THE CONSTITUENT COLLEGES (fn. 1)
BEDFORD COLLEGE

Bedford College
Argent between two flaunches paly bendy or and sable a cross pattee throughout gules voided of the field, surmounted by an open book of the second on a chief of the third an antique lamp gold inflamed proper [Granted 1913]
Bedford College (fn. 2) was founded in 1849 in 47
(now 48) Bedford Square. The foundation was financed by Mrs. Elisabeth J. Reid
(1789-1866), a philanthropist of varied interests and nonconformist background, who
wished to establish 'a College for Women, or something like it'. Her foundation differed from Queen's
College, Harley Street, founded in 1848 with similar objects, in that teaching at Bedford was unsectarian and
both sexes were represented on the governing body.
For the first forty
years of its existence
the College had no full-time teachers. Courses were
organized within a liberal curriculum: Arts subjects
predominated in early timetables, although courses
in natural science were also included. Sixty-eight
students attended during the first term; but it was
soon realized that many had received an inadequate
basic education, and from 1853 to 1868 a school was
conducted in the College building.
Mrs. Reid died in 1866 leaving much of her estate
in trust for 'the promotion of female education'.
These resources were used in the first instance by
the Trustees to re-establish Bedford College in more
adequate premises. The College was incorporated
in 1869, and five years later moved to new premises
in York Place, Baker Street.
From 1878 the London University degree examinations were opened to women, and teaching in
the College immediately developed to meet the
requirements of degree candidates. Early developments were concentrated in the Department of
Science, and between 1876 and 1885 professorships
in Chemistry and Physics, Zoology, Physiology, and
Geology were instituted. To meet the growing
demand for science teaching a College extension in
East Street was opened in 1891. By this date the
College comprised sixteen departments, an Art
school, and classes in music and singing. Student
numbers varied from 100 to 120, with a teaching staff
of about 28.
Miss (later Dame) Emily Penrose was appointed
first Principal in 1893. In the following year the
College received for the first time L.C.C. and
Treasury grants. Recognition as a school of the
University followed in 1900, when twelve members
of the College staff were granted the status of University teacher. A bequest of £12,500 enabled the
College to purchase in 1908 a long lease on South
Villa, a house standing in 8 acres in Regents Park.
Building commenced in 1911, and the new College
premises, which included residential accommodation for 80 students, were opened in 1913.
Improvements in the academic standing of the
College were made possible by a gift of 100,000
guineas from Sir Hildred Carlile. Four Hildred
Carlile chairs-in English Literature, Latin, Botany,
and Physics-were endowed, and these were subsequently made into University chairs. Further
changes between 1914 and 1922 included the inauguration of new Departments of Dutch Studies
(1915), Social Studies (1918), and Geography (1920),
and the closure of the Art school and Teacher
Training Department in 1914 and 1922 respectively.
By 1919 there were more than 600 students, and
the accommodation and residence problems were
acute. Temporary huts in the quadrangle were
erected in 1920 to meet immediate needs, and work
on a College extension began in 1927. The new
premises, called Tuke Building, were opened in
1931. South Villa was then demolished. To meet
residential requirements the College acquired in
1918-19 two groups of houses in Dorset Square,
N.W. 1, and Adamson Road, N.W. 3. These formed
the basis of two halls of residence, known after 1925
as Notcutt House and Bedford College House
respectively. By 1939 more than one-third of the
students lived in College residences.
On the outbreak of the Second World War Bedford College was evacuated to Cambridge. Here,
with some assistance from the Cambridge teachers,
the teaching programme was maintained until 1944,
when Bedford College returned to London. The
College buildings and Notcutt House had been
severely damaged by enemy action in 1941, and
teaching recommenced in temporary premises.
Serious accommodation problems resulted from the
post-war increase in the number of students from
680 in 1945 to 836 in 1948. The College acquired
The Holme, a house adjoining the College, in 1945,
and Hanover Lodge in the Outer Circle in 1947.
These were developed chiefly for residential purposes. Rebuilding of the College premises was completed in 1952, and further extensions were opened
in 1957 and 1960.
After 1945 teaching facilities were considerably
expanded. By 1948 all nineteen departments of the
College were under professors of the University.
The number of postgraduate students increased
from 49 in 1945 to 113, of whom 36 were men, in
1958. By 1962 the College had 864 undergraduates
and 118 postgraduate students and a teaching staff
of 138.
BIRKBECK COLLEGE (fn. 3)

Birkbeck College
Chequy or and sable on a pale argent a sword gules a chief of the second thereon an owl of the third between two antique lamps of the first inflamed proper [Granted 1949]
In 1823, stimulated by the activity of George Birkbeck (1776-1841), a science lecturer who had earlier
established an evening
institute for working
craftsmen in Glasgow,
Thomas Hodgskin and
J. C. Robertson, editors of the Mechanic's
Magazine, proposed a
scheme for establishing a similar institution in London. They
were immediately
joined by Birkbeck,
who was then working
as a physician in London, and a committee
was formed to draft a
constitution for what
was styled the London
Mechanic's Institution. Classes opened
in 1824 in a Monkwell Street chapel, and the Institution then had between 650 and 750 subscribing members. Within a few months new premises were found
in Southampton Buildings, Holborn.
From the outset the Institution, instructing industrial workers 'in the Principles of the Arts they
practise and in the various branches of Science and
useful knowledge', was attacked by conservative
critics. The founding Committee was itself divided
as to whether or not the Institution should be
dependent on charitable contributions from the
moneyed classes. In 1824 Robertson and Hodgskin
severed their connexion with the Institution on this
issue. By 1826 it was becoming doubtful whether
the persons attending the Institution were those for
whom it was originally intended, and the Committee
redefined the term 'working class' as 'comprehending all those members who work and do not employ
journeymen'. Women were admitted to lectures
from 1830, but the arrangement was only tentative
and by 1833 the Committee was reconsidering 'the
propriety of admitting females . . . through the front
entrance'.
During the early period the Institution provided
systematic instruction in basic general education.
By 1839 the curriculum included classes in English
grammar, French, Latin, writing, mathematics,
geography, shorthand, and book-keeping. Lectures
were given on chemistry, experimental philosophy,
and natural history. Although little attention was
paid to social studies, the courses were attacked
during the 1830's by Thomas Carlyle and by those
who criticised the education of a 'steam-intellect
society'. (fn. 4) By 1839 classes were attended by 1,081
students, including eleven women.
George Birkbeck died in 1841 and policy decisions
were then vested in a committee. Without Birkbeck's
strong guidance the fortunes of the Institution
began to decline. By 1850 there were only 651
students and there was a debt of £400; seven years
later the number had fallen to 436. An appeal for
government support in 1857 resulted in an official
inquiry and the publication of a report strongly
criticising the work of the Institution. Classes were
said to be 'cumbrous and inefficient' and the students
more concerned with amusement than instruction.
Although the report advocated a radical reorganization of the Institution, the direction of its future
development was in fact dictated by developments
within the University of London. The charter
granted to the University in 1858 and revised in
1863 enabled part-time as well as full-time students
to enter for London University degree examinations,
and resulted in a rapid increase in the number of
students attending the Institution. A further stimulus
to the Institution's educational activity was given in
1866 by the adoption of a sub-committee report
advocating the formation of an Educational Council
to supervise teaching, and the addition to the curriculum of classes in algebra, geometry, and advanced
mathematics. By 1868 the classes were attracting
3,000 students, many of whom entered for University
examinations.
The status and financial position of the Institution were still, however, uncertain. New premises in
Fetter Lane were opened in 1885, and the number
of students continued to increase. Although 4,059
students attended the Institute in 1888, the Selborne
Commission of that year referred to it as one of
the 'less authoritative' institutions, and it was not
included in the proposed charter for a teaching
university.
Some financial support was obtained from the
Charity Commission in 1889 at the cost of a connexion with the City of London College to form the
'City Polytechnic'. This development had little
practical effect on the academic character of the
Institution. Classes continued to be organized 'to
meet the requirements of the University of London',
and the connexion with the polytechnic movement
merely increased the ambiguity of the Institution's
status. The City Polytechnic was dissolved in 1907,
and the Birkbeck Institution adopted the style of
Birkbeck College.
Between 1895 and 1913 a number of changes
occurred in the College. From 1895 the Principal
was appointed as a full-time salaried official; a new
salary scale for teaching staff was introduced; and
subjects were reorganized on a departmental basis.
After 1908, as part of an L.C.C. policy for concentrating technical and commercial subjects in other
institutions, a number of classes in economics
and metallurgy were transferred or discontinued, and
the Art School was closed in 1913. The scope and
standard of teaching was further influenced by the
demands of London University examinations. By
1910 of the 1,038 students attending the College
326 were studying for University examinations.
