150 years of education provision
The precursor institutions of London Metropolitan University can trace their roots back over 150 years to 1848 when the Bishop of London and the Reverend Charles Mackenzie established The Metropolitan Evening Classes for Young Men.
1848 This provision was developed as a result of the Bishop’s appeal to his clergy "to improve the intellectual and moral conditions of the industrial classes".
1851 Albert, the Prince Consort, was so impressed with the classes that an annual celebration of the students’ work was held under his patronage. Royal patronage has continued, and today the patron of London Metropolitan University is HRH Prince Philip.
1861 Enrolment numbers increased to 800. The classes were established as the City of London College. The following year all teachers were paid for the first time and a principal appointed.
1896 On 5 October, the Northern Polytechnic Institution in Holloway opened its doors. Its mission was: ‘…to promote the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well being of young men and women… (and) … the means of acquiring a sound general, scientific, technical and commercial education at small cost, and also to afford facilities for physical training and for recreation’.
A thousand students enrolled in the first year to be taught by 34 members of staff on courses ranging from English, and chemistry, to botany, hygiene, and elocution. All were at elementary level and most were offered as evening classes.
1899 Sir John Cass Technical Institute founded - origins came from the benevolence of Sir John Cass (1661-1718), an Alderman of the Ward of Portsoken, an area in which the University’s Jewry Street building, close to Aldgate Pump, now stands. The revenue from the charitable trust that he endowed enabled the governors of the Sir John Cass’s Foundation to establish first a school and later the Technical Institute. Many of the courses were part-time, and included physics; theoretical mechanics; commercial arithmetic; domestic economy (which included dressmaking, cookery, laundry work and housewifery); and tailors’ cutting.
1902 King Edward VII Nautical College founded.
1900 The Northern Polytechnic was an instant success; student numbers had doubled and, by 1910, every department offered day classes. A little later, five-year evening degrees were available as was research supervision on Saturdays.
1927 The department of navigation was established at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute to provide full-time courses in navigation.
1929 The North Western Polytechnic, was established, and enrolled more than 2,200 students with an academic staff of 150, it concentrated on the social sciences, humanities and arts. Its site in Kentish Town was opened by HRH Edward, Prince of Wales, and cinema audiences throughout the country watched the event on Pathe News.
1940 City of London College building completely destroyed by enemy bombing.
1944 Seven hundred students enrolled on courses in the first term of City of London College’s new residence at Electra House, Moorgate, the former headquarters of Cable & Wireless.
1949 The department of navigation’s more junior courses were transferred to the King Edward VII School under the London County Council development plan. The navigation department of Poplar Technical College was closed and its courses, first mates, masters, extra masters and civil air navigation, were transferred to the Sir John Cass College Technical Institute.
1950 Sir John Cass Technical Institute changed its name to Sir John Cass College.
1954 The "Sir John Cass" training vessel, a 112-foot motor launch, was converted into a floating school to enable students to study the operation of radar equipment and other modern navigational aids. It was a regular sight on the River Thames.
1960 The total student roll of the City of London College was over 8,000.
1961 Tercentenary of the birth of Sir John Cass.
1964 Shoreditch Technical Institute renamed London College of Furniture.
1965 Sir John Cass School of Art founded by the amalgamation of two departments: the department of silversmithing and allied crafts from the Central School of Art, and the department of fine and applied art from the Sir John Cass College. The new college took up residence in Central House, opposite the Whitechapel Art Gallery.
1966 White Paper published, A Plan for Polytechnics, "to provide the means of expanding higher education ... by offering courses which are relevant to the vocational aims of students and at the same time retain the flexibility which will enable these institutions to respond to rapidly changing demands".
1967 Constituent colleges of polytechnic proposal and ILEA held first meeting to consider the formation of a new polytechnics.
1969 School of Navigation formed by the amalgamation of the senior department of the King Edward VII Nautical College and navigation department of Sir John Cass College; and re-housed in a specially designed building at Tower Hill.
1970 London College of Furniture moved to new building at 41 Commercial Road, E1.
1970 The Sir John Cass College became the Sir John Cass School of Science and Technology; and the City of London College became the School of Business on their incorporation into City of London Polytechnic.
1971 Reception held at Guildhall to mark the occasion of the designation of the new City of London Polytechnic, which started with 2,000 full-time and 15,000 part-time students.
1971 The Northern and North Western polytechnics merged to form the Polytechnic of North London.
1990 London College of Furniture joined the City of London Polytechnic.
1992 Further and Higher Education Act receives Royal Assent, which gives polytechnics university status and their own degree awarding powers. City of London Polytechnic’s new name is London Guildhall University. The Polytechnic of North London becomes the University of North London.
1996 University of North London celebrates its centenary.
1998 London Guildhall University celebrates its 150th anniversary.
2002 London Guildhall University merges with University of North London on 1 August to form London Metropolitan University. This is the first merger between two universities in the UK.
2003 A ceremony is held at the Mansion House in the City of London, attended by the Patron, to launch the University. The Patron is awarded London Metropolitan University’s first degree.
2003 Launch ceremonies held in Brussels, China, Cyprus, Greece, India, and Pakistan.
2004 Two new buildings to be opened: the Graduate School, designed by Daniel Libeskind, and the Goulston Street building, designed for the teaching of law courses. Work begins on the Science block, due for completion in 2006.
