University College, Bristol was a college from 1876 to 1909. It was the predecessor institution to the University of Bristol, which gained a royal charter in 1909. From its foundation, the college, which espoused Quaker, Liberal, and Non-Conformist values, was open to men and women alike.
Origins
The history of University College, Bristol and ultimately the University of Bristol can be traced as far back as 1872 and the attempts of John Percival, a local educationalist and headmaster of Clifton College, to press for the creation of a college.
In February 1868, John and Louisa Percival formed a Committee in Bristol to promote the Higher Education of Women, which arranged lectures and other classes from 1870 to help prepare women to prepare for the Higher Education Cambridge Examination. By 1876 this programme had developed to the point that Percival felt able to propose the foundation of University College, Bristol. With the Percival's influence, this became 'the first town in England to possess a University College open alike to men and women.'
Percival's strong Christian religious views (he later became a bishop) influenced his views on education, in that he believed that opportunities should be available to both males and females irrespective of their declared faith.J.W. Shelborne p4 He is credited with the initial idea that there should be a university in Bristol.Cartleton 1984 p1 Lewis Fry, a later influence on the college and the subsequent university, is quoted as saying that it was to Percival that they owed the foundation of the college.
In 1872, Percival wrote a letter to the Oxford colleges noting the lack of a university culture in the provinces. He also canvassed support when Bristol Medical School was looking for a new building and in 1873 he suggested to the Medical School Council that they both approach the Bristol Museum and Library Society to attempt to establish a college.University College, Bristol 1876–1909, J.W. Shelborne, p5 This allowed the creation of a committee to promote the scheme led by the dean of Bristol, which contained prominent Bristol politicians from the Liberal and Conservative Parties and members representing local industry.J.W. Shelborne p5 It was in July 1876 that the medical school agreed to affiliate with the college in return for the promise that it would be supplied with additional space to expand, a promise which was eventually honoured three years later. This building now houses the University of Bristol's Department of Geography.
In 1873, Percival wrote a pamphlet entitled The Connection of the Universities and the Great Towns which was met with a positive response from Benjamin Jowett, a connection of Percival, who at this time was the Master of Balliol College. His promise of sponsorship initially helped the project. It was Percival's connections with the colleges of Oxford which helped in lobbying for the creation of the university. Percival was able to agree that the Master of Balliol College would subscribe £300 to the project, on the terms that adult education was catered for and that the college catered for the arts as well as the sciences.
On 11 June 1874, the Victoria Rooms hosted a meeting to promote what was described as a College of Science and Literature for the West of England and South Wales. The meeting was attended by the then president of the British Association and Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin). This meeting has been described as a partial success, as it gained the support of Albert Fry and Lewis Fry,Carleton 1984 p3 members of the influential Fry family (the Fry name being known for the chocolate business set up by their grandfather and developed by their father Joseph Storrs Fry). Lewis Fry was a Quaker, lawyer and later a Liberal and Unionist Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1892 and 1895 to 1890 for the constituency Bristol North. Albert Fry also gained distinction as the founder of the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works Co. However, the fact that the project attracted large numbers of Quakers, Non-Conformists and Liberals meant that the project was labelled as such an institution. Tories made some initial grants to the project but soon focused their interest on a rival institution through the Society of Merchant Venturers which was considered mostly Conservative in politics. Ironically, the Society of Merchant Venturers, which was to become a rival institution during much of the college's history, made a gift of £1000 at this point.
Despite this initial donation, a lack of funds was to plague University College, Bristol up until the donations which allowed it to lobby for a royal charter. Initially the financial response to the meeting was disappointing, with the college gaining only £25,991 of the £40,000 funds which it asked for. It was at this stage that the Wills family became involved in the project with Henry Overton Wills donating £250 to the project. The lacklustre response to the call for funds had the immediate result of delaying the opening of the college until 1876, and meant that when it did open it was under the most stringent financial conditions. Shelborne notes that the setting up of the college struggled due to the fact that Bristol lacked a significant industry which saw benefit in the creation a college, an absence of the nouveaux riches, and no philanthropic industrialists who wished to highlight the importance of Bristol.University College, Bristol 1876–1909, J.W. Sherborne, p7
Opening of University College, Bristol
University College, Bristol opened on Tuesday 10 October 1876 at 9.00 a.m. with a mathematics lecture by W. R. Bousfield, who also lectured in higher maths an hour later.J.W. Shelborne p1 The charges for such a course were three guineas for two lectures each week during the Christmas and Easter terms; a student also had to pay 7s as an entrance fee to enroll.University College, Bristol 1876–1909, J.W. Sherborne, p1 At its opening in 1876, two professors and five lecturers offered lectures in fifteen subject areas.Early Days: Departmental History: Earth Sciences: University of Bristol The college was situated at 32 Park Row and was rented for £50 per annum. As requested by Jowett when giving money, the college was open to men and women on the same basis (except in medicine),J.W. Sherborne, p2 The college offered scholarships, the most valuable of which was one in chemistry worth £25. General scholarships of £15 were also available. Despite the label of 'University' however, the institution did not have the power to award degrees to its students. There were, however, links with the University of London which allowed the external sitting of these examinations and the Cambridge Local Higher Examinations useful for those who wished to become teachers.