The Royal Commission's report of 1913 urged
the development of Birkbeck College as 'the natural
seat of the constituent College for evening and other
part-time students'. Further progress was halted by
the outbreak of the First World War; but in 1920
the College was admitted as a school of the University for a probationary five-year period. No fulltime day University students were admitted after
the session 1920-1, and a new Constitution, providing, inter alia, for direct representation of the Student
Union on the governing body, was adopted in 1921.
The College was admitted permanently as a school of
the University in 1933.
Between 1921 and 1939 the College's academic
and social facilities expanded steadily. College
societies were formed, and playing fields at Greenford (Mdx.) were acquired in 1920. A portion of
the Bloomsbury site was allotted for new College
premises in 1930. Building commenced in 1939,
but only the steel frame had been erected when work
had to stop in 1940.
The College remained open during the Second
World War. Courses for day students were provided;
evening tuition was suspended; and part-time
students attended during daylight on Saturdays and
Sundays. Evening courses were reintroduced in
1945. Work on the College building recommenced,
and new premises in Malet Street were completed in
1951. Work on a further extension began in 1964.
In 1961 facilities for postgraduate study in all
Honours subjects were offered in the Faculty of
Arts. All departments of the Faculty of Science,
which included those of Botany, Zoology, and
Geology, offered postgraduate and special laboratory
facilities. At September 1961 the 1,511 internal
students were divided almost equally between the
Arts and Science faculties.
THE IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Imperial College of Science and Technology
Per fesse in chief quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant gardant in pale or armed and langued azure; 2nd or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter flory gules; 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent and in base or an open book inscribed with the word SCIENTIA [Granted 1908]
The Imperial College of Science and Technology, (fn. 5)
constituted by royal charter in 1907, is the result of
the union of three
institutions, the Royal
College of Science, the
Royal School of Mines,
and the City and Guilds
College, which were
established in South
Kensington in the later
19th century.
The forerunner of
the Royal College of
Science was the Royal
College of Chemistry,
established in 1845.
It was administered
by a Council under
the presidency of the
Prince Consort, who
largely contributed to
its success; his personal intervention secured the appointment
of August von Hofmann, Privatdozent at
the University of Bonn, as Professor of Chemistry.
The College aimed to promote 'the prosecution
of such researches as may become of public
benefit and tend to the general advancement of
this important science'. It first opened in 1845 in
a temporary laboratory at 33 George Street. In 1846,
however, no. 16, Hanover Square was leased and
new laboratories, completed in 1847, erected on the
vacant frontage on Oxford Street. Initially there
were about 40 students, among whom were Frederick Abel, Warren de la Rue, Charles Mansfield,
Henry Bessemer, and William Henry Perkin. (fn. 6)
The development of the Royal School of Mines
was closely linked with that of the Geological
Survey. In 1841 Thomas de la Beche, the founder of
the Survey, instituted the Museum of Economic
Geology to 'exhibit the practical applications of
geology to the useful purposes of life'. Instruction in
mineralogy, metallurgy, and analytical chemistry
was given to a limited number of students at the
Museum, then in Craig's Court, Westminster. In
1851 the Prince Consort opened a new building for
the Museum in Jermyn Street, and in the same year
the government approved de la Beche's scheme to
establish, in association with the Museum, a school
to be known as the 'Government School of Mines
and Science applied to the arts', for instruction in
mining and applied science.
De la Beche drew the staff of the School from his
officers on the Survey. Amongst them was Lyon
Playfair, who became Professor of Chemistry jointly
with his post of Chemist to the Survey. When he
resigned in 1853 to become Secretary of the new
Science and Art Department of the Board of Trade,
the Chair of Chemistry was offered to Hofmann.
The Royal College of Chemistry was in financial
difficulties and its Council saw a solution of their
problems in Hofmann's acceptance of this offer and
the incorporation of the College with the School of
Mines. This took place in 1853. Hofmann continued
to preside over the Oxford Street laboratories,
which although now the Chemistry Department of
the mining school, continued to be known as the
Royal College of Chemistry until 1872.
One of the effects of the Great Exhibition of 1851
was the creation of a demand for scientific technical
education. The Science and Art Department was
established in 1853 to 'promote the advance of the
Fine Arts and of Practical Science'. The School of
Mines was placed under the control of this Department (which in 1899 merged into the Board of
Education). The Department at first attempted to
broaden the basis of instruction at the School and
to give it the character of a centre for a prospective
system of technical education of which only a branch
would be mining education. This was a policy
strongly advocated in later years by T. H. Huxley,
who became Professor of Natural History in 1854.
The School was renamed 'The Metropolitan School
of Science applied to Mining and the Arts' in 1853.
The influence of Sir Roderick Murchison, the successor of de la Beche as Director of the School, and
his supporters led to the subordination of the study
of pure science to that of mining. In 1857 the name
of the School became 'The Government School of
Mines' and in 1859 the scope of its training was
limited by the cessation of various science courses;
in 1863 it finally became the 'Royal School of Mines'.
The accommodation at the Museum soon became
inadequate for the School and it overflowed into
adjacent premises. In 1870 the Royal Commission
for Scientific Instruction recommended the removal
of the School of Mines and the Royal College of
Chemistry to new premises in South Kensington.
In 1872 the Chemistry, Physics, and Natural History
Departments were moved to the new building in
Exhibition Road which was later called the 'Huxley
Building'. The Applied Mechanics Department
followed in 1873, Geology in 1877, and Metallurgy
in 1880. The Mining Department was the last to
move in 1891, thus breaking the final link with the
Museum and Survey.
Training courses for teachers, which had begun
in 1869 with summer courses only, were established
in 1873. H. G. Wells was a notable student at these
courses. The general expansion of the scientific
teaching of the School was recognized by its reorganization in 1881 when it was re-established as
the 'Normal School of Science and Royal School of
Mines'. Huxley was appointed the first Dean. Two
types of training were now offered within the one
institution, which, however, came to be regarded as
two associated schools, each with a distinct character
and tradition and its own diploma: the Associateship
of the Royal School of Mines for students of Mining
and Metallurgy, and the Associateship of the Normal
School of Science for students of Pure Science. The
name 'Royal College of Science' was adopted in
1890.
The building in Exhibition Road quickly became
overcrowded, and many classes had to be held in
temporary accommodation. In 1898 the Government decided to erect a new building for Chemistry
and Physics on a site on the south side of Imperial
Institute Road, the gift of the Commissioners of the
1851 Exhibition. These new premises were not
completed, however, until 1906.
In 1876 a meeting of the Corporation and Livery
Companies of the City of London drew attention to
the need for 'the promotion of Education ... throughout the country, and especially of technical education'. As a result, the City and Guilds of London
Institute was founded in 1878, and in the following
year H. E. Armstrong and W. E. Ayrton were
appointed to organize classes in Chemistry and
Physics in what was to become the Finsbury Technical College. Enlarged plans for a 'Central Institution or College for the advanced education of those
who had acquired sufficient knowledge of science
or the arts to profit by instruction in the industrial
application of these' were realized when in 1881
the foundation-pillar of the institution was laid by the
Prince of Wales. The new College, known as the
Central Institution, was opened in 1884. The first
four professorships were in Physics, Chemistry,
Engineering and Mechanics, and Mathematics, and
the College developed primarily as a school of
engineering. In 1893 the College became known as
the Central Technical College of the City and
Guilds of London. The number of students increased
from 28 in the first session 1885-6 to over 200
by 1898.
By 1900 it was being claimed that British universities were lagging behind continental and United
States institutions in providing technical training.
A Departmental Committee of the Board of Education was appointed in 1904 to study the matter. Sir
Francis Mowatt was appointed Chairman only to
resign owing to ill-health. R. B. Haldane (later
Lord Haldane) succeeded him. In its report, published in 1906, the Committee concluded that the
provision of more facilities for advanced technological education was essential. The Committee
recommended that the three South Kensington
Colleges should form the nucleus of 'an institution
or group of associated Colleges of Science and
Technology, where the highest specialized instruction should be given, and where the fullest equipment for the most advanced training and research
should be provided in various branches of science,
especially in its application to industry'. As a result
the Imperial College of Science and Technology was
incorporated in 1907, (fn. 7) and admitted as a school of
the University in 1908. Representatives of the
nation's scientific and industrial interests sat on the
governing body, and Dr. H. T. Bovey of McGill
University was appointed first Rector. The former
diplomas of the constituent colleges were retained
by the new College and a new diploma of membership
of the Imperial College instituted for postgraduate
work.
In 1907 the College had almost 600 full-time
students; by 1914 the number had increased to 800.
An extension to the City and Guilds College and the
present building of the Royal School of Mines were
ready for occupation in 1913. In the same year a
chair of Chemical Technology was established and
the Department of Chemical Technology moved into
new premises south of Prince Consort Road in 1914.
Within the School of Mines a sub-Department of
Oil Technology was instituted in 1913, and a
professorship of Economic Mineralogy established
in 1914. In the same year the Bessemer Laboratory
was opened to provide instruction in Mining and
Metallurgy. Tywarnhale Mine, near Truro, had
been purchased in 1909 for instruction in mine
surveying.
