Victoria University (UK)

This article is about the British Victoria University. For other universities with 'Victoria' in their name, see Victoria University (disambiguation).

Victoria University was an English federal university established by Royal Charter, 20 April 1880 at Manchester: a university for the North of England open to affiliation by colleges such as Owens College which immediately did so. University College Liverpool joined the University in 1884, followed by Yorkshire College, Leeds in 1887. The University and the colleges were distinct corporate bodies until Owens College merged with the University in 1904. A supplemental charter of 1883 enabled the granting of degrees in medicine and surgery.

The aspirations of Manchester and Liverpool to become independent city universities meant that the Victoria University was short-lived. Liverpool left the university in 1903 to become the University of Liverpool; Leeds was granted its own royal charter in 1904 and became the University of Leeds; Manchester, the only remaining site, was renamed the Victoria University of Manchester.

The armorial bearings of the Victoria University showed charges representative of the three colleges (e.g. a sheep for Yorkshire College): they fell into abeyance in 1904 when those of Owens College were adopted for the Victoria University of Manchester,

There was also a proposal that York be included: in 1903, F. J. Munby and others (including the Yorkshire Philosophical Society) proposed a "Victoria University of Yorkshire". See University of York.

The Christie Cup is an inter-university competition between Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester in numerous sports since 1886. After the Oxford and Cambridge rivalry, the Christie's Championships is the oldest Inter–University competition on the English sporting calendar. The cup was a benefaction of Richard Copley Christie, a professor at Owens College.

Vice-Chancellors

• 1880–1887: Joseph Gouge Greenwood (also Principal of Owens College 1857–1889)
• 1887–1891: Adolphus William Ward (also Principal of Owens College 1889–1897)
• 1891–1895: Gerald Henry Rendall (University College, Liverpool)
• 1895–1897: Adolphus William Ward (second term)
• 1897–1901: Nathan Bodington (Yorkshire College, Leeds)
• 1901–1903: Alfred Hopkinson (also Principal of Owens College 1898–1904; afterwards Vice-Chancellor of the Victoria University of Manchester until 1913)

See also

• Red brick university