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The gift that started it all
Henry Overton Wills III, of tobacco manufacturing company WD & HO Wills, endows £100,000 for "a university for Bristol and the West of England", as long as the charter is granted within two years. -
Royal Charter granted
King Edward VII grants the University a Royal Charter. Flags fly and bells ring across the city. The Corporation of Bristol also grants the proceeds of a ‘penny rate’ (about £7,000 a year) for the projected university. -
Farewell, University College, Bristol
The academic staff of University College, Bristol gather for the last group photo before the College becomes the University of Bristol. The two women on the left are Miss Pearce (Botany) and Miss Staveley (Women’s Tutor). -
Bristol's first Chancellor
Henry Overton Wills III is appointed first Chancellor of the University. -
Bristol's first Vice-Chancellor(s)
Professor Conwy Lloyd Morgan (left), a renowned psychologist, serves briefly as first Vice-Chancellor but then resigns and is succeeded by Sir Isambard Owen (right). -
Chemistry and Physiology Building opens
The Chemistry and Physiology Building in Woodland Road is completed at a cost of £50,000 and opened on 15 November by William Henry Wills (Lord Winterstoke), brother of Henry Overton Wills III. The architect is George Oatley, who also designed the Wills Memorial Building. -
Second Chancellor appointed
Liberal and Labour politician Richard Burden Sanderson Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane of Cloan (pictured here with King George V), is appointed second Chancellor of the University, following the death of Henry Overton Wills III. -
New properties acquired
The Bristol Blind Asylum and neighbouring Volunteers’ Drill Hall on Queen’s Road are acquired for the University by George and Henry Herbert Wills, completing the University’s ownership of an area of land now known as ‘The Triangle’ (University Road, Woodland Road and Queen’s Road). -
University men killed in action
Bristol staff and students killed in action are remembered in The Nonesuch student magazine. Top row (l to r): 2nd Lt HF Parsons VC, Cpt Griffiths. Bottom row (l to r): 2nd Lt RE Kimber, Lt FO Bate. -
Scientists turn apples into potatoes
The National Fruit and Cider Institute at Long Ashton, at the request of the Board of Agriculture, sets about maximising food production by intercropping all available land with potatoes and vegetables and helps the government with new schemes for food production and preservation. -
First woman appointed to senior post
Helen Wodehouse is appointed Professor of Education, thereby becoming the first female Chair at Bristol and one of the first women in any British university to hold such a post. -
Victoria Rooms endowed to the University
George Wills buys the Victoria Rooms and endows it to the University for use as the Students’ Union. -
Thomas Loveday appointed third Vice-Chancellor
Thomas Loveday is appointed third Vice-Chancellor of the University. -
Bristol pioneers adult education
The Department of Extra-Mural Adult Education Studies is established. -
Royal opening for the Wills Memorial Building
On 9 June, the Wills Memorial Building is opened by King George V and Queen Mary, pictured here with Winston Churchill. The final cost of the building work is £501,566 19s 10d (approximately £21 million in today’s terms). -
HH Wills Physical Laboratory opens
The Henry Herbert Wills Physical Laboratory is opened by Nobel Prize-winner Ernest Rutherford. -
Winston Churchill becomes third Chancellor
Winston Churchill, former Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister, is appointed the University's third Chancellor. -
Department of Preventative Medicine established
The University’s Professor Walker Hall and the City’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr David Davies, establish a new Department of Preventative Medicine in Canynge Hall. By 1932 they are training health visitors – with great beneficial effects for the people of Bristol. -
First female Registrar appointed
Winifred Lucy Shapland, Secretary of the University since 1928, is appointed Registrar, making her the first female registrar of any British university. -
Paul Dirac wins Nobel Prize for physics
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, a Bristol engineering graduate, wins the Nobel Prize for physics (jointly with Erwin Schrödinger) for the discovery of new, productive forms of atomic theory. -
Bristol Medical School celebrates centenary
Bristol Medical School, established in 1833 and later amalgamated with University College, Bristol, celebrates its centenary with a banquet in the Victoria Rooms. -
Bristol scientist creates Ribena
Dr Vernon Charley, a scientist at the University’s Long Ashton Agriculture and Horticulture Research, develops Ribena. The now-famous blackcurrant drink provided an important alternative source of vitamin C during the war years when oranges were in scarce supply. -
London students evacuated to Bristol
Under the new University and Colleges (Emergency Provisions) Bill, students from King’s College London, Middlesex, and Guy’s and St Thomas’s are evacuated to the University. -
Wills Memorial Building bombed
During a major Bristol air raid, the Wills Memorial Building is hit by an incendiary bomb and the Great Hall and the organ are destroyed. At the time, the building houses the library of King’s College, London, which, ironically, had been removed to Bristol for safety. Thousands of books are destroyed. -
Churchill confers honorary degrees after night of bombing
After one of the worst bombing raids during the ‘Bristol Blitz’, Churchill confers honorary degrees on the American ambassador to Britain, John Gilbert Winant, and the Australian Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies. -
Professor Tyndall appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor
Professor AM Tyndall is appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor, following the retirement of Dr Loveday. -
First UK drama department opens
Bristol establishes a Department of Drama, the first such department in any British university and the first to introduce the practical and theoretical study of film and television. -
Philip Morris appointed fourth Vice-Chancellor
Philip (later Sir Philip) Morris is appointed fourth Vice-Chancellor of the University. -
School of Veterinary Science opens
The School of Veterinary Science in Park Row is inaugurated by the Minister of Agriculture. A year later, the School opens its doors to its first students. -
Cecil Powell wins Nobel Prize for Physics
Cecil Frank Powell, who joined the University in 1927, receives the Nobel Prize in Physics.