The First World War stimulated the growth of
the College. A Department of Technical Optics was
set up in 1917, and later incorporated in the Physics
Department. The Zaharoff Chair of Aviation, the
first of its kind in the country, was established in
1919, and in the following year the first Chair of
Meteorology in Britain was founded. In the Department of Chemical Technology a Chair of Chemical
Engineering was established in 1926. In the same
year the Goldsmiths' Extension building was completely occupied and opened by the Duke of York
(later King George VI). The post-war influx of
students brought the number attending the College
to 1,080, where it remained fairly static for the next
decade.
A student hall was built in the Beit Quadrangle in
1926, and enlarged in 1931 to accommodate some
100 students. A biological field station was set up at
Slough in 1928, and used until the College purchased
Silwood Park near Ascot in 1947. Silwood has since
accommodated a number of other College activities.
The athletic ground at North Wembley, which had
been bought as a war memorial, was acquired by
the local authority in 1936 and land at Harlington
was purchased by the College to replace it. The
building of the Royal School of Needlework, at the
junction of Exhibition Road and Imperial Institute
Road, was purchased by the College in 1934. In 1949
the premises were fully occupied by the College and
renamed the Unwin Building.
Imperial College was selected by the Government
in 1953 as an instrument in a national attack on the
problem of providing more university-trained
scientists and technologists. The College agreed to
double its size, to provide for 3,000 students, and to
complete the programme in ten years. A second
decade of expansion started immediately afterwards
as a result of the Government's acceptance of the
recommendation on national targets for student
numbers of the Committee on Higher Education.
The College has continued to receive special support
from the Government.
Building after 1953 was concentrated in the area
between Prince Consort Road and the South Kensington museums, Exhibition Road and Queen's
Gate. The Hill building to house the Aeronautics,
and Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology Departments, was opened in 1957, and the
Physics building in 1960. The East Quadrangle was
completed; the Mechanical Engineering building,
facing Exhibition Road, was built in four stages-
the first being completed in 1959 and the last in
1965. To make way for the later stages of the building part of the old City and Guilds College building
was demolished in 1962 and the remainder, along
with the Unwin building, in the following year. On
the south side of the Quadrangle the new Civil
Engineering building was occupied in 1963, and to
the west the Electrical Engineering Department
moved in 1962 to what will be the highest building
in the precinct. The Quadrangle was closed by the
southern extension of the Royal School of Mines
which was completed in 1964. On the south side of
Imperial Institute Road the new building for Biochemistry was erected on the site of part of the
existing Royal College of Science building.
The expansion of the academic buildings was
paralleled by an extension of the social and residential
facilities. The Union building was doubled in size
in 1956, and a new floor added to the Beit Hall of
Residence in the following year. The College acquired the neighbouring Prince's Gardens in 1956
for comprehensive development and the first new
hall of residence there, Weeks Hall, was opened in
1959. The second stage, which came into use in 1963,
was the South Side building containing four halls of
residence (Falmouth Hall, Keogh Hall, Selkirk Hall,
and Tizard Hall) and refectories and common rooms
for general College use.
By October 1964 some 3,100 students were attending the College. Numbers were divided between the
faculties of science and engineering in the proportion of two to three, and more than one-third of the
students were postgraduates. The academic staff of
the College at that time numbered 535 and was
headed by 65 professors. In 1965 a scheme was
introduced by which prominent industrialists and
others in government establishments could have
conferred on them by the College the title of Visiting
Professor by virtue of their part-time share in its
work.
The physical expansion of the College was accompanied by other significant developments. The major
change towards a residential community came with
the opening of the South Side building with rooms
for nearly 400 students. Academic changes were
mostly absorbed within the existing departmental
structure; only two new departments were created-
Biochemistry and The History of Science and
Technology-but postgraduate studies tended to
become interdepartmental in scope. To further the
work of the College powerful and expensive facilities were installed; the College Computer Unit was
set up in 1964 and the University of London Nuclear
Reactor was erected at the College Field Station
where it is managed by the College for the University. A scheme for the incorporation of the School
of the Architectural Association as a fourth constituent college was approved in principle. Another
link with fields of study bordering on the College's
main interests was the joint sponsorship with the
London School of Economics and Political Science
of the new London Graduate School of Business
Studies. Traditional and close connexions with overseas, and particularly the Commonwealth, were
formally strengthened when in 1963 the College
entered into a special relationship with the Indian
Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
KING'S COLLEGE (fn. 8)
The theological controversy attending the foundation of London University (University College) in
1827 (fn. 9) resulted in the foundation of King's College
in 1829. Press rumours of a metropolitan college
controlled by the Established Church appeared
in 1827; but the idea was first openly defined
early in 1828 by Dr. George D'Oyly, Rector of
Lambeth, in an open letter to Sir Robert Peel.
Discussion followed, and a concrete scheme emerged
during the summer of 1828. A public meeting, with
the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, in the
chair, and attended by the Archbishops of York,
Canterbury, and Armagh, and two members of the
Cabinet (Peel and Aberdeen) was held in June. A
provisional committee of twenty-seven was appointed
to raise funds, and to frame regulations and building
plans. The sum raised by subscription was inadequate, (fn. 10) but a site lying between the Strand and the
Thames (fn. 11) was granted to the College by the Crown
and building began in 1829. In the same year the
College was incorporated as an institution 'for the
general education of youth in which the various
branches of Literature and Science are intended to
be taught, and also the doctrines and duties of
Christianity . . . inculcated by the United Church
of England and Ireland'. Government of the College
was vested in a council consisting of nine official
governors, five of whom were ecclesiastics, eight life
governors, a treasurer, and 24 other members of the
Corporation.
By the time of the College opening in October
1831 the chairs of Mathematics, Classical Literature,
and the double chair of English Law and Jurisprudence had been filled, but those of English
Literature and History were still vacant. From the
outset medical teaching formed a particularly important part of the College syllabus, and six medical
chairs were instituted. William Otter, a clergyman,
was appointed first Principal and lecturer in divinity.
For teaching purposes the College was divided
into a Higher department and a Lower or Junior
department (later known as King's College School)
housed in the basement and at first staffed by only
three teachers. Within the Senior department
teaching was divided into three courses: a general
course, comprising divinity, classical languages,
mathematics, English literature, and history; the
medical course; and, thirdly, miscellaneous subjects,
such as law, political economy, and modern languages, which were not related to any systematic
course of study and depended for their continuance
on the attractiveness of the lecturer and the supply
of 'occasional' students. Tuition in the general
course was of an elementary nature more appropriate
to a school than to a university. By the end of the
first session there were 764 students on the College
roll, of whom 162 were in King's College School.
The School was successful from the outset. It
provided tuition for the sons of middle-class parents,
teaching not only classics and mathematics, but also
modern languages and natural science. By 1833
there were 319 pupils, and two years later, despite an
attempt by the College to limit the number to 400,
the roll contained 461 boys. By 1836, under a scheme
instituted in 1829 for the affiliation to King's College
School of those schools pledging themselves to the
religious principles of the College, eleven grammar
schools were 'in union with King's College'.
Numbers in the Senior department, unlike those
in the School, remained almost stationary during the
first five years of the College's existence. Death and
resignations occasioned a number of staff changes
during this period. One of the most important
appointments was that of Charles Wheatstone to
the professorship of Experimental Philosophy. In
the medical school inefficiency and the divided
loyalties of the staff occasioned a steady decline in
attendance. By 1834-5 the number of regular
students had fallen to 42, several of the staff had
resigned, and the school began to show a loss.
In 1833 the general course was reorganized to
form a continuous course of study leading to the
award of the certificate of an Associate of King's
College (A.K.C.). The river frontage of the College
was completed during 1834-5, and, with the institution in 1836 of the degree-conferring London
University, a period of limited expansion began.
An Engineering department was opened in 1838
with 31 students. In the following year there were
50 students, and 58 by 1840. The department
continued to expand: a workshop in the basement
was opened, and in 1840 teaching in Architecture
was added to the syllabus. From this course there
emerged in 1886 the Division of Architecture and
Building Construction, transferred in 1913 to University College.
In 1839 the College leased St. Clement Danes'
parish workhouse in Portugal Street and converted
the building into a College hospital. It was opened in
1840 and initially contained 120 beds. Ten years
later the College council purchased the premises,
and in 1851, acting under powers conferred by the
King's College Hospital Act, transferred them to
the corporation of the Hospital established by that
Act. The old building was then demolished, and
the first wing of a new Hospital opened in 1861.
A formal proposal to establish a Theological department was made in 1846. Three professors of
divinity were appointed, and work began at Easter
1846 with 33 students. By 1852-3 the number of
students had increased to seventy-eight. A house
adjoining the College was purchased in 1847 and
opened as a hall for theological students; but this
scheme failed to pay its way and the hall closed in
1858.
