Great Durham Thinkers

I have finally begun to collate my research into Durham's impact on the world of learning and ideas. On this thread I shall periodically celebrate the names of Dunelm sages who have done so much to banish the darkness that surrounds us.

Great Durham Mind number 1: Professor M.U.G. Threapleton (1803-1864). Born: Dundee. Only son of a debt-collector. Theological scholar, BA, Brownnose College, Oxford (1821); Tutor, Housemaster and Careers advisor, United Opium Trade Orphans School, Croydon (1826-1834); Lecturer, University College Durham (1834-47), then Professor (1847-1862).

Threapleton devoted himself to the scientific study of the New Testament, especially the Gospels, but later made a name as an opponent of Darwin's theories. He also privately opposed what he considered to be the 'dangerously liberal' views of both Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington. He claimed that the Slave Trade was divinely inspired and that frequent consumption of opium was an ideal training for high achievement in 'all areas of public life' ( after his death he was discovered to have been a major shareholder in the British Opium Company).

Threapleton was disgraced and dismissed from his post at Durham in 1862 after he was found drunk in bed with a charlady. He was run over and killed by a train at Stockton in mysterious circumstances two years later. His posthumously published Journals, (Nightmare Press, 1912) are said to have inspired the young Adolf Hitler.

Works include:'Portions of the Gospels According to St. Mark and St. Matthew from the Bobbio MS '(1852), 'Opium and its Role in Our Island Story' (1858), and 'A Treatise on the Dangerous Notions of Mr. Mill, Mr. Darwin and Mr.Marx' (1861)

His mummified lower jaw is still kept in a glass case in the College and once a year Durham students drink a toast to him, proclaiming the mysterious words 'Up yours, Jimmy'...