The History of Imperial College London

The History of Imperial College London

Imperial College London is a science, engineering and business-focused university in the heart of central London. Imperial offers undergraduate degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine (STEM) subjects alongside a strong postgraduate scientific research reputation and Business School. Read on to learn more about the history of Imperial College and get a flavour of what it might be like to study at this exceptional institution. 

Introduction

Founded in 1907, Imperial has grown from a series of separate constituent colleges  to become a world-leader in science research and education. In 2024, the university was ranked 2nd in the world by the prestigious QS world university rankings. Imperial’s success is clear from the success of its alumni over the past 100 years. From Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, to Sir Brian May CBE, the guitarist from the rock band Queen, Imperial graduates have succeeded in diverse fields. On a scientific level, Imperial has 15 Nobel laureate alumni and 3 Fields medallists. 

Imperial’s Constituent Colleges  

Imperial was founded in 1907, but its history actually starts well before then. Imperial wasn’t created out of nothing, but founded from the merger of several constituent colleges that already existed in South Kensington. 

Before we start looking at Imperial, we can look at the history of some of the colleges that were incorporated into the new Imperial College London in 1907:

• The Royal College of Chemistry, founded in 1845 to teach practical chemistry. It became Imperial’s first constituent college and is now the Department of Chemistry.
• The Royal School of Mines (RSM), founded in 1851, developed out of the Museum of Economic Geology, where students studied the collection. It quickly outgrew the museum and moved to a new building in Piccadilly, then incorporated the Royal College of Chemistry (which was having financial difficulties) in 1853. The RSM moved back to South Kensington in 1872.
• The Royal College of Science, established in 1890, split out of the RSM to focus on natural sciences, including mathematics and botany, while the RSM emphasised geology and metallurgy.
• The Old Medical Schools: Imperial College School of Medicine wasn’t founded until 1996, but the ‘old medical schools’ that unified to form it are much older. Charing Cross medical school dates back to 1823, Westminster to 1834, and St Mary’s to 1854.
• The Central Technical College (CTC), founded in 1884, as the technical institute of the City of London’s guilds (groups of technical craft specialists). The CTC aimed to focus on practical, applied science and engineering.

The Great Exhibition

There were so many academic scientific institutions in South Kensington in the mid and late 19th century because of the Great Exhibition in 1851. The Great Exhibition was an international exhibition of culture and art run by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, in summer 1851 in Hyde Park.

Funds from the Great Exhibition were used to develop a cultural and educational area in South Kensington to benefit the British public. This paid for the great museums in the area, and for new buildings for scientific institutions – causing the RSM to move back to the area in 1872 and allowing the founding of the CTC.

The Founding of Imperial College London

With so many institutions tightly packed into South Kensington, it was only a matter of time before they were asked to join forces. In an unstable political climate at the turn of the 20th century, with the global Spanish flu pandemic and increasing threat of war in Europe, British politicians clamoured to increase the UK’s capacity to produce highly skilled technology and science graduates. It was decided that the best way to do this was to unify the national schools of science at South Kensington.

Imperial College London was thus officially founded in 1907 through the merger of the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines and the City & Guilds College or CTC. However, many of the College’s most memorable buildings – Beit Hall, the Royal School of Mines building and the Bessemer Laboratories – were not complete until 1914. By then, the UK was at war.

Imperial in the World Wars

When World War I broke out in 1914, Imperial was much smaller than it is today. Of its 900 students (11,000 undergraduates  today), 300 joined up in 1914 alongside 30 members of staff. Those who remained were still part of the war effort, with soldiers stationed in the College and taking over the laboratories for military activity.

Imperial’s most significant wartime contributions to the First World War came from its scientific advances, from drug production to research into vehicle engineering. 

Between the wars, Imperial continued to expand and gained recognition of its BSc courses from the University of London, allowing the College to finally offer full degrees 18 years after it was founded.

During World War II, students continued to study at Imperial – although the radio society was shut down for fear of a breach in security. Students adapted to studying in wartime, forming their own Home Guard platoon. Although two bombs landed on the College, it escaped serious damage. 

Imperial after World War II

After World War II, Imperial was in the ascendant. The College underwent a huge expansion to ‘keep up’ with American technical education, doubling its undergraduate population in the 1950s. Several Imperial institutions date to the postwar period, from the student newspaper, Felix (est. 1949) to Princes Gardens halls of residence (opened 1959).

The College also expanded its floor space by over 20%  and began to look like the institution we recognise today with the demolition of the Imperial Institute and completion of Queen’s Tower as a free standing structure in 1969.

The final part of the modern Imperial came to the college in 1988 as the merger with St Mary’s medical school created the Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine. Chelsea and Westminster and Charing Cross medical schools also joined Imperial to form Imperial College School of Medicine in 1996, which is now one of the largest medical faculties in Europe.

Imperial in the 21st Century

In the 21st century, Imperial has gone on to maintain high standards of technical education. The College branched out with the opening of the Business School in 2004 to offer postgraduate finance and business education. Imperial also left the University of London on its centenary in 2007, becoming its own independent university. 

Imperial continues to expand, with the opening of new departments and overseas faculties. The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore, a joint initiative between Imperial and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), admitted its first future doctors in 2013, while the Dyson School of Design Engineering was created in 2015. The development of a new campus at White City in London continues to give Imperial the space it needs to grow and develop.

Imperial in the Future

Imperial’s aims remain as they were when it was founded in 1907: to provide high-quality scientific and technical education. The College continues to aim to use its impact to improve people’s lives and what we know about the world, through collaboration and interdisciplinary work.

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