The establishment of the Theological department
stimulated the growth of the General department.
The number of students taking the general course
increased from 121 in 1846-7 to 156 in the following
session. A number of assistant staff members were
appointed, and four new chairs, of Chinese (1847),
International Law (1848), Landscape Drawing
(1851), and Practical Chemistry (1851), were established. Students in the General department, however, still worked to secure entrance to Oxford and
Cambridge; few sat for London University examinations, to the syllabuses of which the King's
College course was not adapted. From the late
1850's onwards the numbers and standards of the
General department began to decline. There were
only 58 students by 1866, and the list of honours
taken at Oxford and Cambridge by King's men had
dwindled. Reorganization of the curriculum failed
to check the decline. The growth of the Theological department was curtailed by its inability to
confer degrees in divinity, and by 1863 there were
only 41 theological students.
Developments in the School further retarded the
growth of the College. By 1843 there were nearly
500 pupils, but many remained at the School beyond
the normal age of 16 and proceeded immediately to
Oxford or Cambridge. Hence the School began to
rival rather than complement the College. Numbers
in the School declined slightly after 1846, falling to
463 in 1850, when the council decided that the
curriculum was not meeting the demands of children
wishing to enter business, and divided the establishment into two sections, 'classical' and 'modern'.
This division became effective in January 1851 when
the modern side had 128 pupils.
The general decline was partly concealed by the
success of the evening department which was
opened in 1855. Classes were offered in sixteen subjects, and, initially, teaching was undertaken by
members of the College staff. The project was immediately successful and in 1858-9, when there were
378 students, special teachers were appointed. By
1865 there were 654 evening students.
After the resignation in 1868 of the fourth Principal, Dr. Richard Jelf, the council were able to
revise the duties of the Principal. In future he was
to act as chaplain, lecture frequently, summon and
preside at staff meetings, and retire at the age of 65.
Alfred Barry, Headmaster of Cheltenham College,
was appointed fifth Principal, and he strongly
supported the claim of the teaching staff to share in
the government of the College. In 1870 new regulations were drawn up 'for establishing departmental
and general boards', and the general board immediately began to take an active part in determining
College policy.
The General and Theological departments, however, continued to decline. By 1884 there were only
39 students in the General department. Numbers in
the Theological department dropped to 24 in 1876,
but a number of reforms revitalized the department
during the late 1870's. Under reciprocal arrangements
theological associates of King's were enabled to
attain the Durham B.A. degree after one academic
year's residence in Durham University. The extension of evening classes to the Theological department resulted in an increase in the number of
students to 79 by 1881.
The appointment in 1877 of Joseph Lister to the
professorship of clinical surgery at King's College
Hospital greatly benefited the medical faculty. The
introduction of Lister's techniques for the antiseptic treatment of surgical cases gained the Hospital
an international reputation.
In 1882 the King's College London Act, embodying the recommendations of a committee appointed to consider constitutional revision, was
passed. The original constitution was annulled, and
the objects of the College extended to include the
education of women. (fn. 12) Despite this development,
however, the College continued to decline in the
face of competition from the new degree-conferring
universities. Numbers in the medical department
dropped from 223 in 1884 to 132 in 1897, and by
1893 the General department had 10 students and a
staff of twenty-five. Several attempts were made to
revitalize the department: in 1888 it was divided
into separate departments of arts and science; in
1893 the term 'department' was discontinued in
favour of 'faculty', and the science faculty was then
entirely disassociated from that of arts. Neither
faculty, however, had a syllabus geared to the requirements of the London University degree
examinations, and they still suffered from the competition of the secondary schools, including King's
College School itself.
The School itself, however, was declining with the
increasing competition of the big London schools.
The number of pupils dropped from 612 in 1880 to
166 in 1897, and the School began to lose money.
Hence it became, instead of a help, an additional
financial burden to the College. By 1895 the College
accounts showed a deficit of nearly £8,000 and the
overdraft stood at £28,000. Government aid was
made conditional on the relaxation of religious tests
for College teachers and students. Tests for students
were abandoned in 1895, when both the government
and the L.C.C. made grants to the College. In 1897
the School was removed from the Strand building to
premises near Wimbledon Common.
The reconstitution of the University of London
in 1900 had a marked effect on the character of King's
College. College courses were revised with a view to
preparing candidates for the University degree
examinations, and inter-collegiate courses were
instituted. The College then began to revive. By
1912 there were 104 degree students in arts and
74 in science; occasional and evening students
brought the totals to 1,160 in arts and 389 in science.
Under the King's College London Act of 1903,
which amended the 1882 Act, religious tests for
teachers, except for the staff of the Theological
department, were abolished. The Treasury and
L.C.C. grants were then increased, and the College's
finances began to improve. Further reforms were
effected under the King's College (Transfer) Act of
1908 which became operative in 1910. The clinical
departments of the medical school and the School
were placed under independent governing bodies;
the Theological department separated from the rest
of the College under the governance of a College
council; and the secular departments were incorporated in the University of London.
A period of rapid expansion followed. King's
College Hospital was moved from the Portugal
Street building to new premises begun in 1908 on
a site in Denmark Hill, Camberwell. The move
involved great changes in the structure of the medical
faculty, and the pre-clinical and pre-medical teaching given in the College was separated from the
clinical studies conducted in the Hospital. A house
on Champion Hill, near the Hospital was acquired in
1914 and reopened as a hall for medical and other
students. In the same year a hall for theological
students was opened in Vincent Square, Westminster.
The influx of students after the end of the First
World War strained existing facilities to the limit.
Numbers increased from 1,775 in 1917-18 to 3,879
in 1919-20. The departments of Chemistry, Physics,
Botany, Geology, Zoology, Pharmacology, and
Electrical Engineering were extended, and, among
other temporary expedients, classes were held in
the Principal's house. The possibility of removing
the College premises to a Bloomsbury site, offered
by the government, was considered, but finally
rejected in 1925. Further additions to the Strand
premises then began. A site above Aldwych tube
station was acquired and a new block (opened in
1929) built to provide accommodation for the departments of Geology, Geography, History, Education, and Classics. In 1930 a two-storey building
was erected on the roof of the main building to house
the Hambleden Department of Anatomy, and to
provide accommodation for research in Physiology.
During the Second World War the College was
evacuated to Bristol University. Part of the Strand
building was demolished by enemy action in 1940.
When the damage was being repaired, the vaults
under the quadrangle were replaced by a two-storey
laboratory (opened in 1952) for the departments of
Physics and Civil and Electrical Engineering. During
the 1950's the College acquired for future development further premises in the Strand, Surrey Street,
and Drury Lane. A faculty of Music was established
in the College in 1964.
At October 1964 the College had 2,432 internal
students and staff of 268.
LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE (fn. 13)

The London School of Economics and Political Science
Sable a beaver passant or on a chief of the second two closed books purpure clasped leaved and decorated gold [Granted 1922]
In 1894 H. H. Hutchinson, a member of the Fabian
Society, died, having appointed Sidney Webb his
executor and one of five trustees empowered to dispose of the residue of his estate. Webb decided to
use the £10,000 available under Hutchinson's will to
found in London a school which would provide
teaching and research
facilities in economics
on the lines of the
Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques in Paris.
A committee was
formed, and W. A. S.
Hewins appointed first
Director of the School.
The Society of Arts
and the London Chamber of Commerce took
an active interest in the
project, and financial
support was given initially by the Fabian
Society. Some leading
Fabians, in particular
Bernard Shaw, attempted, unsuccessfully, to impose collectivist
principles on the School. The first prospectus
outlined the School's objects as 'the study and
investigation of the concrete facts of industrial
life and the actual working of economic and political
institutions as they exist or have existed, in the
United Kingdom or in foreign countries'.
The School opened in October 1895, offering
twelve courses of evening lectures and a three-year
course in economics, economic history, and statistics.
More than 200 students enrolled in the first term,
and by the end of the first session there were 281
students, including 87 women. Initially the School
occupied premises at 9 John Street, Adelphi; but in
1896 moved to rooms at 10 Adelphi Terrace. Many
lectures were given in the premises of the London
Chamber of Commerce in Eastcheap and at the Hall
of the Royal Society of Arts. The British Library of
Political Science, under the direction of the School,
was opened in the Adelphi Terrace premises in 1896.
The library provided important research facilities,
and by 1900 the School was said to be 'one of the
largest centres in the United Kingdom for postgraduate research'.
For the first twenty years of the School's existence
financial resources were inadequate, and initially all
the staff, except the Director, were part-time.
Sidney and Beatrice Webb lectured at the School,
and both assisted with the administration. (fn. 14) During
this period the School was essentially a place for
evening study, and not until 1906-7 were regular
day-time lectures established. The School, however,
continued to expand. A Students' Union was founded
in 1897, and nearly 400 students attended the School
during 1897-8. Following the establishment of a
Faculty of Economics and Political Science within
the reorganized University of London, the School
was admitted in 1900 as a school of the University.
