The Senate and the Annual/Standing Committee of Convocation provided the University with its political activists, from whom, in turn, were drawn almost all its political elite. But before analysing their relationship, their attendance and their participation, it is as well to consider other important figures in the University’s affairs. Titular leaders – the Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors and Chairmen of Convocation – were particularly capable of being politically active; but nonetheless their special status did set them apart somewhat from the rest. The same could be said for those who won, or contested unsuccessfully, the University’s parliamentary seat from 1868 onwards. The very small professional staff led by the Registrars carried the burden of the administrative work of the University and must, through that very activity, have had a very practical effect on the development and execution of policy. Similarly, some influence must have been exercised by the Clerk of Convocation, a salaried officer elected from and by Convocation. And the fundamental work of the institution was entrusted, over the period under review, to some 430 examiners and assistant examiners.

By no means all those who held the leading, formal positions in the University would find a place on a list drawn up strictly on the basis of long membership, combined with high and regular attendance at Senate and Convocation. Short tenures and the great pressure of more demanding interests affected the service given by several influential members. But in any event, it would be ridiculous to omit any of the four Chancellors, eight Vice-Chancellors, and four Chairmen of Convocation from consideration as very important members of the University, not least because, in addition to their experience of office, however brief, they had made significant earlier contributions. Nor can the salaried Registrars of the University and the Clerks of Convocation be excluded, especially as some of them subsequently became Fellows.

Of this score of officers, the four Chancellors, very different in their tenures, were all drawn from the highest of political circles. With one exception, each followed Lord Burlington, subsequently 7th Duke of Devonshire, who had filled the post from 1836 to 1856, in being a scion of the landed aristocracy, educated at public school and Oxbridge.