1.
Minister of Finance (New Zealand)
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The Minister of Finance, originally known as Colonial Treasurer, is a senior figure within the government of New Zealand. The position is considered to be the most important cabinet post after that of the Prime Minister. The current Minister of Finance is Steven Joyce, there are also two Associate Minister roles. They are currently held by Amy Adams and Simon Bridges, the Minister of Finance is responsible for producing an annual New Zealand budget outlining the governments proposed expenditure. According to Parliaments Standing Orders, the Minister of Finance may veto any bill which would have a significant impact on the governments budget plans. The Minister of Finance also supervises the Treasury, which is the primary advisor on matters of economic. As such, the Minister of Finance has broad control of the spending, making the position quite powerful. Some analysts, such as Jonathan Boston, claim that the Minister of Finance can sometimes hold more influence than the Prime Minister, gordon Coates, Finance Minister in the early 1930s, was sometimes such a figure. The office of Minister of Finance has existed since 1841, apart from the office of Prime Minister itself, the only other cabinet posts to have existed since the first cabinet are those of Attorney-General and Minister of Internal Affairs. Originally, the holder of the post was designated Colonial Treasurer and this occurred in 1907, during the cabinet of Joseph Ward. In the past, several Prime Ministers took on the post of Minister of Finance themselves, robert Muldoon, the last person to concurrently serve as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, created considerable controversy by doing so. It is more common, however, for a Deputy Prime Minister to serve as Minister of Finance, bob Tizard, Michael Cullen and the current Prime Minister Bill English served as Deputy Prime Minister when in the position as Minister of Finance. After the 1996 elections, the role of the Minister of Finance was split between two portfolios – that of Minister of Finance and that of Treasurer. The position of Treasurer was senior to that of the Minister of Finance and it was established especially for Winston Peters, leader of New Zealand First, who demanded it as part of the deal
2.
Helen Clark
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Helen Elizabeth Clark ONZ PC is the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand. She has been Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position, in April 2016, she declared her candidacy for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations. Clark graduated from the University of Auckland in 1974 and became active in the New Zealand Labour Party as a teenager. While a junior lecturer at the University in the early 1970s, in 1975 she came second for Labour in the rural seat of Piako. In 1981 she was elected to Parliament for the safe Labour seat of Mount Albert, Clark held numerous Cabinet positions in the Fourth Labour government of 1984–1990, including Minister of Housing, Minister of Health and Minister of Conservation. She was Deputy Prime Minister from 1989–1990 under Prime Ministers Geoffrey Palmer, after Labours strong showing in the 1993 election, Clark challenged the Labour leadership of Mike Moore and won, becoming the Leader of the Opposition. After failing to win the 1996 election, she led the Labour Party to a victory in the 1999 election. As Prime Minister of the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand, Clarks government presided over nearly a decade of economic growth and her government was defeated in the 2008 election and she resigned as Prime Minister and Labour Party leader. She resigned from Parliament in April 2009 from her Mount Albert electorate and was replaced by David Shearer to take up the post of Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Clarks government implemented major economic initiatives including Kiwibank, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Her government also introduced the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 which caused controversy and was eventually repealed in 2011. Clark sent troops to the Afghanistan War, but did not contribute troops to the Iraq War although some medical. Forbes magazine ranked her 20th most powerful woman in the world in 2006 and she rose to the 23rd position in 2014 and then 22nd in 2016. On 26 January 2017 AFP reported that Clark had resigned her directorship of the UN Development Programme, Clark was the eldest of four daughters of a farming family at Te Pahu in the Waikato Region. Her mother, Margaret McMurray, of Irish birth, was a school teacher. Her father, George, was a farmer, Clark studied at Te Pahu Primary School, at Epsom Girls Grammar School in Auckland and at the University of Auckland, where she majored in politics and graduated with an MA in 1974. Her thesis focused on political behaviour and representation. As a teenager Clark became politically active, protesting against the Vietnam War, Clark was brought up as a Presbyterian, attending Sunday school weekly
3.
