The history of Imperial College London can be traced back to the founding of the Royal College of Chemistry in 1845 in London, with some ancestral medical schools dating back to 1823. The college was formed in 1907 out of the Royal Colleges in South Kensington, and throughout the 20th century became central to the national strategy for technical education and research. It existed for most of its life as part of the University of London, only becoming independent in 2007.
Founding Colleges
The earliest college that led to the formation of Imperial was the Royal College of Chemistry, founded on Hanover Square in 1845, with the support of Prince Albert and parliament. Following some financial trouble, this was absorbed in 1853 into the newly formed Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Arts, located on Jermyn Street. The school was renamed the Royal School of Mines a decade later.
The medical school has roots in many different school across London, the oldest of which dates back to 1823, with the foundation of the teaching facilities at the West London Infirmary at Villiers Street. Later known as Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, it was designed to provide medical education for the needs of a university. This was followed in 1834 when Westminster Hospital surgeons started taking students under their care. Established on Dean Street, the school was forced to close in 1847, but was reopened in 1849 with a new specimen museum. The first teaching at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington began in 1851, with St Mary's Hospital Medical School established in 1854.
The Great Exhibition
Proceeds from the Great Exhibition of 1851 were designated by Prince Albert to be used to develop a cultural area in South Kensington for the use and education of the public. Within the next 6 years the Victoria and Albert and Science museums had opened, joined by the Natural History Museum in 1881, and in 1888 the Imperial Institute. As well as museums, new facilities for the royal colleges were also constructed, with the Royal College of Chemistry and the Royal School of Mines moving to South Kensington between 1871 and 1872.
In 1881 the Normal School of Science was established in South Kensington under the leadership of Thomas Huxley, taking over responsibility for the teaching of the natural sciences and agriculture from the Royal School of Mines. The school was granted the name Royal College of Science by royal consent in 1890. As these institutions were not part of universities, they were unable to grant degrees to students, and instead bestowed associateships such as the Associateship of the Royal College of Science.
The Central Institution of the City and Guilds of London Institute, formed by the City of London's livery companies, was opened on Exhibition Road by the Prince of Wales, founded to focus on providing technical education, with courses starting in early 1885. The institution was renamed the Central Technical College in 1893, becoming a school of the University of London in 1900.
20th century
At the start of the 20th century there was a concern that Britain was falling behind its key rivals – particularly Germany – in scientific and technical education, and the idea grew for a "British Charlottenburg", similar to the German Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg. In 1902, the Technical Education Board of London County Council called for the establishment of a similar institute for advanced technological training in London, and Richard Haldane had involved Lord Rosebery, Arthur Balfour and the Duke of Devonshire in a scheme to raise £600,000 as a trust fund for the proposed institution.
A departmental committee was set up at the Board of Education in 1904, originally chaired by Francis Mowatt and (from 1905) by Haldane, officially to look into the future of the Royal College of Science. An interim report in 1905 asked if the government would support the unification of the two national schools of science in South Kensington – the Royal College of Science and the Royal School of Mines – into a single institution. This was followed in 1906 by the final report that called for the establishment of this unified institution, also to take in – if agreement could be reached with the City and Guilds of London Institute – their Central Technical College. The committee was divided on whether the new institution should be incorporated into the University of London or be associated as an independent college of the university, but recommended that the establishment of the new institution should not wait for this question to be settled.