University of Westminster

University of Westminster — latest news, discussion & facts — IJR

1837–1881: Royal Polytechnic Institution

The Royal Polytechnic Institution was built by William Mountford Nurse in 1837 and opened at 309 Regent Street on 6 August 1838 to provide (in the words of its prospectus of 1837) "an institution where the Public, at little expense, may acquire practical knowledge of the various arts and branches of science connected with manufacturers, mining operations and rural economy".

Sir George Cayley (1773–1857), the "father of aeronautical engineering", was the first chairman and the Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in August 1839. The Polytechnic housed a large exhibition hall, lecture theatre and laboratories, and public attractions included working machines and models, scientific lectures and demonstrations, rides in a diving bell and, from 1839, demonstrations of photography. Prince Albert visited the institution in 1840, when he descended in the diving bell, and became a patron in 1841. The first public photographic portrait studio in Europe opened on the roof of the Polytechnic in March 1841.

In 1847, John Henry Pepper joined the Polytechnic and oversaw the introduction of evening lectures in engineering, applied science and technical subjects for young working Londoners. Pepper wrote several important science education book - one of which is regarded as a significant step towards the understanding of continental drift.

In 1848, a theatre was added to the building, purpose-built to accommodate the growing audiences for the Polytechnic's optical shows. These combined magic lantern images with live performances, music, ghosts and spectres, spreading the fame of what was arguably the world's first permanent projection theatre.

In 1862, inventor Henry Dircks developed the Dircksian Phantasmagoria, where it was seen by Pepper in a booth set up by Dircks at the Polytechnic. Pepper first showed the effect during a scene of Charles Dickens's novella The Haunted Man (1848) at the Regent Street theatre to great success. However, Pepper's implementation of the effect tied his name to it permanently. Though he tried many times to give credit to Dircks, the title "Pepper's ghost" has endured.

Under the chairmanship of Joseph Butterworth Owen, the Royal Polytechnic Institution increased its presence in formal classes for young men traditionally denied the opportunity of higher education in the United Kingdom during the nineteenth century. Expansion gradually gave way to financial difficulty, reflecting a long-standing tension between education and the need to run a successful business. A fatal accident on the premises in 1859 caused the first institution to be wound up and a new one formed. Various regeneration schemes were considered, but in 1879 a fire damaged the roof, precipitating the final crisis.

1881–1970: Polytechnic Regent Street

In September 1881, the Royal Polytechnic Institution closed, marking a transition to new ownership and a new era of educational development. Christian philanthropist Quintin Hogg (1845–1903) acquired the lease to the building in December 1881 for £15,000, and the premises re-opened on 25 September 1882. About 6,000 members and students – three times the anticipated number – attended during the first 1882/3 session. The institute gradually adopted the name the Polytechnic Young Men's Christian Institute, or simply, the Polytechnic, for short.

From 1882 an expanded programme of classes began, including science, engineering and art classes held in conjunction with the Science and Art Department (of the Board of Trade), and a scheme of technical and trade education, related to the City and Guilds of London Institute of Technical Instruction and to the London Trades Council. The building housed classrooms, a swimming bath, gymnasium, and a refreshment room. Activities included daily chapels, Parliamentary debating, a Reading Circle, music and drama societies and several sports clubs.

In the early 1880s the Institute attracted much favourable attention from the technical education lobby. Following the City of London Parochial Charities Act in 1883, it became clear that funds would be available to endow the Polytechnic and to found and support institutions on the same model across London. A public appeal was launched in 1888 to raise the required matching funding. The Scheme was finalised under the auspices of the Charity Commissioners in 1891, when the Institute was reconstituted as The Polytechnic-Regent Street (often referred to as the Regent Street Polytechnic), managed by a newly created governing body.

On 21 February 1896, the first performance of a moving film (Cinématographe) to a paying UK audience was delivered by the Lumière brothers at the Regent Street Cinema. For this reason the cinema has been described as "the birthplace of British cinema".