Bill English
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Simon William Bill English is the 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the National Party, having taken office on 12 December 2016. He was previously Deputy Prime Minister from 2008 to 2016, a farmer and public servant before entering politics, English was elected to parliament in 1990 as the National Partys candidate in the Wallace electorate. He was elevated to cabinet in 1996 and in 1999 was made Minister of Finance, in October 2001, English replaced Jenny Shipley as the leader of the National Party. The party lost the 2002 general election, and in October 2003 he was replaced as leader by Don Brash, in November 2006, after Don Brashs resignation, English became deputy leader under John Key. After Nationals victory at the 2008 general election, English became Deputy Prime Minister and was also made Minister for Finance for a second time and he became a list-only MP after retiring as an electorate MP at the 2014 general election. In December 2016, John Key announced his intention to resign as prime minister and he endorsed English as his replacement, and English won the resulting leadership election unopposed. English is the second-youngest of 12 children of Mervyn English and Norah English and his parents purchased Rosedale, a mixed sheep and cropping farm in Dipton, Southland from Mervyns uncle, Vincent English, a bachelor, in 1944. English was born in the town of Lumsden. He attended St Thomass School in Winton, then boarded at St. Patricks College in Upper Hutt and he played in the first XV of the schools rugby team. After finishing his studies, English returned to Dipton and farmed for a few years, English joined the National Party in 1980, while at Victoria University. He served for a period as chairman of the Southland branch of the Young Nationals, after moving to Wellington, he served for periods on the Island Bay and Miramar electorate committees, respectively. At the 1990 general election, English stood as the National candidate in Wallace, replacing the retiring Derek Angus, and was elected with a large majority. He and three newly elected National MPs were soon identified as rising stars in New Zealand politics, and at various points were dubbed the brat pack, the gang of four. In his first term in parliament, English chaired a committee into social services. He was made a parliamentary under-secretary in 1993, serving under the Minister of Health, in early 1996, English was elevated to cabinet by Prime Minister Jim Bolger, becoming the Minister for Crown Health Enterprises and Associate Minister of Education. He was 34 at the time, becoming the cabinets youngest member, after the 1996 general election, the National Party was forced into a coalition with New Zealand First to retain government. In the resulting cabinet reshuffle, English emerged as Minister of Health, however, as a condition of the coalition agreement, NZ Firsts Neil Kirton was made Associate Minister of Health, effectively becoming Englishs deputy. This arrangement was described in the press as a shotgun marriage, after their relationship became unworkable, Kirton was sacked from the role in August 1997, with the agreement of NZ First leader Winston Peters
4.
Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
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The Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand is the second most senior minister in the Government of New Zealand, although this seniority does not necessarily translate into power. Generally, the position is held by the deputy leader of the party, but now that the MMP electoral system makes coalitions more likely. This occurred with Winston Peters, leader of New Zealand First, the post of Deputy Prime Minister was formally established in 1949, although it informally existed prior to then. Since 1949, seventeen people have held the position, of those people, only Holyoake, Marshall, Watt, Muldoon, Palmer, Clark and English have eventually served as Prime Minister. Little scholarly attention has focused on deputy prime ministers in New Zealand or elsewhere, barnes conducted a survey of journalists, academics, and former Members of Parliament to rank New Zealands Deputy Prime Ministers since 1960. Across the nine deputy prime minister qualities, Don McKinnon achieved the number one ranking, followed by Brian Talboys, Michael Cullen, in a second overall ranking, Cullen was ranked number one, followed by Talboys, McKinnon, and Marshall. Jim Anderton, Winston Peters, and Bob Tizard were ranked lowest in both sections of the survey
5.
New Zealand Parliament
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The New Zealand Parliament is the legislative branch of New Zealand, consisting of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives. Before 1951, there was a chamber, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The Parliament was established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning parliaments in the world, the House of Representatives is a democratically elected body whose members are known as Members of Parliament. It usually consists of 120 MPs, though sometimes due to overhang seats. 70 MPs are elected directly in electorate seats and the remainder are filled by list MPs based on each partys share of the party vote, Māori were represented in Parliament from 1867, and in 1893 women gained the vote. New Zealand does not allow sentenced prisoners to vote, the Parliament is closely linked to the executive branch. The House of Representatives has met in the Parliament Buildings located in Wellington, Parliament funds the broadcast of its proceedings through Parliament TV, AM Network and Parliament Today. It was based on the Westminster model and had a house, called the House of Representatives. The members of the House of Representatives were elected under the first-past-the-post voting system, originally Councillors were appointed for life, but later their terms were fixed at seven years. In 1951, the Council was abolished altogether, making the New Zealand legislature unicameral, under the Constitution Act, legislative power was also conferred on New Zealands provinces, each of which had its own elected Legislative Council. These provincial legislatures were able to legislate for their provinces on most subjects, over a twenty-year period, political power was progressively centralised, and the provinces were abolished altogether in 1876. Four Māori electorates were created in 1867 during the term of the 4th Parliament, originally the New Zealand Parliament remained subordinate to the British Parliament, the supreme legislative authority for the entire British Empire. One historical speciality of the New Zealand Parliament was the country quota, from 1889 on, districts were weighted according to their urban/rural split. The country quota was in effect until it was abolished in 1945 by a mostly urban-elected Labour government, the New Zealand Parliament is sovereign with no institution able to over-ride its decisions. The ability of Parliament to act is, legally, unimpeded, for example, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 is a normal piece of legislation, it is not superior law as codified constitutions are in some other countries. The only thing Parliament is limited in its power are on some entrenched issues relating to elections and these issues require either 75% of all MPs to support the bill or a referendum on the issue. The Queen of New Zealand is one of the components of Parliament—formally called the Queen-in-Parliament and this results from the role of the monarch to sign into law the bills that have been passed by the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives was established as a house and has been the Parliaments sole chamber since 1951
6.
