Above: Professor Paul Younger
Leading academic Professor Paul Younger of Newcastle University will be conferred with the Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Gateshead next week.
Professor Younger will be presented with the greatest civic honour that Gateshead Council can bestow at a private ceremony in Gateshead’s Shipley Art Gallery next Tuesday afternoon.
He will join other such luminaries as football legend Bob Moncur, Olympic triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, Baroness Joyce Quin, broadcaster and former athlete Brendan Foster and journalist Mike Neville, who have all been made Honorary Freemen in recent years.
Councillor Mick Henry, Leader of Gateshead Council, says: “Paul Younger has already made an important contribution to the life of Gateshead as an advocate and an ambassador for the Borough.
“This honour allows us to demonstrate our appreciation, on behalf of the people of Gateshead, for all his endeavours.”
Professor Paul Younger studied at Newcastle University in the early 1980s and has worked at the University since 1992 in various roles, including Director of the Sir Joseph Swan Institute for Energy Research. A distinguished Hydrogeologist and Environmental Engineer, he was leader of the team that won the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education for Newcastle University in 2005.
Professor Younger presented Gateshead’s inaugural Thomas Hepburn Lecture with the topic “Coal in a Changing Climate: Can it be the Key to a Sustainable Future?”. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Tyne and Wear in 2009.
Only 16 Honorary Freeman of Gateshead have received the 15th Century title since the Borough was formed in 1835. The honour dates back to the laws of ancient Rome, when it was a capital offence for Roman legions to enter the city in formation, or with weapons without permission. This was meant to ensure that ambitious generals did not mount a military coup against the Senate. Similar laws were passed by cities throughout the medieval era, also to protect civic security and rights, even against their own King's troops.
Under the Municipal reform act 1835, municipal borough corporations consisted of councillors and aldermen. Aldermen were elected not by the electorate but by the council for a term of six years. The role of Alderman was finally abolished under the Local Government act 1972, though councils still create honorary aldermen, often as a reward for long or distinguished service.