During the first year 30 men and 69 women registered for classes, and there were 238 evening classes, which cost five shillings with a registration fee of one shilling. The buildings rented were used by the college as a deaf and dumb institute. In its early years the college was very poor. The college had raised £23,437, just short of the £25,000 that it was suggested was required at the Victoria Rooms meeting, but in reality this sum fell well short of what would be sufficient. Much of the college's initial money was spent on acquiring land such as that beside Rifle Drill Hall, next to where Bristol Grammar School now stands.Cartleton 1984 p7
Several lecturers at the college achieved reputations in their own subject fields, including Henry Selby Hele-Shaw (Engineering), Silvanus Thompson (Physics), and William Johnson Sollas (Geography). The college lacked any kind of formal syllabus. Students' reasons for entering the college were varied, with some, such as G. H. Leonard (who later became a professor at the University of Bristol), using their time there as preparation for the Cambridge scholarship examination. One female student is said to have attended "in order to improve after dinner conversation".Cartleton 1984 p5 However, by the 1880s University College, Bristol could be said to be producing its first graduates.
Jowett's connections with Alfred Marshall allowed him to pick Marshall as the first principal of the college. Marshall is now considered one of the most dominant figures in world economics at the beginning of the 20th century. Marshall came to Bristol as a result of his marriage to one of his students Mary Paley at St. John's, which required his immediate resignation of his fellowship there in Moral Science. Marshall taught evening classes to young businessmen while his wife taught during the day to ladies. Her salary was deducted from his wages. Today Alfred Marshall has a building of the University of Bristol named after him in recognition of his early influence on the foundation of the university.
Marshall stated his intention to leave in 1879 and was talked out of resigning, but he eventually did so in 1881 during a period of acute financial struggle for the college. Marshall's reasons for resignation were varied; he found the nature of the job left little time for the reflection needed to pursue his academic work, and he preferred academia to administration. The financial situation of the college played a part, and he found the need to "beg" to maintain the institution's finances distasteful. There was an obvious successor to the position of principal, with chemistry professor William Ramsay replacing Marshall in the post.
Ramsay is said to have brought great energy to the talk of improving the college.Carleton 1984 p9 He embarked on a round of after-dinner parties to promote the college, and in 1883 he was able to build a purpose-built laboratory. In 1884 the college came close to bankruptcy when the treasurer announced that funds would dry up within two months. The college survived, but two professors were given notice of dismissal and their departments were placed on a self-supporting notice. At this time Welsh colleges were able to receive financial support but not English ones, so English colleges therefore decided to lobby the Government for funding. The result was that English colleges would receive a grant of £15000, of which Bristol gained the modest share of £1,200. Ramsay resigned his post in 1887 after being appointed chair of chemistry at University College London. Although no longer principal, after his resignation he used his influence to lobby the college council to appoint his assistant Morris Travers to the chair of chemistry when the position became vacant. Travers is credited with pushing forward the Charter campaign during the beginning of the 20th century.
When Conwy Lloyd Morgan was appointed he was only given the lesser title of Dean of University College, Bristol, and it was only in 1891 when finances had improved that he was given the title of principal. Morgan had come to Bristol in 1884 from a post in Cape Town, South Africa. Today he is considered to be one of the first experimental psychologists, but he came to Bristol to replace the geology teacher William Johnson Sollas. He is considered to have coined much of the terminology regarding contemporary animal science. At Bristol he became fully involved in the campaign to gain the college a royal charter.