New Zealand Post
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New Zealand Post is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand. New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided service in New Zealand until 1987. By the 1980s, however, economic difficulties made the government reconsider how it delivered postal services, for example, in 1987-1988 alone, the post lost NZ$50 million. In its final report, the team recommend transforming the postal service into three state-owned enterprises, the Post’s corporatization was then completed with the 1987 passage of the Postal Services Act. Today, only New Zealand Post remains a state-owned enterprise, as PostBank and Telecom were privatized in 1989 and 1990, in its first year of operation, New Zealand Post turned the losses of previous years into a NZ$72 million profit. A year after the 1987 Post Office Act, the Lange Government declared its plan to privatize the post. To prepare for privatization, it decided to reduce the posts monopoly. When it was corporatized in 1987, the New Zealand Post had monopoly for mail up to 500 grams and this was first reduced to $1.35, then $1, and finally 80 cents. The government also let the post downsize by closing a third of its locations, in 1991-1992, another review came out in support of the governments privatization plan. However, by the end of 1993 the government abandoned its plan because of public opposition, New Zealand Post began its life with 1,244 post offices, later rebranded as PostShops. Of these 906 full post offices and 338 postal agencies,600 post offices or bank branches were downsized or closed after government subsidies expired in February 1988, as of March 1998, there are 297 PostShops, and 705 Post Centres. However, there are now more outlets than before corporatisation, with 2,945 other retailers of postage stamps. There was a reduction in the price of postage, with a nominal drop of the postage rate from 45 cents to 40 cents in 1996. Since then the cost has risen to 50 cents in 2007, to 60 cents in 2010, on 1 July 2016 postage for standard letters will increase by 20 cents to $1.00 and Fastpost by 40 cents to $1.80. The Lange governments Postal Services Act 1987 reduced the monopoly of New Zealand Post to a limit of $1.75 and 500 grams and it was gradually reduced to 80 cents in December 1991 until the 1998 legislation took effect. The Postal Services Act 1998, passed by a National-New Zealand First coalition government, the new law provides for any person to become a registered postal operator by applying to the Ministry of Economic Development. Registration as an operator is compulsory for letters with postage less than 80 cents. Despite the Act, government regulation of the company still requires it to maintain certain minimum service levels, New Zealand Posts exclusive right to be the sole operator under the Act for the purposes of the Universal Postal Union expired on 1 April 2003
7.
John Key
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John Phillip Key is a New Zealand politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the New Zealand National Party. He was elected leader of the party in November 2006 and appointed Prime Minister in November 2008, born in Auckland before moving to Christchurch when he was a child, Key attended the University of Canterbury and graduated in 1981 with a bachelor of commerce. In 1999 he was appointed a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until leaving in 2001 and he has held the seat since then. In 2004, he was appointed Finance Spokesman for National and eventually succeeded Don Brash as the National Party leader in 2006. After two years as Leader of the Opposition, Key led his party to victory at the November 2008 general election, and repeated this feat at both the November 2011 and September 2014 elections. He was expected to lead National into the 2017 election, as Prime Minister, Key led the Fifth National Government of New Zealand which entered government at the beginning of the late-2000s recession in 2008. In his first term, Keys government implemented a GST rise, Key was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to George Key and Ruth Key, on 9 August 1961. His father was an English immigrant and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, Key and his two sisters were raised in a state house in the Christchurch suburb of Bryndwr, by his mother, an Austrian Jewish immigrant. Key is the prime minister or premier of New Zealand to have Jewish ancestry, after Julius Vogel. He attended Aorangi School, and then Burnside High School from 1975 to 1979, then he attended the University of Canterbury and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting in 1981. He has attended management studies courses at Harvard University, Key met his wife Bronagh when they were both students at Burnside High School. She also has a BCom degree, and worked as a consultant before becoming a full-time mother. They have two children, Stephie and Max, Max is a night-time radio host for George FM, and is also a singer. On 25 July 2008, Key was added to the New Zealand National Business Review Rich List for the first time, the list details the wealthiest New Zealand individuals and family groups. He had a wealth of NZ$50 million, making him the wealthiest New Zealand Member of Parliament. Keys first job was in 1982, as an auditor at McCulloch Menzies, in 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. Some co-workers called him the smiling assassin for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking dozens of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis and he was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2001. In 1998, on learning of his interest in pursuing a political career, former party leader Jenny Shipley describes him as one of the people she deliberately sought out and put my head on the line–either privately or publicly–to get them in there
8.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
9.