The School's three-year course then became the
basis of the new B.Sc. (Economics) degree. These
developments occasioned an increase in the number
of students from 443 in 1901-2 to 1,275 in the
session 1904-5. The first of the School's new buildings, the Passmore Edwards Hall, was erected in
1902 on a site in Clare Market allotted by the L.C.C.
In the same year the School was incorporated, with
Sidney Webb as Chairman of the Governors.
The School continued to expand rapidly during
the early 20th century. A lectureship in Sociology
was established in 1904, and a Department of Social
Science instituted in 1912. By the session 1912-13
there were 2,137 students, and a report submitted to
the University in 1913 drew attention to the serious
overcrowding of the School's premises. Expansion
plans were suspended on the outbreak of the First
World War, during which a sessional average of
1,242 students attended the School. In 1918-19
this figure increased to 2,273, including 224 U.S.
soldiers; and the institution in 1919-20 of a new
Commerce degree contributed to a further increase
to 3,016 students in 1919-20. Grants from the L.C.C.
and from the City Appeals Committee enabled
extensions to be started, and in 1920 the foundationstone of the present 'Old Building' was laid. Between 1923 and 1937 the School's accommodation
was more than doubled. In 1925 the L.C.C. acquired
premises in Houghton Street, and a new building
on this site together with two additional storeys
built on the roof of the 1920 building were opened in
1928. The first section of a new building on the
east side of Houghton Street, containing lecture
and tutorial rooms, was erected in 1931-2. During
the same session a gift from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled a complete reconstruction and expansion of the Library to be planned. The work, which
involved the reconstruction of the greater part of the
Passmore Edwards Hall and the rebuilding of the
corner block purchased from the St. Clements Press
in 1929, was completed in 1934. In the following
year the School acquired the former Smith Memorial
Hall adjoining the School.
A parallel expansion of the School's academic
functions also took place during this period. Funds
provided by the Sir Ernest Cassel Trustees enabled
the number of full-time academic staff to be increased from 17 in 1919-20 to 79 in 1936-7. New
chairs were instituted in English Law, International
Law, International History, Economic History, and
International Relations, and the School was recognized in the University's Faculties of Economics and
Laws (1921), of Arts for Geography and Sociology
(1922), and for History and Anthropology (1924).
In 1929 a course for social workers in Mental Health
was established, and a department of Business
Administration was instituted in 1930. A Modern
Languages department was established in 1934-5
and a Civil Service course in the following session.
The work of the School's teachers and research
students was continuously published, particularly
in the School's Economica (established 1921) and
Politica (established 1934). Between 1920 and 1939
the number of full-course students increased until
occasional students represented only one-third of
the total. During the same period the number of
postgraduate students increased from 32 to 293.
During the Second World War the School was
housed in Peterhouse, Cambridge. Considerable
expansion followed the return of the School to
London in 1945. Academic developments included
the institution of courses in Trade Union Studies,
Personnel Management, Child Care, and for Overseas Service officers. New and additional chairs were
established in Accounting, Anthropology, Economics, Social Geography, Public Law, Public Administration, Social Administration, and Sociology.
New diplomas in Economic and Social Administration and in Operational Research were instituted in
1960. At September 1961 the School had 2,138
internal students, of whom 1,577 were in the Faculty
of Economics, and a full-time academic staff of 128.
After 1945 minor additions to the School premises
were provided by erecting new rooms on the roofs
of the Houghton Street buildings. Work began in
1960 on adapting for School use the building in
Clare Market formerly occupied by the St. Clements
Press; the building was occupied in 1961. In 1960
the School also acquired the freehold of a site
north-west of the St. Clements Buildings.
QUEEN ELIZABETH COLLEGE (fn. 15)

Queen Elizabeth College
Argent a cross gules between four blazing hearths proper [Granted 1930]
Members of the staff of King's College participated
in the foundation of Queen's College (1848) and of
Bedford College (1849), and this interest in women's
education was maintained. In 1871 a
course of lectures was
instituted 'for ladies in
Richmond and Twickenham in connection
with King's College'.
This idea was further
extended during the
1870's, and in 1877, on
the private initiative
of the Principal and
some staff members of
King's College, Mrs.
William Grey, a leading figure in women's
education, and others,
a lecture course for women was instituted in the
Kensington Vestry Hall. Attendance during 1878
averaged 500, and in 1879 the classes were removed
to a house in Observatory Avenue, Kensington.
In 1881 the King's College council adopted a
committee recommendation that the College should
establish a department for the higher education of
women. The raising of funds proved difficult, and
lectures continued to be held in Observatory Avenue
until 1885 when premises in Kensington Square
were acquired and opened as the women's department of King's College. The department was to be
governed, under the King's College council, by an
executive committee. A 'Lady Superintendent'
('Vice-Principal' from 1891) was appointed to administer the department under the ex officio headship
of the Principal of King's College.
After the appointment of Miss Lilian Faithfull as
second Vice-Principal in 1894, the character of the
department changed rapidly, and work was geared
to the London, Oxford, and Cambridge entrance
examinations. Further incentives were provided by
the foundation in 1899 and 1903 by the Merchant
Taylors' and Skinners' Companies of entrance
scholarships; by the opening of the Associateship of
King's College to women in 1899; and by the introduction of day-training students in 1903. Numbers
increased from 367 in 1905 to 600 in 1908. Two more
houses in Kensington Square were purchased in
1908 and by 1911 had been incorporated into the
original premises.
A new course in household and social sciences was
instituted in 1908. The new department was heavily
endowed, and separation from King's College was
considered. The 1908 Transfer Act envisaged an
independent 'King's College for Women' within the
University of London, but this policy was reversed
after the publication of the Haldane Report (1913)
recommending the establishment in Kensington of a
university department of household and social
science and the discontinuation of plans for a college
of general education in arts and sciences. These
recommendations were accepted in 1914 and when
the rest of the women's departments were absorbed
into King's College in the Strand in 1915, the Department of Household and Social Science moved
into premises on Campden Hill. The new institution
maintained a connexion with King's College until
1928, when it was constituted a separate college
under the title of King's College of Household and
Social Sciences and admitted as a school of the
University. In 1953 the College was incorporated as
Queen Elizabeth College.
In addition to teaching in household science and
nutrition, the College provides instruction in biochemistry, chemistry, botany, mathematics, microbiology, physics, physiology, and zoology. At
September 1961 the College had 208 internal
students and a permanent staff of forty-five. (fn. 16)
QUEEN MARY COLLEGE

Queen Mary college
Azure upon three several clouds (the sun - beams issuing ) three ancient imperial, crowns tripled all proper on a chief gules an open book also peoper embellished and clasped or and inscribed SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA in letters sable between two mullets also or [Granted 1921]
Queen Mary College, Mile End Road, evolved
from the efforts of
J. T. B. Beaumont
(1774-1841), a successful artist, author, and
businessman, to improve the conditions of
the inhabitants of the
East End of London. (fn. 17)
At his own expense
Beaumont founded,
on a site in Beaumont
Square, The New
Philosophical Institute, with a building
in the Renaissance
style, comprising a
large hall, library,
museum, and class
and committee rooms.
After Beaumont's death
in 1841 the capital
of the trust fund
which he had established for the purpose of bringing higher education to the people of the East End was kept intact,
and the income applied to the upkeep of the Philosophical Institute. In 1879 the Institute closed for
lack of support. (fn. 18) and a group of local people complained to the Charity Commissioners that Beaumont's original trust fund was being misappropriated.
The Charity Commission held an inquiry and in
1882 advanced a new scheme for the management of
the Beaumont trust. Sir Edmund Hay Currie, who
had been a member of the London School Board
and Chairman of the London Hospital, was appointed
Chairman of the revised trust.
Currie immediately began to broaden the scope
of the trust by seeking a new site for an enlarged
educational and recreational institution. He eventually settled on the site occupied by the Bancroft
almshouse and school; an establishment founded in
1735 by the Drapers' Company at the bequest of one
of their members, Francis Bancroft. The school
moved to another site in Essex, and the Beaumont
trustees acquired the premises with the help of
£20,000 given by the Drapers' Company on condition that the trustees incorporated a technical school
in their scheme.
Interest in the social conditions of the East End
was further stimulated by the publication in 1882
of Sir Walter Besant's novel All Sorts and Conditions
of Men
(fn. 19) which had, as its central theme, the establishment in the East End of a worker's Palace of
Delight. This was so similar to the plans proposed
by Sir Edmund Currie and his committee that their
scheme was soon dubbed 'a People's Palace for East
London'.
