Read the second of our excerpts from Dr Hannah Gay's new book - the first major history of Imperial College London.

Dr Hannah Gay's book The History of Imperial College London 1907-2007: Higher Education and Research in Science, Technology and Medicine is the first major history of the College to be published, telling the story of a new type of institution.

Each month for the remainder of 2007, we will whet your appetite by publishing excerpts from Dr Gay's book.

Alumni can purchase copies of the book online from Imperial College Press books, where if you enter discount code P478 when ordering, you will receive a 20 per cent discounton the book price. You can also purchase copies of the book from the Union Shop on the Sherfield Walkway, South Kensington Campus.

Excerpt two, July 2007
1907-1927: the early years

After coming together in 1907 to form Imperial College, the three older colleges retained much of their identity: their names, their staff, and their diplomas. The work of forming an identity for Imperial College began only slowly and the early Rectors and Governing Body had to think creatively about how to proceed. By 1908 the Governing Body was ready to appoint a principal officer for the College and, turning to Scottish and European models, decided on the title Rector. Henry Taylor Bovey, a civil engineer and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University, was chosen. He resigned two years later because of ill health and was succeeded by Sir Alfred Keogh.

Sir Alfred Keogh (1857-1936) was born in Ireland and was educated in Queen's College, Glaway. He studied medicine and entered the army, becoming a sergeon-major in 1892. During the South African War he ran a general hospital and, in 1902, was appointed Deputy Director General of the Army Medical Services, Colonel and Surgeon General in 1904, and Director General in 1905. He was a brillinat administrator who made major reforms to the Royal Army Medical Corps. he helped found the Royal Army Medical College on Millbank, introducing postgraduate training in military medicine in 1907. Keogh also founded an army school of hygiene and brough teaching hospitals more generally into the Territorial Army organisation. he was knighted in 1906 and Rector of Imperial College 1910-22.

Until after the Second World War most undergraduate courses at Imperial College were based on a four-year progression. Students with little background in their chosen field took the first year courses, those better prepared entered the second year programme. Intermediate examinations were given at the end of the third year. Students could use the fourth year for advanced (post-associationship) work and earn the newly created Diploma of Imperial College (DIC). The first diplomas were presented in 1912 when the largest number (eight) went to students who had completed an advanced course in railway engineering under W.E. Dalby, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Dean of the City and Guilds College.

(The first) lectures in chemical technology were given in the chemistry department during the 1909-10 session by W.A. Bone, Professor of Fuel and Gas Industries at the University of Leeds. Bone travelled to London once a week until 1912 when he was appointed Professor of Fuel and Refractory Materials on a permanent basis. It was, perhaps, a close thing that Bone came to the College since he cancelled a planned trip on the Titanic only at the last minute. Bone was amongst a generation of Imperial professors who took seriously the College charter, believing that his role was to further science as applied to industry. But, when he wanted to give some public lectures on 'Coal and Fuel Economy', and to invite some prominent governors such as Lord Crewe and Lord Haldane to chair the sessions, he was discouraged by Keogh who wrote, 'the college [has] never gone in for anything of this kind and I feel sure the feeling generally would be that our efforts should lie in the direction of turning out new knowledge rather than dealing with subjects that are of an economic character'.

In 1907 Imperial College was not part of the University of London. Many hoped it never would be. The City and Guilds of London Institute was a major voice against Imperial College joining the University. Indeed members of the Delegacy were able to persuade the Governing Body to pass a motion that 'the autonomy of Imperial College should be identical'.

How departments were set up in 1907 influenced their future development. It very much mattered what kind of person was appointed to head a department. The botany department was fortunate in having J.B. Farmer. highly capable, he also had the connections to build a major research department from a very small base. Already in the late nineteenth century, he had anticipated the Imperial College charter, and had turned his own research in a direction that helped serve imperial industries such as coffee, tea, cotton and rubber. The strong foundations that he laid in plant physiology and plant pathology stood the department well for much of the twentieth century.

Text taken from chapters four and six.

Chapter four - Governance and Innovation, 1907-43
Chapter six - Continuity with the Three Old colleges, 1907-45

Reproduced with the kind permission of author Dr Hannah Gay

Copyright © 2007 by Imperial College Press