Attorney-General (New Zealand)
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The Attorney-General is a political and legal officer in New Zealand. The current Attorney-General is Chris Finlayson, the Attorney-General has two main areas of official responsibility. Firstly, the Attorney-General has ministerial jurisdiction over the Crown Law Office, the Parliamentary Counsel Office, secondly, the Attorney-General is the principal law officer of the Crown, responsible for supervising the states administration of the law and for providing legal advice to the government. In the latter role, the Attorney-General is assisted by the Solicitor-General and this is to reduce the extent to which the Attorney-Generals actions on behalf of the state can be influenced by their political allegiance. A more complete description of the Attorney-Generals powers can be found in the 2004 ministerial briefing prepared by the Crown Law Office, which the Attorney-General supervises. The position of Attorney-General is distinct from that of Minister of Justice, at present, there is no statutory basis which establishes the office of Attorney-General, although the position is referenced by a number of other legal documents, such as the Constitution Act 1986. The Attorney-General usually has a background, the recent exception below being Michael Cullen. In November 1906 when Albert Pitt died, there were no members of the legal profession in Parliament. Hence Joseph Ward appointed John Findlay to the Legislative Council on 23 November 1906, the post of Attorney-General has existed since the separation of New Zealand as a distinct Crown Colony from New South Wales. Because of the nature of the role, however, it has sometimes been filled by politicians. The table below is a listing of New Zealand politicians who have sat in Cabinet as Attorney-General since 1856. It does not show non-political attorneys-general and it is also interesting to note that Peter Wilkinson was the half-brother of his successor, Jim McLay. Ministerial Briefing describing the role of the Attorney-General
10.
Christ's College, Christchurch
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Christs College, Christchurch is an independent, Anglican, secondary, day and boarding school for boys, located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Founded in 1850 by Reverend Henry Jacobs in Lyttelton as a school for early settlers, the college currently caters for approximately 647 students from Year 9 to Year 13. Christs College is an International Member of The Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference represents the Heads of the leading independent schools in Ireland and the United Kingdom and International schools mainly from the Commonwealth. Christs College is one of three member schools in New Zealand. Christs College was established in 1850 and directly modelled on the vernacular of English public schools. The school was named Christs College by James FitzGerald, Canterburys first Superintendent, students were also expected to conduct scientific experiments, to draw and sing. The school left Lyttelton in 1852 and moved over the hill to the St Michaels parsonage in Oxford Terrace with 16 students, Henry Jacobs, the first headmaster, ensured that his school enabled both boarders and day boys to attend. Christs College moved to its present site in 1856, with 35 pupils and this location, adjacent to the Government Domain, provided the college with room to expand, and the school gradually began to acquire additional buildings. The first of these building were wooden, providing homes for the staff and their families and an increasing number of boarders. By 1863, Big School, the first of the buildings, had been built on the west side of the quadrangle in which all classes were taught. In its early days, the College taught boys as young as six, subsequently there was a wide age range in many classes and, until the number of classrooms increased, they were all taught together. The school motto, Bene Tradita, Bene Servanda in Latin translates to good traditions, the area set aside for the college in Cathedral Square,3 acres 1 rood and 3 perches, was found to be insufficient. In a meeting in June 1853 between Henry Sewell, Henry Jacobs, Rev. Robert Bateman Paul, and Thomas Cass, the group agreed on the site, subject to approval by Bishop Selwyn, which was later obtained. Years later, this transaction was formalised through The Cathedral Square Ordinance 1858. The compensation paid for the transfer of land to the Provincial Council was ₤1,200, but with 10 acres, the college was also given a much larger piece of land. The Christs College grounds have a collection of nineteenth century, and turn-of-the-century buildings, as well as newly built buildings such as the Old Boys Theatre and the Fine Arts Building. Big School, built in 1863, is the classroom for the Christchurch site of the school. College House was created as part of Christs College in 1850, according to College House, was instrumental in the establishment of Canterbury University in the early 1870s
11.
