Talk:List of provosts of Aberdeen

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I notice that the Lord Provost for the years 1791-1793 is left blank. In my research into the Abolition of Slavery for 1792 a diary written by a member of the London Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade mentions meeting the Provost on 9th February, 1792. William Dickson who toured Scotland to raise support for Wilberforce's abolition bill of that year mentions meeting "Provost Auldjo" in his diary. There is no mention of a first name. This is confused however when, on 12th February in Aberdeen, Dickson mentions meeting with "Provost Louden" on a Sunday. As I am of the understanding that there is only 1 Provost, I am not sure what this means. Dickson does not refer to these men as Lord Provosts. The only place where the Provost is referred to as Lord Provost is Edinburgh.Glendoris 09:19, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

On the Aberdeen City Council website they have titled the page "Lord Provost". I (personally) have always thought the title as "Lord Provost of Aberdeen" with the person called "Provost + surname" when referring to him. Currently there is only one Lord Provost during any given period- I think this has always been the case.
The only explanation I can propose, with no historical fact, is that Provost "Auldjo" could be be "auld-jo" or "Old Jo". Auldjo is an odd name that I have never heard as a first or last name in the north-east. There were Provosts with the first name "John" and a number with the surname "Jopp". Perhaps "jo" could refer to one of them and hence an ex-Lord Provost. I don't know if Provosts retain the title after office, like the US President for example, but if they do it might explain the two Provosts.
I found this book on google books entitled "Memorials of the Aldermen, Provosts, and Lord Provosts of Aberdeen, 1272-1895" (by Alexander Macdonald Munro). Its only in preview mode so the actual book would need consulted in a library, but going by the title it might help. Bobbacon 11:19, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
UPDATE: I just googled "Auldjo" and it immediately came up with Alexander Auldjo... (though not the Lord Provost) born in Aberdeen. So I will assume my pervious presumptions to be absolute rubbish!. The google book link might still help though. Bobbacon 11:22, 6 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 23 September 2017[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: moved all DrStrauss talk 15:35, 30 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]



– Per WP:CONCISE, and MOS:JOBTITLES, for consistency with each other, and per various recent multi-page RMs on equivalent lists of English mayors/lord mayors [1], [2], [3], [4], etc. These articles cover both the provost and lord provost versions of the positions (though some do not yet include the date on which letters patent were issued creating the lord version for that city). The lower-casing is also addressed in the cited RMs, and will be consistent with the main article List of lord mayoralties and lord provostships in the United Kingdom. The moves will also be consistent with the approach generally used for mayors of places in other countries in Category:Lists of mayors, and for other lists of politicians of other types in other subcategories of Category:Lists of office-holders. PS: Text in the articles will need conforming changes, e.g. headings presently written as "List of Provosts and Lord Provosts" or "List of Provosts and Lords Provost", and these lists should probably be split into two, for the separate versions of the title.  — SMcCandlish ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ʌ≼  15:17, 23 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support – this is a good way to fix the overcapitalization and title puffery. No problem capping "Lord Provost of X" when referring to a person, but not as a generic title or office as in "List of ..." Dicklyon (talk) 00:32, 24 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support per Dicklyon. Unless WP wants to ape the old British class system. Tony (talk) 01:07, 24 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
    • Pretty ridiculous comment, given that's currently their title! We don't change facts to please people who might disagree with them. The only reason to rename these articles is because not all of them were lord provosts and the wordiness is unnecessary. If they had been then clearly List of lord provosts of Foo would be an appropriate title. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:12, 27 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
      • Judging from previous discussions of the matter, Tony1 and Dicklyon aren't making the argument you think they are; rather it's one against the overcapitalization of "Lord Provost[s]" at every single occurrence even when it's being use a common-noun phrase. There are those who do want to capitalize it like that, and their arguments generally boil down to classist mysticism, the idea that the title is Lord Provost, with capital letters always, and that any lowercasing of it, no matter what the context or reason, is a WP:GREATWRONG.  — SMcCandlish ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ʌ≼  17:40, 27 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
        • "Unless WP wants to ape the old British class system" sounds like WP:GREATWRONG to me, and I'm in favour of the proposed move. Ham II (talk) 06:10, 29 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support for consistency with how mayors and lord mayors are treated at Category:Lists of mayors of places in the United Kingdom and List of mayors of Dublin. Ham II (talk) 20:00, 24 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • Suppoer per Dicklyon and proposer. Ralbegen (talk) 17:59, 26 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.