WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



It is estimated that the cost of erecting the whole 

 cathedral will be at least ^750,000 ; of the Lady 

 Chapel, choir, and twin towers, which are being first 

 built, about ^^3 50,000. Towards this sum over 

 /300,ooo has been already contributed, including 

 over j^70,ooo for special purposes, among which may 

 be named the Lady Chapel, to be erected by the Earle 

 and Langton families, the chapter-house, to be erected 

 by the Masonic Lodges of the West Lancashire pro- 

 vince, as well as several windows, the organ, the 

 font, &c., which have been already given by various 

 donors. 



The first attempt to establish in 

 UNIFERSITr Liverpool an institution for higher 

 education was the foundation of 

 the Royal Institution, opened in 1817 ; it maintained 

 collections of scientific objects and paintings, it also 

 organized series of lectures in its early years.'" But, 

 though highly valuable as a nucleus for the meetings 

 of various learned societies, it never developed, as its 

 founders had hoped, into a great teaching institution. 

 In 1 857 an attempt was made to develop, in connexion 

 with the Mechanics' Institute (now the Liverpool 

 Institute), a system of courses of instruction in prepara- 

 tion for London degrees."' This organization was 

 called Queen's College ; but, based upon the fun- 

 damentally false idea that instruction of this type could 

 be made to pay its own expenses, it never attained 

 any success, and being merely a drain upon the re- 

 sources of the flourishing schools to which it was at- 

 tached, it was finally suppressed in 1879. 



Meanwhile, in 1834., the physicians and surgeons 

 of the Royal Infirmary- had organized a Medical School, 

 wh'ch attained considerable success, though quite un- 

 endowed. This school was to be the real nucleus of 

 the university. It was from the teachers in this 

 school — all leading medical men in the city, among 

 whom should be especially named the late Sir W. M. 

 Banks and Dr. R. Caton — that the main demand 

 came for the foundation of a college, during the seven- 

 ties, when such institutions were springing up in most 

 large English towns.'" They received warm support 

 from a few of the most enlightened citizens, especially 

 firom the Rev. Charles Beard, whose influence in the 

 early history of the university can scarcely be over- 

 valued ; and the proposal to found a university college 

 was formally initiated at a town's meeting in 1878. 

 But the merchants of the city were found to be hard 

 to convert to any interest in the scheme. It took a 

 year to collect j£ 10,000 ; and it was not until Mr. 

 William Rathbone,"'' relieved from Parliamentary 

 duties by a defeat at the election of 1880, took up 

 the cause that money came in freely. In a few 

 months, mainly by his personal efforts, j^8o,ooo were 

 collected. In October 1 881 a charter of incorporation 

 was obtained, based on the lines laid down in London, 

 Manchester, and elsewhere ; in January 1882 the 

 institution, under the name of University College, 

 Liverpool, commenced its work in a disused lunatic 

 asylum on a site beside the Royal Infirmary and the 

 Medical School, provided by the corporation. At the 

 outset there were six chairs and two lectureships. 



The next stage in the history of the university was 

 marked by its admission in 1884 as a member of the 



LIVERPOOL 



federal Victoria University, in association with Owens 

 College, Manchester, and (after 1887) Yorkshire 

 College, Leeds. In order to obtain this admission an 

 additional endowment of ^^30,000 was raised by 

 public subscription, out of which two new chairs 

 were founded ; while the old Medical School was 

 formally incorporated with the college as its medical 

 faculty. The association with the Victoria University 

 lasted for nineteen years, and was in many ways 

 advantageous. The progress of the college in equip- 

 ment and teaching strength during this period was 

 both rapid and steady. A series of admirably equipped 

 buildings was erected ; a spacious chemical laboratory 

 (opened 1886, enlarged 1896); a large engineering 

 laboratory (the gift of Sir A. B. Walker, 1889) ; the 

 main Victoria building, including a fine library pre- 

 sented by Sir Henry Tate, and the clock tower 

 erected from the civic subscription to commemorate 

 the jubilee of 1887 (opened 1892) ; magnificent 

 laboratories of physiology and pathology, given by 

 Rev. S. A. Thompson Yates (opened 1895) ; and a 

 handsome botanical laboratory given by Mr. W. P. 

 Hartley (1902). During the same period eight 

 additional chairs were endowed, and many lecture- 

 ships and scholarships were founded. Throughout 

 the early history of the college it had rested mainly 

 on the support of a comparatively small group of 

 friends ; among those whose munificence rendered 

 possible the rapid development of the college, special 

 mention should be made, in addition to those already 

 named, of the fifteenth and sixteenth Earls of Derby, 

 successive presidents of the college, both of whom 

 founded chairs ; of Mr. George Holt, most princely 

 of the early benefactors ; of Sir John Brunner, Mr. 

 Holbrook Gaskell, and Mr. Thomas Harrison, all of 

 whom founded chairs ; and of Mr. E. K. Muspratt, 

 Mr. John Rankin, Mr. J. W. Alsop, Mr. A. F. Warr, 

 Mr. C. W. Jones, Sir Edward Lawrence, and others. 

 But the chief feature of the later part of this period 

 was the gradual acquisition of the confidence and 

 respect of the city at large. This came slowly ; but 

 it was due especially to the demonstration of the 

 utility of the institution which was afforded by the 

 creation of a remarkable series of special schools, due 

 in large measure to the vigour and inventiveness of the 

 teaching body, among whom may be especially named 

 Professor (now Sir Rubert) Boyce and Professor J. M. 

 Mackay. A training college for teachers, a school of 

 architecture and the applied arts, the first of its kind 

 in England, a school of commerce, a school of law, 

 a school of public health, and, most remarkable of all, 

 the now world-famous school of tropical medicine, 

 were successively organized. These organizations 

 brought the college into intimate contact with the 

 most important intellectual professions of the city, 

 demonstrated to the community the direct value of 

 higher studies, and earned the growing support both 

 of the public and of the city council, which co- 

 operated in the organization of most of them. They 

 also gave to the college a distinctive character of its 

 own, and rendered its continued association with 

 other colleges, developing along different lines, more 

 and more inappropriate. 



The establishment of an independent university in 



9i5L!/i 0/^. Roicoc, ii, 151 ff.; Ref. of 

 the R.I. 



'^^ Rep. of the Liverpool Institute and 

 of Queen's College. 



'17 J. Campbell Brown, First Chap, in 

 the Hist, of Univ. Call. ; R. Caton, article 

 on The Making of the Univ. (1907); Univ. 



53 



Coll. and the Univ. of Liv. ; a Retrospect 

 (1907). 



918 E. Rathbone, Life of W. Rathbone. 



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