past rectors of glasgow
1690-1691 : David Boyle, 1st Earl of Glasgow, Lord Clerk Register
1691-1718 : Sir John Maxwell of Nether Park
1718-1720 : Mungo Graham of Gorthie
1720-1723 : Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston, the elder, Lord President of the Court of Session
1723-1725 : James Hamilton of Aikenhead
1725-1726 : Sir Hugh Montgomerie of Hartfield
1726-1729 : George Ross, Master of Ross
1729-1731 : Francis Dunlop of Dunlop
1731-1733 : John Orr of Barrowfield
1733-1738 : Colin Campbell of Blythswood
1738-1740 : George Bogle of Daldowie, one of the Tobacco Lords
1740-1742 : John Graham of Dugalston
1742-1743 : John Orr of Barrowfield
1743-1746 : George Bogle of Daldowie
1746-1748 : Sir John Maxwell of Pollock
1748-1750 : George Bogle of Daldowie
1750-1753 : Sir John Maxwell of Pollock
1753-1755 : William Mure of Caldwell
1755-1757 : John Boyle, 3rd Earl of Glasgow
1757-1759 : Patrick Boyle, Lord Shewalton
1759-1761 : James Milliken of Milliken
1761-1763 : James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
1763-1764 : Thomas Miller, 1st Baronet, Lord Justice Clerk, Lord President of the Court of Session
1764-1767 : William Mure of Caldwell
1767-1768 : Dunbar Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk
1768-1770 : Sir Adam Ferguson of Kilkerran
1770-1772 : Robert Ord
1772-1773 : Sir Frederick Campbell, parliamentarian, Lord Clerk Register
1773-1775 : Charles Schaw Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart, Ambassador to Russia
1775-1777 : Sir James William Montgomery, Lord Advocate, Chief Baron of Exchequer
1777-1779 : Andrew Stewart of Torrance
1779-1781 : James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale, representative peer
1781-1783 : Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Lord President of the Court of Session
1783-1785 : Edmund Burke, philosopher
1785-1787 : Robert Graham of Gartmore, parliamentarian (former student)
1787-1789 : Prof. Adam Smith, Professor of Moral Philosophy, author of The Wealth of Nations (former student)
1789-1791 : Walter Campbell of Shawfield
1791-1793 : Thomas Kennedy of Dunure
1793-1795 : William Mure of Caldwell
1795-1797 : William McDowell of Garthland
1797-1799 : George Oswald of Auchencruive
1799-1801 : Ilay Campbell, Lord Succoth, 1st Baronet, Lord Justice General
1801-1803 : William Craig, Lord Craig
1803-1805 : Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord Advocate, Chief Baron of Exchequer
1805-1807 : Henry Glassford of Dugalston
1807-1809 : Archibald Colquhoun of Killermont, Lord Advocate
1809-1811 : Archibald Campbell of Blythswood
1811-1813 : Lord Archibald Hamilton, parliamentarian, Governor of Jamaica
1813-1815 : Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch, politician and soldier
1815-1817 : David Boyle, Lord Boyle, Lord Justice General
1817-1819 : George Boyle, 4th Earl of Glasgow
1819-1820 : Kirkman Finlay, Lord Provost of Glasgow
1820-1822 : Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey, Senator of the College of Justice (former student)
1822-1824 : Sir James Mackintosh, jurist
1824-1826 : Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, Lord Chancellor
1826-1829 : Thomas Campbell, poet (former student)
1829-1831 : Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, Chancellor of the Exchequer
1831-1834 : Henry Thomas Cockburn, Senator of the College of Justice
1834-1836 : Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1836-1838 : Sir Robert Peel Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1838-1840 : Sir James Graham, 2nd Baronet, Home Secretary
1840-1842 : John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, parliamentarian, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
1842-1844 : Fox Maule Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, parliamentarian, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
1844-1846 : Andrew Rutherford
1846-1847 : John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1847-1848 : William Mure of Caldwell, classical scholar, parliamentarian
1848-1850 : Thomas Babington Macaulay, parliamentarian
1850-1852 : Sir Archibald Alison, institutional legal writer
1852-1854 : Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1854-1856 : George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, parliamentarian
1856-1859 : Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, writer and politician
1859-1862 : James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, Viceroy of India
1862-1865 : Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1865-1868 : John Inglis, Lord Glencorse, Lord President of the Court of Session
1868-1871 : Edward Stanley, Lord Stanley Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1871-1877 : Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1877-1880 : William Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1880-1883 : John Bright, Quaker, activist
1883-1884 : Henry Fawcett, economist and parliamentarian
1884-1887 : Prof. Edmund Law Lushington, Professor of Greek
1887-1890 : Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, Viceroy of India
1890-1893 : Arthur James Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1893-1896 : Sir John Eldon Gorst, Solicitor-General for England and Wales
1896-1899 : Joseph Chamberlain, statesman, father of Austen Chamberlain (Rector 1925-1928)
1899-1902 : Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1902-1905 : George Wyndham, parliamentarian
1905-1908 : H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1908-1911 : George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India, Foreign Secretary
1911-1914 : Augustine Birrell, parliamentarian
1914-1919 : Raymond Poincaré, President and Prime Minister of France
1919-1922 : Andrew Bonar Law, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, (former student)
1922-1925 : F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, Lord Chancellor
1925-1928 : Sir Austen Chamberlain, parliamentarian and statesman
1928-1931 : Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1931-1934 : Compton Mackenzie, novelist
1934-1937 : Sir Iain Colquhoun
1937-1938 : Rev Dick Sheppard, pacifist
1938-1945 : Sir Archibald Sinclair, leader of the British Liberal Party
1945-1947 : Sir John Boyd-Orr, physician, nutritionist and Nobel laureate (former student)
1947-1950 : Walter Elliot, politician (former student)
1950-1953 : John MacCormick, lawyer and famed nationalist (former student)
1953-1956 : Tom Honeyman, physician, director of Kelvingrove Art Gallery (former student)
1956-1959 : Rab Butler
1959-1962 : Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham
1962-1965 : Chief Albert Lutuli
1965-1968 : John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
1968-1971 : Rev. George MacLeod
1971-1974 : Jimmy Reid
1974-1977 : Arthur Montford
1977-1980 : John L. Bell* (elected while a student at the University)
1980-1984 : Reginald Bosanquet, TV newsreader
1984-1987 : Michael Kelly, Lord Provost of Glasgow
1987-1990 : Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, human rights activist, wife of Nelson Mandela
1990-1993 : Pat Kane, musician
1993-1996 : Johnny Ball, TV presenter
1996-1999 : Richard Wilson, actor
1999-2000 : Ross Kemp, actor
2001-2004 : Greg Hemphill, actor, (former student)
2004-2005 : Position Vacant
2005-2008 : Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear technician and whistle-blower
2008-present : Charles Kennedy
