Sir George Cory (1862 - 1935) | "Norris has failed by 9 marks in the aggregate" | Rhodes University College |14 February 1912

George Cory packed plenty into his 73 allotted years. The Cory Library for Historical Research stands today as testimony to his efforts to preserve the history of the Eastern Cape in particular and that of the wider history of South Africa. He is best known for being one of the four founding professors of Rhodes University.

Rummaging around in the Eastern Cape I came across one of his letters, tucked inside the front cover of a 1906 book. Addressed to a Dr. Lewis it addresses the case of a student, Norris, who had failed by 9 marks "in the aggregate" for his BA degree. Norris had screwed up his final practical exam and had claimed that the only reason he was unsuccessful was that he was "prevented during Practical examination in Chemistry from using the balance to do his final weighings".

Prof Cory was the examiner during this practical and took great exception to the reason offered by Norris - "I naturally feel rather hurt at this and am prepared to resent it". Code for "I am really pissed off". He was of the opinion "this to be merely an excuse to cover his (Norris's) own want of proper forethought in arranging his work".

I wonder what became of Norris? Did his excuse succeed? Was he awarded his BA degree? Similarly Dr. Lewis and Professor Schwartz, what impact did they have?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cory_(historian)