Christchurch
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Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. The Christchurch urban area lies on the South Islands east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula and it is home to 389,700 residents, making it New Zealands third most-populous urban area behind Auckland and Wellington. The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848 and it was suggested by John Robert Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Some early writers called the town Christ Church, but it was recorded as Christchurch in the minutes of the management committee of the association, Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand. The Avon River flows through the centre of the city, with a park located along its banks. At the request of the Deans brothers, the river was named after the River Avon in Scotland, the usual Māori name for Christchurch is Ōtautahi. This was originally the name of a site by the Avon River near present-day Kilmore Street. The site was a dwelling of Ngāi Tahu chief Te Potiki Tautahi. The Ōtautahi name was adopted in the 1930s, prior to that the Ngāi Tahu generally referred to the Christchurch area as Karaitiana, a transliteration of the English word Christian. The citys name is abbreviated by New Zealanders to Chch. In New Zealand Sign Language, the name is the fingerspelled letter C signed twice, with the second to the right of the first. Archaeological evidence found in a cave at Redcliffs in 1876 has indicated that the Christchurch area was first settled by moa-hunting tribes about 1250 CE. These first inhabitants were thought to have followed by the Waitaha tribe. Following tribal warfare, the Waitaha were dispossessed by the Ngati Mamoe tribe and they were in turn subjugated by the Ngāi Tahu tribe, who remained in control until the arrival of European settlers. Their abandoned holdings were taken over by the Deans brothers in 1843 who stayed, the First Four Ships were chartered by the Canterbury Association and brought the first 792 of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton Harbour. These sailing vessels were the Randolph, Charlotte Jane, Sir George Seymour, the Charlotte Jane was the first to arrive on 16 December 1850. The Canterbury Pilgrims had aspirations of building a city around a cathedral and college, the name Christ Church was decided prior to the ships arrival, at the Associations first meeting, on 27 March 1848
12.
University of Edinburgh
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The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582, is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotlands ancient universities. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city of Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh was ranked 17th and 21st in the world by the 2014–15 and 2015-16 QS rankings. It is now ranked 19th in the according to 2016-17 QS Rankings. It is ranked 16th in the world in arts and humanities by the 2015–16 Times Higher Education Ranking and it is ranked the 23rd most employable university in the world by the 2015 Global Employability University Ranking. It is ranked as the 6th best university in Europe by the U. S. News Best Global Universities Ranking and it is a member of both the Russell Group, and the League of European Research Universities, a consortium of 21 research universities in Europe. It has the third largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, after the universities of Cambridge and it continues to have links to the British Royal Family, having had the Duke of Edinburgh as its Chancellor from 1953 to 2010 and Princess Anne since 2011. Edinburgh receives approximately 50,000 applications every year, making it the fourth most popular university in the UK by volume of applicants, after St Andrews, it is the most difficult university to gain admission into in Scotland, and 9th overall in the UK. This was a move at the time, as most universities were established through Papal bulls. Established as the Tounis College, it opened its doors to students in October 1583, instruction began under the charge of another St Andrews graduate Robert Rollock. It was the fourth Scottish university in a period when the more populous. It was renamed King Jamess College in 1617, by the 18th century, the university was a leading centre of the Scottish Enlightenment. The universitys first custom-built building was the Old College, now Edinburgh Law School and its first forte in teaching was anatomy and the developing science of surgery, from which it expanded into many other subjects. From the basement of a nearby house ran the anatomy tunnel corridor and it went under what was then North College Street, and under the university buildings until it reached the universitys anatomy lecture theatre, delivering bodies for dissection. It was from this tunnel the body of William Burke was taken after he had been hanged, towards the end of the 19th century, Old College was becoming overcrowded and Robert Rowand Anderson was commissioned to design new Medical School premises in 1875. The medical school was more or less built to his design and was completed by the addition of the McEwan Hall in the 1880s. The building now known as New College was originally built as a Free Church college in the 1840s and has been the home of divinity at the university since the 1920s. The two oldest schools – law and divinity – are both well-esteemed, with law being based in Old College and divinity in New College on the Mound and they are also represented by the Edinburgh University Sports Union which was founded in 1866. The medical school is renowned throughout the world and it was widely considered the best medical school in the English-speaking world throughout the 18th century and first half of the 19th century