The building at 309 Regent Street was rebuilt in 1910–1912 to reflect the needs of a growing institution whose student members exceeded 15,000. Pioneering work in emerging professional and commercial disciplines, alongside general interest subjects, was the hallmark of the institution. When Hogg died in 1903, he was succeeded as president by Sir Kynaston Studd (1858–1944), who remained in office until his death in 1944, and did much to continue the traditions of the founder. Two major appeals were launched to support expansion, the first for the rebuilding of 309 Regent Street in 1910–1912, and the second to build the Polytechnic Extension building for the Women's Institute in Little Titchfield Street, which was formally opened in 1929. Both buildings continued to provide sporting and social facilities for members of the Institute as well as workshops and classrooms for students of the Education Department.

The Education Department provided a wide range of courses, with a rapid expansion of commercial subjects alongside the original trade and technical classes. Courses ranged from post-elementary school entry for craft and technical training at 13 to degrees accredited by the University of London external degrees programme. Most teaching was in the evening and part-time, though day classes increased throughout the period. Following World War Two there was a rapid growth in the demand for further education and training, which was reorganised following the White Paper on Technical Education in 1956.

The variety of levels of work at Regent Street meant that it was designated a regional college rather than a college of advanced technology, after which the governors decided to reduce the proportion of lower level work. Following the establishment of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) in 1964, a number of degree courses were approved and became operational; including Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, Civil, Building, Production, and Manufacturing), Architecture, Photography (1966), Arts Administration (1967), Life Sciences (1973) and Media Studies (1975).

Notable alumni

Notable Westminster alumni (and others who attended) include:

Architects and sculptors including Sir Thomas Bennett (architect and designer of Saville Theatre and London Mormon Temple), Alfred Bossom (Magnolia Hotel), Laurence Broderick (sculptor of The Bull, Birmingham Bullring), Ludo Campbell-Reid (2004 Olympic Games), Sir Anthony Caro (Dream City at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park), Trevor Dannatt, Ron Herron (Walking City), Ian Ritchie (Royal Shakespeare Company Courtyard Theatre and Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art), Fred Roche (Milton Keynes Development), Alireza Sagharchi (Kings Cross regeneration programme), Cameron Sinclair (co-founder of Architecture for Humanity), Michael Webb (founding member of Archigram), Michael Wilford (Lowry Centre and British Embassy in Berlin) and Chris Wilkinson (Gateshead Millennium Bridge).

Artists and photographers including Sybil Atteck (Trinidadian painter), Norman Blamey (Ordination, The Lavabo), John Frederick Brill (creator of the Bardia Mural), Fougasse (editor of Punch magazine), Iain Macmillan (photographer of The Beatles' Abbey Road album), Charles Keeping (children's author and lithographer Les Misérables, Beowulf and various works by Charles Dickens) and John Ryan (animator and creator of Captain Pugwash), Raheem Kassam (Editor-in-chief of The National Pulse).

Authors and poets including Margery Allingham, Mary Jo Bang, George Barker, Samit Basu, Quentin Crisp, David Gascoyne, Mengistu Lemma and Siddharth Dhanvant Sanghvi.

Business-oriented people including Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe (co-founders of Pret à Manger), Robert Bellinger (former director of Arsenal Football Club), Wilfred Cass (businessman and philanthropist), Moorad Choudhry (Managing Director at Royal Bank of Scotland plc), Michael Jackson (former controller of BBC1 and BBC2, and Chairman of Universal Television), Tej Lalvani (CEO of Vitabiotics and dragon on Dragons' Den), and Adar Poonawalla (CEO of Serum Institute of India).

Entertainers and filmmakers including Raya Abirached (celebrity journalist, and host of the hit TV talent show Arabs Got Talent), Babak Anvari (BAFTA-winning film director), Charlie Brooker (BAFTA-nominated broadcaster), Andrew Dunn (BAFTA winning cinematographer Edge of Darkness, The Bodyguard, Precious and The Butler), Asif Kapadia (Oscar winning filmmaker Senna and Amy), Arthur Max (Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning art director Se7en, Gladiator, Prometheus and The Martian), Seamus McGarvey (cinematographer Atonement, Anna Karenina, The Avengers and The Greatest Showman), Neal Purvis (scriptwriter James Bond series including Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Spectre) and Stanley Unwin.

