmbridge Division of Income Tax Commissioners. His publications included various textbooks on mathematics. In 1885 he married Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. H. P. O. Hamlin, of Exeter. She died in 1934. They had two daughters.
Sir Ernest Graham-Little writes:
The death of Sidney Luxton Loney removes from the service of the university one of its most distinguished and enthusiastic sons. I speak of him with the intimate knowledge of some 30 years as a colleague upon the Senate (which he joined in 1905), and it is in that capacity that he did his greatest and indeed his principal life's work.
The External side of London University now happily securely based upon the Act of 1926, in large measure owes its preservation to the activity of a small group of members of the Senate, among whom Loney was a principal figure. At the turn of the present century, after the teaching side was added to the examining side of the university, there was a determined movement to secure the abolition of External examinations. As the late Dr. Augustus Waller wittily put it, the Internal side, admitted in 1900 as bedfellows with the External side, immediately began to pull the bedclothes over to themselves Those who were anxious to abolish the External system were chiefly responsible for the appointment of the Haldane Commission in 1909. The Commissioners very early on displayed a fixed hostility to the continuance of External examinations, and their ultimate extinction was openly expressed as a fundamental aim of the recommendations. The evidence given to the Commission by Loney on July 7, 1910, was a very stout and able defense of the External position, and it is refreshing to read his spirited replies to the cross-examination by such formidable men as Lord Haldane, Sir William McCormick, and Sir Robert Morant. When the Report of the Haldane Commission was published in 1913, it seemed that the battle for the External system was lost and that the External side, which provides opportunities for the poorer student, was indeed destined to disappear rapidly. It was one of Loney's great personal triumphs that this expectation has been completely falsified; How completely is apparent when one notes that the latest census of external students cited a few days ago at the Albert Hall in the current report of the principal shows that 12,000 students, a total larger than the combined student bodies of Oxford and Cambridge, are registered as having entered degree and diploma examinations, and much more than twice as many as in 1913. Again Loney was a most valuable advocate of the claims of external activities at a meeting in the House of Commons on July 23, 1926, at which Lord Atkin, Sir William Collins, and Loney gave such impressive evidence that their efforts must be held to be largely responsible for the very different complexion of the subsequent Act of November 1926. It may indeed be said of Loney that for over 30 years of his life he had no interests other than those of London University, which he continued to serve with unabated loyalty to the end.
MATHEMATICS AT ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE
Professor S. L. Loney, Chairman of the Convocation of the University of London, and from 1888 to 1920 Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Holloway College, died at Parkside, Kew Road, Richmond, on Tuesday, at the age of 79.
Sidney Luxton Loney was born at Tiverton on March 16, 1860, his father being Mr. S. Loney. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School, at Tonbridge School, and at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he was Third Wrangler in 1882. From 1885 to 1891 he was a Fellow of Sidney Sussex. During his long association with the University of London, he played a prominent part in the life of the University In 1905 he became a senator, in 1920 a trustee and governor of the Royal Holloway College, in 1923 Chairman of Convocation, and in 1929 Deputy Chairman of the Court. He also took a leading part in local government and other public work, as a member of the Surrey County Education Committee from 1909 to 1937, as Mayor of Richmond from 1920 to 1921, as a J.P. for the Borough of Richmond, and as chairman of the Kingston and Elmbridge Division of Income Tax Commissioners. His publications included various textbooks on mathematics. In 1885 he married Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. H. P. O. Hamlin, of Exeter. She died in 1934. They had two daughters.
Sir Ernest Graham-Little writes:
The death of Sidney Luxton Loney removes from the service of the university one of its most distinguished and enthusiastic sons. I speak of him with the intimate knowledge of some 30 years as a colleague upon the Senate (which he joined in 1905), and it is in that capacity that he did his greatest and indeed his principal life's work.
The External side of London University now happily securely based upon the Act of 1926, in large measure owes its preservation to the activity of a small group of members of the Senate, among whom Loney was a principal figure. At the turn of the present century, after the teaching side was added to the examining side of the university, there was a determined movement to secure the abolition of External examinations. As the late Dr. Augustus Waller wittily put it, the Internal side, admitted in 1900 as bedfellows with the External side, immediately began to pull the bedclothes over to themselves Those who were anxious to abolish the External system were chiefly responsible for the appointment of the Haldane Commission in 1909. The Commissioners very early on displayed a fixed hostility to the continuance of External examinations, and their ultimate extinction was openly expressed as a fundamental aim of the recommendations. The evidence given to the Commission by Loney on July 7, 1910, was a very stout and able defense of the External position, and it is refreshing to read his spirited replies to the cross-examination by such formidable men as Lord Haldane, Sir William McCormick, and Sir Robert Morant. When the Report of the Haldane Commission was published in 1913, it seemed that the battle for the External system was lost and that the External side, which provides opportunities for the poorer student, was indeed destined to disappear rapidly. It was one of Loney's great personal triumphs that this expectation has been completely falsified; How completely is apparent when one notes that the latest census of external students cited a few days ago at the Albert Hall in the current report of the principal shows that 12,000 students, a total larger than the combined student bodies of Oxford and Cambridge, are registered as having entered degree and diploma examinations, and much more than twice as many as in 1913. Again Loney was a most valuable advocate of the claims of external activities at a meeting in the House of Commons on July 23, 1926, at which Lord Atkin, Sir William Collins, and Loney gave such impressive evidence that their efforts must be held to be largely responsible for the very different complexion of the subsequent Act of November 1926. It may indeed be said of Loney that for over 30 years of his life he had no interests other than those of London University, which he continued to serve with unabated loyalty to the end.
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