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The Secret of St. Andrews podcast is for golf enthusiasts, history buffs and patriots.
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Episode 14, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Ben Franklin's trip to St. Andrews was an unlikely event that changed the course of history. The honors he received were improbable outcomes that took many by surprise, and without the founding members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, Franklin's visit would never have happened.
In 1754, the first entry in the minutes book kept by the Royal and Ancient describes the club's purpose as having the interest and prosperity of the ancient city of St. Andrews at heart. This civic-minded charter was noble, but by 1759 the town and its university were anything but prospering. Since the Protestant Reformation, the town had been in steep decline and seemed beyond repair, so the members of the Royal and Ancient had their work cut out for them.
Over time, different people have been falsely credited for the ideas that brought Franklin to St. Andrews, but he had no obvious patrons in town or at the university. There were no natural connections between Franklin and the town, the university, or its people. The connection had to be manufactured, which required a team effort.
And that team was led by James Lumsdane. James Lumsdane was the provost of St. Andrews, a founding member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, a member of the Royal Company of Archers, and, like Ben Franklin, he was a Freemason. Working with Lumsdane were John and David Young. The Youngs were brothers, both professors at the university, and they were also founding members of the Royal and Ancient.
But this was not an official act of the club. Lumsdane was acting in his capacity as the town's provost, and the Youngs as faculty members of the university. Lumsdane and the Youngs knew that to revitalize the town, they had to revitalize the university, but that wouldn't be easy. Enrollment had fallen to a few dozen undergraduates and the financial situation was bleak.
The idea to associate Ben Franklin with the university was a brilliant public relations strategy, but the idea was so far-fetched that it had to be inspired from outside their small circle. And that's exactly what happened. Two others helped get Franklin to St. Andrews. But they were not members of the Royal and Ancient.
Lumsdane and the Youngs were friends with a local surgeon by the name of Patrick Baird. Dr. Baird was a trusted advisor to Lumsdane, and though he grew up in St. Andrews, he had spent much of his professional life living in Philadelphia before returning to his childhood home. While living in Philadelphia, Dr. Baird became a member of Ben Franklin's private social club known as the Leather Apron or Junto, and he developed a very close relationship with Franklin. David Gregory was also a professor at the university and friends with the Youngs. He also knew Lumsdane and Dr. Baird and had recently been introduced to Franklin in London.
It was Dr. Baird and Professor Gregory who inspired and helped develop the plan that got Franklin to St. Andrews. Dr. Baird knew Franklin the best and offered his friends valuable insight into Franklin's thirst for knowledge and intellectual curiosity. Baird had witnessed this firsthand during his time with Franklin in Philadelphia.
Franklin, as Dr. Baird shared, was a grade school dropout who was self-educated. Nonetheless, in 1753 both Harvard and Yale had conferred upon Franklin honorary master's degrees. These academic honors, said Baird, had delighted Franklin greatly. It was Dr. Baird who suggested honoring Franklin as Harvard and Yale had.
This would offer the public relations boost the town needed. But Professor Gregory was skeptical. He pointed out that Franklin had already visited Cambridge and was developing close ties with the universities in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It was only a matter of time before one of these more prestigious institutions would honor Franklin as Harvard and Yale had, and there was no guarantee that Franklin would even accept their honor.
Dr. Baird, who knew Franklin the best, agreed and admitted that Franklin's healthy ego might very well tempt him to entertain more prestigious offers. Professor Gregory offered a potential solution. If St. Andrews were to confer a doctorate upon Franklin, they would be honoring him at the highest level of academic achievement, something no university had done before.
By upping the ante, they might very well get Franklin to accept their invitation. Dr. Baird liked the idea, and so did the Youngs. But now, it was Lumsdane's turn to be skeptical. Assuming the university agreed to honor Franklin with a doctorate, other more respected British universities could still match their offer.
News of their intentions would travel fast, and they might simply trigger similar offers from more respected universities. The prospect of Franklin's polite denial, and the embarrassment it would bring both the university and town, gave the men pause. If they were to take this risk, they needed some insurance.
They first considered sending Dr. Baird and Professor Gregory to London to test Franklin's interest, but that plan was quickly discarded. The university had to be sold on their idea, and so too did Franklin, but testing the interest of both would take time and be very hard to conceal. The university could resist their plan even though Franklin agreed, or the university could agree, only to have Franklin decline.
In either event, the town and its university would be humiliated. Looking back now, the solution was very simple and seemingly obvious. They would propose their plan to the university's rector, Andrew Shaw, with this caveat: if the university was willing to confer upon Franklin the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, it must be done in absentia.
This was the insurance needed to protect the town and university. By awarding the degree in absentia on the 12th of February 1759, Lumsdane made sure that they would be the first to honor Franklin with his doctorate degree and that their offer could not be politely declined. It was a bold move, but it worked.
The university's rector, Andrew Shaw, and 11 professors, including the Youngs and Gregory, sent a letter to Franklin written in both English and Latin announcing his honor. Franklin received the news in London and was said to be delighted. Additional correspondence from his friend, Dr. Baird, was timed to arrive shortly after the university's letter, which congratulated his old friend on his distinguished honor.
He addressed his letter to Dr. Franklin, and got the response from Franklin they wanted. Franklin had already begun planning his trip north, and acknowledged his honor by sending to the university a copy of his book, "Experiments and Observations on Electricity." Ben Franklin, with a second-grade education, would forevermore be referred to as Dr. Franklin, a title he very much enjoyed, and the University of St. Andrews would forever be linked with this internationally renowned figure. Franklin had friendly relations with many Scots, and they were delighted, if not a bit surprised, that the University of St. Andrews had executed such a bold move, and that Franklin would be venturing north.
Up next: How Ben Franklin and his St. Andrews hosts opened diplomatic channels.