A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Reid, John
REID, GENERAL JOHN, born towards the middle of last century, formerly Colonel of the 88th Regiment, a great lover of music. By his will made in 1803 he directed his trustees, in the event of his daughter dying without issue, to found a Professorship of Music in the University of Edinburgh, 'for the purpose also, after completing such endowment as hereinafter is mentioned, of making additions to the library of the said University, or otherwise promoting the general interest and advantage of the University in such … manner as the Principal and Professors … shall … think most fit and proper.' In a codicil, dated 1806, he adds 'After the decease of my daughter … I have left all my property … to the College of Edinburgh where I had my education … and as I leave all my music books to the Professor of Music in that College, it is my wish that in every year after his, appointment he will cause a concert of music to be performed on the 13th of February, being my birthday.' He also directed that at this annual 'Reid Concert' some pieces of his own composition should be performed 'by a select band.'
When by the death of General Reid's daughter in 1838 some £70,000 became available, it seems to have been handed over to the University authorities without sufficient attention to the italicised portion of the following instruction in the will: 'that … my said Trustees … shall and do, by such instrument or instruments as may be required by the law of Scotland make over the residue of my … personal estate to the Principal and Professors of the said University.' And as no particular sum was specified for foundation and maintenance of the Chair of Music, considerable latitude being allowed to the discretion of the University authorities, the secondary object of the bequest received far greater care and attention than the primary one, and for years the Chair was starved. The Professorship was instituted in 1839, when the first Professor, Mr. John Thomson, was appointed. He lived only a short time after his election, and in 1842 [App. p.770 "1841"] was succeeded by Sir Henry Bishop, who resigned after two years. Mr. H. H. Pierson was elected in 1844, but he also resigned shortly after. In 1845 Mr. John Donaldson, an advocate, and a good theoretical musician, received the appointment, and from the first seems to have resolved to obtain a more just and satisfactory bestowal of the bequest. It would be out of place to allude further to the state of matters existing up to 1855. Suffice it to say that in 1851, anticipating Mr. Donaldson's intention of petitioning Parliament, the Edinburgh Town Council, as 'Patrons' of the University, raised an action against the Principal and Professors for alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of the Reid Fund. A long litigation followed, and by decree of the Court of Session in 1855 the University authorities were ordered to devote certain sums to the purchase of a site, and the erection of a building for the Class of music. The class-room and its organ were built in 1861, and the Professor's salary—which had been fixed at the very lowest sum suggested by the Founder, viz. £300 as well as the grant for the concert, were slightly raised, and a sum set apart, by order of the Court, for expenses of class-room, assistants, instruments, etc.
These hardly-earned concessions are mainly due to the determined energy of Prof. Donaldson, who seems to have considered them sufficient when compared with what formerly existed. He at all events obtained for the Chair a far better position than that which it occupied before the lawsuit. But the disappointments and mortifications to which he was subjected by such long and painful conflicts not improbably shortened his life, and he died in 1865. In that year Mr. Herbert Oakeley was elected, who has held the appointment up to the present time.