Currie enlisted the support of the Prince of Wales,
the Lord Mayor of London, Quintin Hogg (the
founder of the Polytechnic), and other leading
figures. In 1886 Queen Victoria consented to become
Patron of the new institution and later that year the
Prince of Wales laid the foundation-stone. His
mother opened Queen's Hall, the People's Palace
recreational centre, in the following year and herself
laid the foundation-stone of the new Technical
School. The interest of the Royal Family helped the
Beaumont trustees to raise about £75,000 towards
the cost of the buildings which included a concert
hall, winter garden, library, and swimming-bath, in
addition to the schools. The trustees, however,
neglected to raise a sufficient sum to endow the
building, and as a result the project was soon in
debt. An appeal for financial aid was made to the
Drapers' Company, and in order to limit vandalism
in the new premises the membership requirements
were modified so that continuing members had to
take some sort of educational course before using
the recreational facilities.
As a result of these policies the educational side
quickly became more important than the recreational, and this led directly to the appointment in 1892
of a Director of Studies. The Drapers' Company,
which had continued to support the foundation,
increased its annual grant to £7,000, and the City
Parochial Foundation voted an annual sum of
£3,500. In a further attempt to revitalize the scheme
the objects of the departments were redefined, and
the growth of the educational department stimulated by the granting of concessions to students.
In 1894 the Drapers' Company voted £5,000 for the
erection of an engineering laboratory and workshops, and subsequently the educational facilities of
the People's Palace developed rapidly.
The first Director, J. L. S. Hatton (1865-1933),
who served as Director and, later, Principal for
forty-one years, exercised considerable influence on
the development of the College. Under him tuition
was formally divided into day and evening courses, (fn. 20)
and classroom work combined with workshop instruction. The College also provided instruction and
granted its own certificates in a wide range of trade
courses; provided Civil Service courses; and taught
art up to art master's certificate standard. These
reorganizations resulted in the conditional recognition
of the College in 1907 as a school of the University
in the Faculties of Arts, Science, and Engineering.
Permanent recognition was made dependent on
the continued development of the College, and in
particular on the provision of an adequate library.
In order to improve the standing of the College,
evening courses were almost entirely discontinued,
and the number of full-time students increased from
38 in 1903 to 232 in 1914.
In 1908 separate committees to administer the
recreational and educational sides of the People's
Palace were established. The two sides subsequently
diverged to the point of opposition, until in 1913 the
College was finally separated from the People's
Palace, and a College Council established. The
Drapers' Company continued to give financial support to both schemes, and in 1914 granted £15,000
for the erection of a Chemistry building. These
developments resulted in the permanent recognition
of the College as a school of the University in 1915.
For some years extension of the College premises
was limited by the lack of suitable sites. In 1931,
however, Queen's Hall was burnt down. It was
subsequently rebuilt on adjoining premises, allowing
the College to expand on the original site. A royal
charter incorporating the College as Queen Mary
College was granted in 1934. The first university
High Voltage Laboratory in the country was opened
at the College in 1936, but further expansion was
temporarily halted by the Second World War, during
which the College was evacuated to King's College,
Cambridge. After 1945, however, land was acquired
in Bancroft Road (1948), Grantly Street (1951), and
on the site of St. Benet's church (1951). A Nuclear
Engineering laboratory, the first university establishment of its kind in the country, was opened in
1953 and extended in 1960. Sections of a new
Engineering building came into use at regular
intervals after 1958, and the first two stages of a new
Physics building were opened in 1960 and 1962.
The People's Palace was purchased in 1954, and
after extensive alteration reopened two years later
as a Great Hall.
Post-1945 developments considerably increased
the size of the College. In June 1965 there were
1,532 internal students, with an academic staff of
176. Research facilities were provided in most
departments, and special research laboratories were
attached to all scientific and engineering departments.
Student societies were organized by the Union
Society, established in 1908. For many years the
College's athletic facilities were limited, and teams
played on the Drapers' Company's ground at
Leyton. In 1937, however, a grant from the Drapers'
Company enabled the College to purchase extensive
athletic grounds near Brentwood (Essex).
ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE (fn. 21)
In 1788 the Odiham (Hants) Agricultural Society,
whose membership was drawn from farmers between
Basingstoke and Aldershot, published a memorandum regretting the absence in England of an institution providing instruction in veterinary science and,
particularly, in scientific farriery. The Society expressed an intention, if sufficient funds could be
raised, of sending students to the Alfort School near
Paris, one of four continental veterinary schools then
in being. Shortly after this decision, Charles Vial de
St. Bel, who had been trained as a veterinary surgeon
at the world's foremost veterinary college, the
Royal School of Lyons, came to England. In 1790
he published his Plan for establishing an Institution
to cultivate and teach Veterinary Medicine. In the
following year the London committee of the Odiham
Agricultural Society at a general meeting of subscribers changed its title to The Veterinary College,
London, appointed Vial de St. Bel Professor to the
College, and passed a vote of thanks to the Duke of
Northumberland who had agreed to act as president.
In January 1792 St. Bel began his first course of
lectures to 4 resident pupils in a building on the
site near St. Pancras church still occupied by the
College.
St. Bel died in 1793, and Edward Coleman was
then appointed Principal. Coleman, whose reputation rested largely on his dissertation on the human
eye, was intimate with many leading medical figures,
and soon after his appointment the Medical Examining Committee, consisting of eminent physicians
and surgeons, was set up to examine students for
the diploma. This system continued until the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeons was instituted in
1844 and became the examining body for the profession. In 1830 the king granted his patronage and
the College assumed the style of The Royal Veterinary College. Coleman was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society in 1831, and on his death eight years
later was succeeded as Principal by his assistant,
William Sewell.
During the 1840's the College began to expand.
The advent of Charles Spooner as Principal on
Sewell's death in 1853 coincided with the beginning
of additional building. Further additions were made
in 1879. The College was incorporated under royal
charter in 1875.
In 1892 Professor (later Sir John) M'Fadyean was
appointed to the staff of the College, subsequently
becoming Dean in 1894. He applied techniques
developed by Pasteur and Koch to the development of veterinary science. His researches into
tuberculosis, glanders, and Johne's disease were of
fundamental importance and his skill and academic
attainments greatly benefited the reputation of the
College.
By 1925, however, the College buildings were
dilapidated and financial resources inadequate. These
deficiencies were exposed in the report of a departmental committee of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Fisheries published in 1929. The committee
recommended that the College should be rebuilt on
the Camden Town site, and its governing body
reconstituted.
A new charter, based on the committee's recommendations, was granted to the College as the Royal
Veterinary College and Hospital in 1936. The old
premises were demolished, and the present building,
erected with the aid of government grants, was
opened by King George VI in 1937. The building
of the Beaumont Animals' Hospital for the treatment
of animals of the poor, which adjoins the main
building, was financed by a private bequest of
£25,000. Studies in the reconstituted College were
divided into six departments-of Surgery and
Obstetrics, Medicine, Animal Husbandry, Physiology and Chemistry, Anatomy, and Pathology. In
1937 there were 350 students and an academic staff
of thirty-six.
On the outbreak of the Second World War the
work of the College was transferred to Streatley
(Berks.), the University of Reading, and Sonning
(Berks.). The Beaumont Hospital, however, remained open throughout the war. When, after 1945,
the departments of Medicine and Surgery remained
at the temporary field station at Streatley the remaining departments returned to Camden Town.
In 1944 an interdepartmental committee recommended that veterinary studies should be given full
university status, a degree in veterinary medicine
becoming a registrable qualification. Five years later
the College was admitted as a school of the University in the Faculty of Medicine. From October
1952 all undergraduates in the College pursued the
course of studies for the degree of Bachelor of
Veterinary Medicine in the University of London.
The College acquired an estate at North Mimms
(Herts.) in 1955 for use as a field station where
students spend their final year, and the departments
of Medicine and Surgery were transferred from
Streatley to the new premises in 1958. In 1956 a
new charter was granted to the College as The Royal
Veterinary College. At September 1961 the College
had 367 internal students, of whom 20 were in the
faculty of Science, and a full-time teaching staff of
sixty-four.
SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES (fn. 22)

School of Oriental and African Studies
Argent a cross gules in the first quarter a sword in pale points upwards of the last on a chief also gules an open book proper between a lotus bud on the dexter and a lotus slipped and leaved on the sinister both or [Granted 1918]
During the 19th century facilities in London for
teaching and research in Oriental studies were
meagre and concentrated in University and King's
Colleges. Oriental Languages and Literature were
taught at King's College from 1833, and University
College had chairs of Hebrew, Oriental Literature,
and Hindustani. In 1907, in response to a request
from the University Senate, a Treasury departmental committee, under the chairmanship of Lord
Reay, was appointed to consider the organization of
Oriental studies in London. The commission's
report, presented in 1908, concluded that there was
an 'urgent need for the
provision of suitable
teaching in London for
persons about to take
up administrative or
commercial posts in
the East and in Africa',
and recommended the
establishment of 'a
School of Oriental
Studies in the University of London to give
instruction in the
languages of Eastern
and African peoples,
Ancient and Modern,
and in the Literature,
History, Religion, and
Customs of these peoples. . . .' The Reay
Committee's recommendations were not
immediately implemented, but in 1910 the Secretary
of State for India appointed a departmental committee to 'formulate in detail an organized scheme
for the institution in London of a School of Oriental
Languages upon the lines recommended' in the Reay
Report.
