University College London
Founded in 1826 by the utilitarian circle around Jeremy Bentham as 'London University', UCL was the first university to be established in the capital and the first in England to admit students of any religion — and, in 1878, the first to admit women to degrees. Its Bloomsbury estate has grown by accretion ever since: quadrangles, museums and modernist blocks threaded through the squares north of Oxford Street.
The university keeps its founders literally present — Bentham's auto-icon, dressed in his own clothes, sits in a case in the cloisters and has occasionally attended council meetings. The Petrie and Grant museums make Bloomsbury one of the few neighbourhoods where a lunch break can include eighty thousand Egyptian artefacts or a preserved quagga; the Slade School of Fine Art has trained painters from Gwen John to Lucian Freud.
Field notes
- Bentham's auto-icon has a registered UCL attendance record: 'present but not voting.'
- UCL admitted women to degrees in 1878 — the first English university to do so without conditions.
- The Grant Museum holds one of only seven quagga skeletons on earth.
Notable connections
In brief — from the field guide
Founded on principles of secular, inclusive education — the first university established in London, and the first in England to admit students regardless of religion. Its Bloomsbury quadrangle conceals the Petrie Museum and the Grant Museum, both free.
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