Snell Scholarship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Snell Scholarship is a 17th century scheme for sending University of Glasgow students to the University of Oxford. It is best known for helping Adam Smith in the 18th century.
The Snell Scholarship was bequest by John Snell, intended to send Glasgow students at Oxford to an Oxford college or hall. The Court of Chancery decided in 1693 that Balliol should receive the beneficiaries. Adam Smith was one beneficiary. (Adam Smith and the Scotland of his day, by Fay, C.R. Cambridge University Press, 1956.)
Snell had been a Royalist in the Civil War, and was later secretary to the Duke of Monmouth and had the management of his Scottish estates. He intended the bequest to be used to educate Scottish clergymen for the then-established Scottish Episcopal Church. By Adam Smith's day, the bequest was mostly regarded as an educational charity, though its exact status was not settled until later. "By the will of John Snell his exhibitors were under bond to take Anglican orders and return to Scotland, but the penalty was not enforced in the case of Adam Smith and numerous others." (Fay, quoting the Times obituary of Smith.)
Many other individuals benefited from the scheme, which is still operating.