Following the report of the second committee, the
School of Oriental Studies, London Institution, was
established by royal charter in 1916 and admitted
as a school of the University. Premises in Finsbury
Circus that had formerly housed the London Institution for the Advancement of Literature and the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (founded 1807) were
transferred to the School under the London Institution (Transfer) Act of 1912. Dr. E. D. (later Sir
Denison) Ross, Keeper of the Stein Antiquities at
the British Museum and previously Professor of
Persian at University College, was appointed first
Director of the School. The staffs of the Oriental
departments of University and King's Colleges were
transferred to the new institution, and the first
students entered in January 1917. By July 1917 the
School contained 125 students.
The Finsbury Circus premises were sold in 1936,
and teaching and administration were transferred
temporarily to Vandon House and the library to
Clarence House, Westminster. Work on a new
building on the Bloomsbury site began in 1938, but
building was suspended on the outbreak of the
Second World War. In 1938 the Charter was
amended and the title of the School changed to
School of Oriental and African Studies.
During 1939 the School was transferred to Christ's
College, Cambridge, but returned to London in the
following year. Part of the Bloomsbury premises was
occupied in 1941, and until 1946 the School shared
the building with the Ministry of Information. As
the Second World War spread across North Africa,
Asia, and the Far East the work of the School in
providing language courses increased, reaching a
peak in Chinese and Japanese, with a record number
of 1,029 students in the session 1945-6.
An interdepartmental committee, reporting in
1946, recommended that the whole field of Oriental
and African studies should be developed in London,
while only a restricted range of subjects should be
covered in other universities. The academic work of
the School was subsequently organized in ten
departments: India, Pakistan, and Ceylon; South
East Asia and the Islands; the Far East; the Near
and Middle East; Africa; Phonetics and Linguistics;
History; Law; Anthropology and Sociology; and
Economic and Political Studies. The School is largely
a research institution, but at May 1965 had approximately 500 full-time and 100 part-time students,
with an academic staff of 185. (fn. 23)
In 1950 Sir Percival David presented to the
University his unique collection of Chinese ceramics
and associated library. This gift led to the construction of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese
Art (opened 1952), which is administered in association with the School. Pending the construction of
permanent premises the Foundation is housed at
53 Gordon Square, W.C. 1.
THE SCHOOL OF PHARMACY

The School of Pharmacy
Argent on a bend azure between two mortars in each a pestle proper a rod of Aesculapius or on a chief of the second a Tudor rose raditated between two open books also proper edged and clasped gold [Granted 1950]
The School of Pharmacy was founded in
1842 by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain,
incorporated in 1843
as a society 'for the
purpose of advancing
Chemistry and Pharmacy and promoting
a uniform system of
Education of those
who should practise
the same . . .'. (fn. 24) Initially the School was
accommodated in 17
Bloomsbury Square,
and the premises included one of the first
practical Chemistry
laboratories in the
country to be opened
for public courses.
Lectures and practical
work were organized
in preparation for the
diploma examination of the Pharmaceutical Society.
In 1925 the School was admitted as a school of the
University in the Faculty of Medicine (non-clinical).
Courses for the degree of Bachelor of Pharmacy
were then introduced, but the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society continued to govern the School.
In 1926 the Society established pharmacological
laboratories for the purpose of investigating methods
of biological assay of drugs and to provide facilities
for the testing of trade preparations. These laboratories were incorporated into the School in 1932,
and the institution was then renamed the College
of the Pharmaceutical Society.
Work on a new building in Brunswick Square
began in 1938, but on the outbreak of the Second
World War in 1939 work was suspended and the
School evacuated to University College, Cardiff.
After returning to London in 1945, the Pharmaceutical Society appealed to the University for
assistance in maintaining the School. The institution
was reconstructed as a limited company in 1949 and
control was vested in a body representing the University, the Pharmaceutical Society, and the academic
staff. A charter of incorporation was granted to the
School in 1952. Work on the Brunswick Square
building recommenced in 1954. The first stage of
the new premises was occupied in 1955, and the
building was completed in 1960.
At October 1964 the School had 210 internal
students, of whom approximately 50 were postgraduates, and a permanent academic staff of thirtynine. (fn. 25)
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
University College originated in the early
19th-century foundation in Gower Street designed
to provide a non-sectarian university in London. (fn. 26)
During the early 1820's the projected 'London University' was discussed by the poet Thomas Campbell
with contributors to his publication, The New
Monthly Magazine. The scheme was welcomed by
Brougham, who was supported by Hume, Warburton, and the disciples of Jeremy Bentham. (fn. 27)
Brougham quickly replaced Campbell as effective
leader of the movement and after 1828 the poet
took no part. A provisional committee was appointed
in 1825 and the first prospectus for the new university appeared in the same year. (fn. 28) The provisional
committee was replaced by a Council which was
elected in 1826. A site in Gower Street was purchased
by subscription, and the foundation-stone of what
later became known as University College was laid
by the Duke of Sussex in 1827.
Lectures in Arts, Laws, and Medicine began in
October 1828. Initially there were approximately
250 students, of whom 54 were in the medical
school. Tuition was based on the Scottish pattern of
instruction by lectures with exercises and examinations, and represented a deliberate departure from
the methods of the older universities. The disputed
question of formal religious instruction was avoided
by providing that the new university should be
wholly non-residential.
The first department to be securely established
was the medical school. In an attempt to replace the
existing empirical training (fn. 29) by co-ordinated medical
education, studies in the department were systematically divided among a number of specialists. By
1838 some informed opinion considered the medical
school to be 'the best in Europe'. (fn. 30) The number of
students in the medical school increased from 183
in 1828-9 to 390 in 1834-5. In 1832 the proprietors
resolved to raise money by mortgage to build a
hospital on the west side of Gower Street. The
foundation-stone was laid in 1833 and the building
was ready to receive patients by 1834.
A boys' school in connexion with the university
was opened at 16 Gower Street in 1830. It moved
into the university building in 1832, and the numbers attending continued to increase. The institution
was marked throughout by its original approach.
There were no compulsory subjects, no rigid form
system, and no music, religious instruction, or
flogging.
During the years 1830-1 there was an involved
quarrel between the University Council and the
professors as to the amount of control exercisable by
the Council over the academic staff. After a period
of public dispute, resignations, and expulsions, an
academic Senate was instituted in 1832, and the
conduct of the ordinary business of the University
was transferred from the Council to a committee of
management. These changes were embodied in new
by-laws substituted in 1842 for the original deed of
settlement.
In 1836, after prolonged opposition by the London
medical bodies and the older universities, (fn. 31) a charter
of incorporation was granted to the university as
University College, London. A new University of
London was incorporated on the same day under a
charter granting the power to award degrees to
candidates from University College, King's College,
or any other approved institution. (fn. 32)
These constitutional changes were followed by a
period of depression, particularly in the medical
school where the number of students declined from
497 in 1837-8 to 161 in 1863-4. In other departments, however, student numbers remained fairly
constant and three new chairs, of Architecture,
Engineering, and Geology, were founded in 1841,
and an important stimulus given to chemical education in England by the institution in 1845 of a chair
in Practical Chemistry and the foundation of the
Birkbeck Laboratory
The fortunes of the College began to revive during
the 1860's. Fresh by-laws were drawn up in 1869.
These empowered the College to provide instruction
for persons of both sexes, and to add Fine Arts to
the studies specified in the Charter. A number of
bequests, chiefly from Felix Slade, enabled the
College to build the first stage of a new north wing
(opened 1871) to house a department of Fine Art,
subsequently known as the Slade School. The department grew rapidly, and by 1875, when the
Council had to restrict admissions, there were 220
students. A separate faculty of Science was established in 1870, and the institution in 1878 of chairs
in Chemical Technology and Mechanical Technology illustrate the efforts of the College to promote
experimental science. In the Faculty of Medicine a
chair of Hygiene and Public Health was established
in 1869.
Between 1866 and 1874 a regular series of evening
classes was held in the College. The seventeen
general courses included instruction in writing,
book-keeping, and elocution. The number of evening students reached 120 in 1869-70, but had
declined to 55 by 1874 when the experiment was
discontinued.
The general academic revival during this period,
particularly marked in scientific studies, was reflected in an increase in the number of students in
the College from 387 in 1863 to 911 in 1873. During
the same period numbers attending the School rose
from 386 to 680.
