Editing University College London (section)

===1826 to 1836 – London University===
[[File:University of London 1829.jpg|left|thumb|Share no. 1105 in the University of London, issued 3 February 1829]]
[[File:The London University by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd 1827-28.JPG|right|thumb|''The London University'' (now the [[UCL Main Building]]) as imagined by [[Thomas Hosmer Shepherd]] in 1827–28, when construction was in progress. The portico and dome were completed in 1829, but lack of funds meant it would be many years before reality matched the picture.]]
UCL was founded on 11 February 1826 as an alternative to the [[Anglican]] universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]].<ref>Harte, North, and Brewis 2018, pp. 16–20</ref> It took the form of a [[joint stock company]], with shares sold for £100 ({{Inflation|UK|100|1826|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-2}}) to proprietors, under the name of ''London University'', although without legal recognition as a university or the associated right to award degrees.<ref>{{cite book |title=The World of UCL |pages=13–23 |author1=Negley Harte |author2=John North |author3=Georgina Brewis |publisher=UCL Press |date=2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RD4hAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA6100 |encyclopedia=Americanized Encyclopædia Britannica |volume=10 |year=1890 |page=6100 |access-date=9 February 2011 |title=Americanized Encyclopedia Britannica, Revised and Amended: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature; to which is Added Biographies of Livings Subjects}}</ref><ref name="Penman">{{cite web |last1=Penman |first1=Colin |title=The youth of our middling rich: how egalitarian were UCL's founders? – UCL Lunch Hour Lecture |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMnaY3g7etQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/eMnaY3g7etQ |archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live |website=You tube |publisher=UCL Lunch Hour Lectures |access-date=31 March 2017 |date=27 February 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> London University's first warden was [[Leonard Horner]], who was the first scientist to head a British university.<ref>{{cite book |title=John Phillips and the Business of Victorian Science |first1=Jack |last1=Morrell |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-84014-239-6 |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hq1VPHtxG00C&q=Leonard+Horner+first+warden}}</ref>

[[File:Four founders of UCL.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Henry Tonks]]' 1923 mural ''The Four Founders of UCL'']]
Despite the commonly held belief that the philosopher [[Jeremy Bentham]] was the founder of UCL, his direct involvement was limited to the purchase of share No. 633, at a cost of £100 paid in nine instalments between December 1826 and January 1830. In 1828, he did nominate a friend to sit on the council, and in 1827, attempted to have his disciple [[John Bowring]] appointed as the first professor of English or History, but on both occasions his candidates were unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite book |last=Harte |first=Negley |chapter=The owner of share no. 633: Jeremy Bentham and University College London |editor-first=Catherine |editor-last=Fuller |title=The Old Radical: representations of Jeremy Bentham |location=London |publisher=University College London |year=1998 |pages=5–8}}</ref> However, Bentham is commonly regarded as the "spiritual father" of UCL, as his ideas on education and society were influential with the institution's founders, particularly [[James Mill]] (1773–1836) and [[Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux|Henry Brougham]] (1778–1868).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who/bentham_ucl |title=Bentham and UCL |publisher=University College London |access-date=28 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306201106/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/who/bentham_ucl |archive-date=6 March 2014 }}</ref>

In 1828, the chair of political economy at London University was created, with [[John Ramsay McCulloch]] as the first incumbent.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Cyclopedia of Education: Volume Two |editor=Paul Monroe |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |year=1911 |page=388 |isbn=9780598945396 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQZXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA388}}</ref> In 1829, the university appointed the first professor of English in England, although the course concentrated on linguistics and the modern teaching of English – studying English literature – was introduced by [[King's College London]] in 1831.<ref>{{cite book |title=Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory |first1=Peter |last1=Barry |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7190-6268-1 |page=12 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=SNy26bx7L5UC&q=English}}</ref> In 1830, London University founded the London University School, which would later become [[University College School]].<ref>{{cite book|title=World of UCL|page=51|publisher=UCL Press|author1=Negley Harte |author2=John North |author3= Georgina Brewis|year=2018|url=https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/108685}}</ref> In 1833, the university appointed [[Alexander Maconochie (penal reformer)|Alexander Maconochie]], secretary to the [[Royal Geographical Society]], as the first professor of geography in Britain.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NSDx4DxfVcC&pg=PA2 |first=Robert W. |last=Steel|chapter=The beginning and the end |title=British Geography 1918–1945|editor-first=Robert W. |editor-last=Steel |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=8 October 1987|isbn=9780521247900 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1793383|title= Captain Alexander Maconochie, R. N., K. H., 1787-1860|author=R. Gerard Ward|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume= 126|issue= 4 |date=December 1960|pages=459–468|doi= 10.2307/1793383|bibcode= 1960GeogJ.126..459W}}</ref> Classes in medicine began at the opening of the college in 1828, and in 1834 [[University College Hospital]] (originally North London Hospital) opened as a teaching hospital for these classes, which were organised into a faculty of medicine in 1836.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=University College Hospital Medical School |title=The University of London and its Colleges: "constituting, the most wonderful aggregation of institutions to be found anywhere in the world" |first=Stanley Gordon |last=Wilson |location=London |publisher=University Tutorial Press |year=1923 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnAxAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA125}}</ref>