"It has been deemed desirable by
many persons, friendly to Science, to establish, in the western
part of London, an Institution where the Public, at little expense,
may acquire (by means of a Laboratory, Experiment Rooms, and a
Gallery for the exhibition of novel inventions), a practical
knowledge of the various arts and branches of science."
Announcement of the aims of
The Polytechnic Institution, 14 December 1837
Newspaper cutting advertising
the opening of The Polytechnic Institution in 1838
Britain's first Polytechnic opened
on 6th August 1838 at 309 Regent Street in London. Sir George
Cayley, landowner and gentleman scientist, was the first chairman
and, over the coming decades, the institution made a major
contribution to the development of technical and scientific
education.
Cayley was a public figure well known for his personal inventions
and scientific publications. In his two classic papers of 1809-10,
published in Nicholson's journal, he established for the first time
the principles of heavier-than-air flight.
In 1853, Cayley designed and built a man-carrying glider in which
his coachman made the first manned flight at his estate in
Yorkshire. Cayley's contribution as the founder of
aeronautics was acknowledged by the Wright Brothers and is
recognised in both the Science Museum in London and The Air and
Space Museum in Washington D.C. Cayley's role and prestige in the
scientific community boosted the chances of success of the
institution of which he was chairman.
The Exhibition Hall of the
Royal Polytechnic Institution c.1850, from a contemporary
hand coloured lantern slide.
The purposes of the Polytechnic
were to encourage the application of science to industry by
exhibition, by conducting research, by offering support to
inventors, and by training the work force. The Great Hall of The
Polytechnic was a place of "abominable smells and of the odd
explosion" as demonstrations of new technologies - including the
diving bell - were made to the public. Early visitors included
Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. A royal charter was
granted on 23 August 1839. Under this patronage, the name changed
in 1841 to the Royal Polytechnic Institution.
'Private experimentalists and patentees' could obtain assistance in
the laboratory. Lectures at this time covered subjects such as
chemistry and natural philosophy. Special classes included those
for engine drivers and in navigation. Thomas Malone began classes
in photography in 1852. Professor Pepper, who became director
in the early 1850s, is best remembered for the popular illusion
'Pepper's ghost', but he also established a series of evening
classes in educational and trade subjects. Pepper lectured both in
New York and Australia and published a number of popular scientific
text books.
The Polytechnic organised an educational programme around the Great
Exhibition of 1851 and the combination of education and
entertainment captured the Victorian imagination. Fashionable
audiences gasped at the thirty foot spark generated by the great
induction coil or the magnified creepie-crawlies in a glass of
drinking water, which were projected onto a screen by Cary's
oxyhydrogen microscope, "by far the largest ever
constructed".
The Polytechnic's main source of income derived from entrance fees,
which remained at one shilling (10 pence) throughout its life, and
Pepper was increasingly driven to seek novelty in order to sustain
that income. Sir George Cayley died in 1857 but The Polytechnic
continued to thrive until, following a fire and financial
difficulties, it was acquired by Quintin Hogg in 1881.