Editing University of London (section)

===19th century===
{{see also|London University (UK Parliament constituency)|General Examination for Women}}
{{Rquote|right|All universities are different, but some are more different than others. The University of London is the most different of them all.|Negley Harte, historian<ref name="UOL Negley">{{cite book|last=Datta|first=Surja|title =A History of the Indian University System: Emerging from the Shadows of the Past|date=6 March 2017| publisher=Springer, 2017| isbn=9781137535719}}</ref>}}

[[University College London]] (UCL) was founded under the name "London University" (but without recognition by the state) in 1826 as a secular alternative to the universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], which limited their degrees to members of the [[state religion|established]] [[Church of England]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/about-ucl-home/history-page |title=History |publisher=University College London |access-date=22 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117132404/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/about-ucl-home/history-page |archive-date=17 January 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> As a result of the controversy surrounding UCL's establishment, [[King's College London]] was founded as an [[Church of England|Anglican]] college by royal charter in 1829.<ref name="HIST">Cockburn, King, McDonnell (1969), pp. 345–359.</ref><ref name="Foundation">{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/aboutkings/history/foundation.aspx | title=Foundation|publisher=King's College London|access-date=9 February 2013 }}</ref>

In 1830, UCL applied for a royal charter as a university which would allow it to confer degrees. This was rejected, but renewed in 1834.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kS1cAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1|title=University of London. Address from the Senate to the Council in support of the application of the University for a charter|location=London|date=1834|publisher=John Taylor}}</ref> In response to this, opposition to "exclusive" rights grew among the London medical schools. The idea of a general degree awarding body for the schools was discussed in the medical press<ref>{{cite journal|title=Proposed University in London|journal=London Medical Gazette|volume=13|date=1834|pages=836–839|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XLofAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA836}}</ref> and in evidence taken by the Select Committee on Medical Education.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Select Committee on Medical Education|publisher=HMSO|title=Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Part 2|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w0sSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA113|page=113|date=1834}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CFDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA111|chapter=Select Committee on Medical Education|page=111|title=Selection of Reports and Papers of the House of Commons: Medical ; [2], Volume 36|date=1836}}</ref> However, the blocking of a bill to open up Oxford and Cambridge degrees to dissenters led to renewed pressure on the Government to grant degree awarding powers to an institution that would not apply religious tests,<ref name="millbanksystems">{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1834/aug/01/admission-to-the-universities#S3V0025P0_18340801_HOL_5|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=1 August 1834|title=Admission to the Universities (Hansard, 1 August 1834)|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="millbanksystems2">{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1835/mar/26/london-university#S3V0027P0_18350326_HOC_68|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=26 March 1835|title=London University (Hansard, 26 March 1835)|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="jstor">{{cite journal|jstor=3119682|title=The Oxford and Cambridge Admissions Controversy of 1834|last1=Twaddle|first1=Michael|journal=British Journal of Educational Studies|year=1966|volume=14|issue=3|pages=45–58|doi=10.1080/00071005.1966.9973166}}</ref> particularly as the degrees of the new [[University of Durham]] were also to be closed to non-Anglicans.<ref name="millbanksystems3">{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1832/jun/27/durham-university#S3V0013P0_18320627_HOC_9|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=27 June 1832|title=Durham University (Hansard, 27 June 1832)|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref>

In 1835, the government announced the response to UCL's petition for a charter. Two charters would be issued, one to UCL incorporating it as a college rather than a university, without degree awarding powers, and a second "establishing a Metropolitan University, with power to grant academical degrees to those who should study at the London University College, or at any similar institution which his Majesty might please hereafter to name".<ref name="millbanksystems4">{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1835/jul/30/london-university#S3V0029P0_18350730_HOC_24|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=30 July 1835|title=London University (Hansard, 30 July 1835)|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref>

Following the issuing of its charter on 28 November 1836, the new University of London started drawing up regulations for degrees in March 1837. The death of [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]] in June, however, resulted in a problem{{Dash}}the charter had been granted "during our Royal will and pleasure", meaning it was annulled by the king's death.<ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=The English Universities: From the German|author1=Huber, V.A.|author2=Newman, F.W.|date=1843|volume=3|publisher=William Pickering|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZtRAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA565|page=565|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref> Queen Victoria issued a second charter on 5 December 1837, reincorporating the university. The university awarded its first degrees in 1839, all to students from UCL and King's College.

The university established by the charters of 1836 and 1837 was essentially an examining board with the right to award degrees in arts, laws and medicine. However, the university did not have the authority to grant degrees in theology, considered the senior faculty in the other three English universities. In medicine, the university was given the right to determine which medical schools provided sufficient medical training. In arts and law, by contrast, it would examine students from UCL, King's College, or any other institution granted a royal warrant, effectively giving the government control of which institutions could submit students for examination by the university. Beyond this right to submit students for examination, there was no other connection between the colleges and the university.

