[1]: 469 The first Mind and Logic professorship was awarded to John Hoppus, a Congregational minister, who held the position from 1830 to 1866.
George Grote, one of the college's founders and a member of its governing council, objected to the appointment on the grounds that the college was intended to be non-sectarian and that therefore a philosophy chair should not be held by a minister of religion.
In 1866 Grote, who had returned to the council in 1849, was instrumental in preventing the awarding of the chair to James Martineau, a Unitarian minister, for the same reasons.
Grote's preferred candidate, George Croom Robertson,[2] was appointed to the chair in 1867.
Instead, the income was to be held back and reinvested until a lay person was again appointed.