Women, were admitted to some special and evening lectures during the 1860's and mixed classes were
first held during 1872-3. Subsequently women
gradually infiltrated into all classes. By 1878 there
were 309 women students, and their number steadily
increased. College Hall, Byng Place, was opened as
women's hall of residence in 1882.
By 1880 the intellectual life of the College was
rapidly outgrowing the administrative framework
within which it was confined. This was recognized
in 1885 by the admission to the Council of three
members of the Senate. The number was increased
to six in 1888. The College received its first parliamentary grant in 1889 and the first L.C.C. grant
five years later. Extensions and modifications to the
College buildings during the 1880's and early 1890's
secured adequate accommodation for all the existing
departments. The south wing of the main building
was completed in 1876 and the north wing in 1881.
New engineering laboratories were built in 1893.
Under the University of London Act of 1898 the
College became in 1900 a school of the University
and entered upon a period of rapid development.
In 1907 the College was incorporated in the University. The School was then created a separate corporation and moved to Hampstead, while in the
medical school clinical studies were separated from
the pre-clinical and pre-medical work conducted in
the College. During the period 1900-25 the number
of students in the College rose from 1,098 to 2,426,
of whom 1,074 were women. In 1900 thirty-seven
students took the bachelor's degree; 216 proceeded
to the degree in 1925. Development was most
marked in the Faculty of Arts. Eight students proceeded to a degree in Arts in 1900, but by 1925 the
number had increased to eighty-five. (fn. 33)
The rapid growth of the College during the first
quarter of the century raised problems of administration, accommodation, and finance. The office of
Principal was established in 1900. In 1907 this title
was changed to that of Provost. The College site
was enlarged by the purchase of property which
included houses in Gower Street (1919-23),
premises in Gower Place (1911), and the church of
All Saints, Gordon Street (1912). New buildings
were erected for Physiology (1909), Pharmacology
(1912), and Anatomy (1923). The Great Hall, constructed out of All Saints church, was opened in
1927. This expansion was largely financed by benefactions from the L.C.C. and the Rockefeller
Foundation, and by £228,000 subscribed to the
Centenary Appeal Fund.
The increase in student numbers during this
period was accompanied by a proportionate increase
in the number of academic staff from 131 in 1908
to 255 in 1925-6, and to 347 in 1947. Not until the
1930's, however, were conditions of service satisfactorily regulated. A salary scheme was established
in 1930, and an Academic Staff Appointments and
Promotion Committee set up in the following year.
Association with the teaching university necessitated considerable changes in the character of the
work of the College, and during this period each
department gradually assumed its place and special
responsibilities within a University school. The
number of postgraduate students increased from
24 in 1903-4 to 515 in 1925-6. Specialization resulted
in the transfer of some departments to other institutions and the integration of others with similar
departments in other colleges. Oriental Studies
were transferred in 1917 to the newly-established
School of Oriental Studies and the Department of
Hygiene and Public Health was removed on the
opening of the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine in 1929. In the Faculty of Arts
particularly there was a steady growth of specialization and inter-collegiate work. A department of
Scandinavian Studies was founded in 1918 and a
department of Dutch Studies, in co-operation with
Bedford College, in 1919. From 1927 onwards the
Department of Political Economy was rebuilt, and
the number of students in this department increased
from 27 in 1927-8 to 177 in 1936-7. The reorganization of the Department of Architecture which had
begun in 1903 was completed by the amalgamation
of the architectural departments of University
College and King's College in 1913. A department of
Town Planning was added to the Bartlett School of
Architecture in 1914, and a School of Librarianship
(after 1947 the School of Librarianship and Archives)
was founded in 1919.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 the College was
dispersed among a number of English and Welsh
universities. During 1940-1 the buildings were
much damaged by enemy action. Although some
departments returned to the Gower Street premises
in 1944 and the remainder in 1945, the return
to normal working was slow. Repairs and the
construction of new buildings were retarded by
national economies and a shortage of money and
sites. Substantial government grants subsequently
enabled the College to acquire gradually the freeholds of adjacent properties, so that by 1963 the
College owned almost all the property within a
rectangular area bounded by Gower Street, Torrington Place, Gordon Square, Gordon Street, and
Gower Place. Sites were thereby provided for a
Biological Sciences Building to house departments
of Anthropology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and
Botany, and for a new Engineering Building which
was erected with the aid of £400,000 raised from
industry. Difficulties in controlling planning and
building operations necessitated the creation in 1948
of a new administrative post of Bursar as head of a
separate department dealing solely with properties,
buildings, and connected services.
Academic developments after 1945 included the
establishment of a number of new chairs. The
number of academic staff, including honorary members, rose from 360 in 1947 to 717 in 1962. To
alleviate the difficulty of finding accommodation in
London, the College opened small blocks of staff
flats in Nevern Square (1949) and Hornton Street
(1950).
Student numbers increased from 3,339 in 1947-8
to 3,836 in 1961-2. Postgraduates numbered 537 in
1947-8 and 1,071 in 1961-2. The problem of providing residential accommodation for students was
accentuated by the changing character of the Bloomsbury district. A site in Fitzroy Square was acquired
and work on a hall for 130 students began in 1961.
Two small halls-Bentham Hall (men), Cartwright
Gardens, and Campbell Hall (women), Taviton
Street-were opened in 1952 and 1954 respectively,
but by 1962 there were still only 723 residential
students. After 1962, however, the College received
endowments totalling more than one and a half
million pounds and was able to tackle the problem
of student accommodation. By 1964 there were 970
residential students, and the building programme
provided for accommodation for 1,400 students
by 1968.
Academic expansion after 1900 was also accompanied by increasing student activity. The College
Union was formed in 1893, and between 1900 and
1925 sixty-one student societies, most of which have
survived, were founded. The Men's and Women's
Unions were amalgamated as a single Union in
1954. The former Seamen's Hospital at 25 Gordon
Street was converted to house the Students' Union
and some academic departments in 1959. An athletic
ground at Perivale was purchased in 1908, but this
was sold shortly before the Second World War and
grounds covering 90 acres purchased at Shenley
(Herts.).
WESTFIELD COLLEGE
Westfield College for women was founded in
1882. (fn. 34) The initial scheme for a residential London
college resulted from a meeting between Miss Constance Maynard, an ex-student of Girton College,
Cambridge, and Miss Dudin Brown, an heiress with
religious and educational interests. Miss Brown gave
£10,000 in trust for 'founding and perpetuating a
College for the higher education of women on
Christian principles': two houses in Maresfield
Gardens, Hampstead, were rented; and Miss Maynard, with five students, began work there in
October 1882.
The foundation suffered at first from its isolation
as a private venture and from financial poverty. For
some years Miss Maynard worked gratuitously, and
funds were raised by holding drawing-room meetings at which she spoke. In 1890 the College Council
purchased Kidderpore Hall, a Georgian house in
Kidderpore Avenue. The cost of the house, grounds,
and alterations resulted in a debt of £10,000, which
was met by a mortgage and debentures. Financial
insecurity and inadequate equipment were the main
grounds on which the College was refused admission
as a school of the University after the reorganization
of 1898. (fn. 35) In 1902, however, temporary admission in
the Faculty of Arts was granted on the understanding
that the Council would try to remedy the deficiences
of the College. Bequests from Miss Dudin Brown
and Mrs. Alexander Brown enabled the outstanding
debentures to be cancelled and the mortgage debt to
be paid off. A library, two lecture rooms, and a
dormitory wing were added during 1904-5, and the
curriculum was extended to include a course in
Botany. By the time Miss Maynard retired in 1913
the number of students in the College had increased
to sixty. A further gift covered the purchase of a
house opposite the College in 1917, but by this
time it was clear that Westfield could not survive
without large-scale financial support. Permanent
admission to the Faculty of Arts of the University
was sought, but the terms of the original trust deed
restricting representation on the College Council to
members of the Church of England were unacceptable to the University and to the London County
Council. After protracted negotiations, a compromise was reached in 1919 and the L.C.C. and
University Grants Commissioners then voted grants
totalling £4,000 a year. Substantial additions were
made to the College buildings between 1920 and
1930. The College Chapel was erected by private
subscription in 1929 to commemorate the work of
Miss Anne Richardson on her retirement after
thirty-eight years, first as lecturer and then VicePrincipal. Recognition as a school of the University
was granted to the College in 1929, and four years
later Westfield was incorporated under royal charter.
The College was admitted as a school of the
University in the Faculty of Science in 1959, and
new departments of Botany, Chemistry, Physics,
and Zoology were instituted in 1961. A new science
block in Kidderpore Avenue was opened officially by
Queen Elizabeth II in 1962. (fn. 36)
In May 1964 the College secured an amendment
of the Charter to permit the admission of men
students at all levels. The first men undergraduates
entered the College in October 1964. At that date
the College numbered approximately 485 undergraduates and 50 postgraduates, of whom about
half were men. There were more than 80 members
of the Senior Common Room, including 12 Professors of the University. (fn. 37)