In 1849 the university held its first graduation ceremony at [[Somerset House]] following a petition to the senate from the graduates, who had previously received their degrees without any ceremony. About 250 students graduated at this ceremony. The [[Academic dress of the University of London|London academic robes]] of this period were distinguished by their "rich velvet facings".<ref>{{cite news |title=University of London |work=Morning Chronicle |date=11 May 1849 |access-date=14 December 2015 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000082/18490511/017/0007| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The list of institutions whose students could enter University of London examinations grew rapidly by 1858, including all other British universities as well as more than 30 other schools and colleges outside of London. In that year, a new charter opened up the examinations to everyone, effectively abolishing the weak link between the university and the colleges.<ref>{{cite book|title=An Account of the Reconstruction of the University of London, Part 1|chapter= The Abolition of the Collegiate System|pages= 8–16|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Du4lNR4izwC&pg=PA8|first=William Henry |last=Allchin|publisher=H. K. Lewis|date=1905}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOd3N6291CQC&q=%22universities%20of%20the%20united%20kingdom%20to%20over%20thirty%20provincial%20colleges%22|title=The University of London, 1858-1900: The Politics of Senate and Convocation|page=1|first=Francis Michael Glenn |last=Willson|publisher=Boydell Press|date= 2004|isbn=9781843830658 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-university-graduates/v-xvii|work=University of London: the Historical Record (1836-1926)|title=Historical introduction|pages=v–xvii|publisher=University of London|date=1926|via=British History Online|quote=Just twenty-two years after its foundation a very important change was made in the policy of the University. The University, which was intended "to perform all the functions of the Examiners in the Senate House of Cambridge" although limited to the duty of examination, admitted to its examinations only those students who had gone through a course of study at University or King's College or some other "approved institution." The list of these "approved institutions" rapidly expanded. In 1850 a supplemental Charter admitted the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and their several Colleges, but a number of institutions of varying character and status had also been added by the Crown from time to time}}</ref> This led the [[John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley|Earl of Kimberley]], a member of the university's senate, to tell the House of Lords in 1888 "that there were no Colleges affiliated to the University of London, though there were some many years ago".<ref name="millbanksystems5">{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1888/aug/11/consideration-of-commons-amendments#S3V0330P0_18880811_HOL_23|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=11 August 1888|title=Consideration of Commons' Amendments (Hansard, 11 August 1888)|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref> The reforms of 1858 also incorporated the graduates of the university into a [[Convocation ceremony|convocation]], similar to those of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, and authorised the granting of degrees in science, the first BSc being awarded in 1860.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOd3N6291CQC&pg=PA5|title=The University of London, 1858–1900: The Politics of Senate and Convocation|last=Willson|date=2004|publisher=Boydell Press|page=5|isbn=978-1-84383-065-8}}</ref>

The expanded role meant the university needed more space, particularly with the growing number of students at the provincial [[university college#United Kingdom|university colleges]]. Between 1867 and 1870 a new headquarters was built at [[6 Burlington Gardens]], providing the university with exam halls and offices.

In 1863, via a fourth charter, the university gained the right to grant degrees in surgery.<ref name="google5">{{cite book|title=University of London, the Historical Record: (1836-1912) Being a Supplement to the Calendar, Completed to September 1912. First Issue|author=University of London|date=1912|publisher=University of London Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyPiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA12|page=12|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref> This 1863 charter remains the authority under which the university is incorporated, although all its other provisions were abolished under the University of London Act 1898 ([[61 & 62 Vict.]] c. 62).

[[File:Alice Mary Marsh University of London General Examination for Women certificate 1878.jpg|right|thumb|[[General Examination for Women]] certificate from 1878. These were issued 1869–1878, before women were admitted to degrees of the university.]]
In 1878, the university set another first when it became the first university in the UK to admit women to degrees, via the grant of a supplemental charter. Four female students obtained Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1880 and two obtained Bachelor of Science degrees in 1881, again the first in the country.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://london.ac.uk/about-us/history-university-london |title=University of London: Brief history |newspaper=University of London |publisher=London.ac.uk |access-date=13 April 2010}}</ref>

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = University of London Act 1898
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to make further provision with respect to the University of London.
| year                  = 1898
| citation              = [[61 & 62 Vict.]] c. 62
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 12 August 1898
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = repealed
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
In the late 19th century, the university came under criticism for merely serving as a centre for the administration of tests, and there were calls for a "teaching university" for London. UCL and KCL considered separating from the university to form a separate university, variously known as the Albert University, Gresham University and Westminster University. Following two [[royal commission]]s the {{visible anchor|University of London Act 1898}} ([[61 & 62 Vict.]] c. 62) was passed, reforming the university and giving it a federal structure with responsibility for monitoring course content and academic standards within its institutions. This was implemented in 1900 with the approval of new statutes for the university.<ref name="UoL Future">{{citation|last=Grant|first=Malcolm|author-link=Malcolm Grant|title=The future of the University of London: a discussion paper from the Provost of UCL|pages=3–6| date=March 2005 |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/images/Uni-Lon.pdf}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:SomersetHousebyAnonpublAckermann&Co1836.jpg|[[Somerset House]] in 1836. The university had its offices here from 1837 to 1870.
File:William IV in 1833 by Shee cropped.jpg|[[King William IV]], who granted the University of London its original royal charter in 1836
File:University of London illustration 1867.jpg|An illustration of [[6 Burlington Gardens]], home to the university administration from 1870 to 1900
</gallery>