Fashion designers including Christopher Bailey (Chief Executive and Chief Creative Officer at Burberry), Markus Lupfer, Carri Mundane (founder and creative designer at CassettePlaya, Stuart Vevers (executive creative director at Coach) and Vivienne Westwood.

Healthcare management including Allyson Williams (midwife)

Journalists and commentators including Mo Abudu (media mogul), Talal Al-Haj (New York bureau chief for the Al-Arabiya news network), Carrie Gracie (journalist and newsreader at BBC News), James King (BBC film critic), Riz Lateef (BBC London newsreader), Annie Nightingale (BBC Radio 1 DJ), Rob Powell (political correspondent at Sky News), Jon Ronson (journalist and author of The Men Who Stare At Goats), Brian Whitaker (former Middle East editor at The Guardian newspaper) and Sian Williams (principal presenter at 5 News at 5).

Musicians including Caroline Alvares (member of Four of Diamonds), Amir Amor (Rudimental), Nika Boon, Ciaran Jeremiah, Kevin Jeremiah and Richard Jones (members of the pop group The Feeling), Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright (members of the Grammy Award winning rock group Pink Floyd), Sigala (DJ and record producer), Al Shux (Grammy Award winning producer) and Charlie Watts (member of the Grammy Award winning rock group The Rolling Stones).

Politicians including Paul Xuereb (President of Malta 1987–1989), Sir Michael Otedola (Former Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria), Rafik Abdessalem (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia), Janet Anderson (former Labour Party Member of Parliament for Rossendale and Darwen), Shirley Ayorkor Botchway Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey (Conservative Party politician), Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox (politician and lobbyist), Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbencher and member of the House of Lords), Natascha Engel (former Labour Party Member of Parliament for North East Derbyshire), Christopher Fraser (Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk), Dominic Grieve (Former Conservative MP for Beaconsfield and Attorney General for England and Wales), Ghassan Hasbani (Former Deputy Prime Minister for Lebanon), David Lepper (former Labour Party Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion), Abdirahman Omar Osman (Former Mayor of Mogadishu - killed in 2019 by the armed group al-Shabaab), Gloria de Piero (former Labour Party Member of Parliament for Ashfield), Mark Versallion (Councillor and Treasurer for the Conservative Party), Bowen Wells (Conservative for Hertford and Stortford), Peter Whittle, British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster, and Rosie Wrighting (Labour MP for Kettering).

Engineers and Scientists including Sir Alexander Fleming (Awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine), Sir Frederick Augustus Abel (chemist and inventor of cordite), Seweryn Chomet (theoretical physicist), Sir Diarmuid Downs (former President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers), Lewis R. B. Elton (physicist and researcher in education), George Hockham (engineer and pioneer in research for fiber-optics), Gerald Palmer (Car designer, including Jowett Javelin and MG Magnette), Walter Eric Spear (physicist and pioneer of thin film displays) and Armand de Waele (chemist and rheologist).

Sports people including Lambros Athanassoulas (Greek rally driver), Colin Charvis (Captain of the Welsh national rugby team), Herbert Gayler (Olympic Cyclist and 12-hour record holder), Neil Laughton (adventurer), Ulhas Koravi Satyanarayan (Indian professional basketball player), Dunia Susi (England women's football player) and Frank Turner (three-times Olympics gymnast).

University of Westminster

University of Westminster

Article

Related journals

Live room · 1 here

Article

History

1837–1881: Royal Polytechnic Institution

1881–1970: Polytechnic Regent Street

1970–1992: Polytechnic of Central London

1992–present: University of Westminster

Campuses

Organisation and administration

Colleges and Schools

Finances

Coat of arms

Rankings and reputation

Student life

Students' Union

Student and university media

Sport

Notable people

Notable alumni

Notable faculty and staff

Related journals