The Bancroft Building is named after Francis Bancroft. He is the grandson of Arch-Bishop Bancroft.
Due to his financial difficulties, he was persuaded to take a position working for the Lord Mayor. Throughout his tenure in this role, he managed to amass a wealth of 28,000 pounds in both real estate and personal assets.
In his will, dated March 18 1727, he left a bequest to the Company of Drapers entrusting them with the funds for acquiring a plot of land to establish and provide funding for almshouses. In 1735, in accordance with the trust, the Drapers' Company constructed a school at Mile End. The almshouses established had apartments for 24 alms-men, a chapel and a school room for 100 boys as well as 2 dwelling houses for the school’s masters.
Bancroft also instructed that for each alms-house man, they would be given coal and a baize gown every three years. He also wished for the school boys to be clothed and taught reading, writing and accounts.
The school complex comprised several components: a spacious schoolroom, a chapel, the second master's residence, the headmaster's dwelling, two adjacent rooms, a garden, and a small burial ground. Accommodation facilities included two dormitories, one on the upper floor and one on the lower floor, a sizable dining hall, living quarters for two assistant masters, domestic staff quarters, and various offices. On the eastern side, there was a substantial yet irregularly shaped playground.
Francis Bancroft’s tomb now stands in St. Helen’s Church in the angle by the north wall.
This building is named after Peter Landin who is a British computer scientist. He was born in Sheffield on 5th June 1930 and went to King Edward VII School and Cambridge University’s Clare College. He died on 3rd June 2009.
Landin is known to have been a significant influence in creating programming language theory.
He first discovered that a programming language could be described by using lambda calculus and he is best known for developing the SECD machine. The SECD machine is considered the first abstract machine for a functional programming language. Landin is also known for creating the If You See What I Mean (ISWIM) programming language alongside creating the phrase ‘syntactic sugar’.
He lived a fruitful life by being able to have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of roles. For a short while, in London, he was a programmer and then went to New York to become a researcher and he was also an academic at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, he returned back to England in 1967 to chair at Queen Mary College in London – a positioned he stayed in for the rest of his academic profession. After his career, he was an emeritus professor specialising in theoretical computation.
As Landin neared the end of his life, he had a growing feeling that computing, may have been detrimental as a result of appearing to bolster profit-driven corporate agendas and the rise of a surveillance state. This caused Landin to feel that his efforts in its promotion had been in vain. Regardless of his sentiments, it is undeniable that his ideas continue to serve as the foundation for ongoing advancements.
Sources used:
Abby (2023) Landin’s computing machine explained - everything you need to know, History. Available at: https://history-computer.com/landins-computing-machine/ (Accessed: 20 September 2023).
Peter Landin Obituary (2009) The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/sep/22/peter-landin-obituary (Accessed: 03 October 2023).
The G.E. Fogg building is named after Professor Gordon Elliott Fogg who is an esteemed researcher specializing in algology and freshwater biology. He was born on 26 April 1919 and died on 30 January 2005, at the age of 85. He is renowned for making a significant contribution to marine biology as well as polar science.
Fogg first went to Dulwich College for his education followed by Queen Mary College. Then, he met renowned algologist F.E. Fritsch and received an education from him. At the start of the World War II, he was evacuated to Cambridge and at St John’s College, he met E.G. Pringsheim - another esteemed expert in algology. Both of these experts assisted Fogg in his inspiration to study algae for his lifetime. This initially started off with Fogg’s assignment participating in a wartime seaweed survey as an alternative to military service due to his refusal in as a result of moral and ethical objections.
When the war had ended, Fogg received an appointment to join the faculty at University College, London. His Head of Department was W.H. Pearsall – a renowned ecologist. Both Fogg and Pearsall shared interests in botanical physiology, limnology, and plant ecological studies.
From Fogg’s research into nitrogen fixation by blue-green algae to his work on the release of photosynthetic products by algae into freshwater environments, he quickly acquired expertise in algal cultures. Fogg was considered a world expert in algal physiology.
He enjoyed writing scientifically and went on to release his first book in 1953 entitled ‘The metabolism of algae’. Fogg also produced many watercolour paintings of algae.
At Westfield College in 1960, Fogg was appointed professor of botany and contributed to the significant research of the school which eventually led to multiple students to progress in their career to higher positions across the world. In 1965, Fogg was elected ‘Fellow of the Royal Society’ and from Westfield he first visited the Antarctic. His visit occurred at a time when the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) aimed to widen their research and knowledge and they would often provide senior academic with the opportunity to go for a summer. Whilst visiting the Antarctic, they would conduct research and establish projects that would eventually be conducted by supervised research students.
Fogg's expedition to Signy Island during January–February 1966 resulted in publications on snow algae and the physiology of freshwater algae in the Antarctic. This visit marked the beginning of his long-term engagement in polar science, including serving as the chairman of the BAS Scientific Advisory Committee for several years.
Fogg also took on many roles and opportunities throughout his lifetime, including:
For the extensive research and work that he had conducted, he was appointed as a CBE in 1983 and he was also celebrated through the name of the Fogg Highland which is a frozen plateau along the Black Coast of Palmer Land.
Fogg continued to be an esteemed contributor in scientific meetings and discussions until the end of his 85 years. In his retirement, Fogg completed multiple literary undertakings such as revising Algal cultures and phytoplankton ecology alongside Brenda Thake who was one of his latter educational appointments. They continued to have a close friendship and eventually, established the Fogg Lecture at Queen Mary, University of London. After undergoing renovation, the Biological Sciences Building at Queen Mary, University of London was named in commemoration of Professor Gordon Elliott Fogg.
Holdgate, M. (2005) ‘Obituary’, Polar Record, 41(4), pp. 375–376. doi:10.1017/s0032247405004808.
Walsby, A.E. (2006) ‘Gordon Elliott Fogg CBE. 26 April 1919 — 30 January 2005’, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 52, pp. 97–116. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2006.0008.
The G.O. Jones building is named after a Professor at Queen Mary College, London University. He was a Professor of Physics and the Head of Department.
He was a member of the department from 1949 to 1968. He was also Head of the Department from 1953 to 1968. He then left his position to become the Director of the National Museum of Wales.
G.O. Jones is known for publishing a plethora of scientific papers and articles both individually and within academic journals. For example, the ‘Boundaries of Physics’, ‘What experiments are needed in glass science’ and ‘spectroscopy at extreme infra-red wavelengths’. He was not only an academic writer but also published novels such as A Close Family 1998.
He steered research in the Department into many new areas and established Queen Mary College’s reputation as a moderately sized Department conducting high-quality research into fundamental physics on a great variety of scales.
In 1886, the People's Palace was established with the aim of creating a hub for education and culture within the local community. The project received funding from the Beaumont Trust, which had been established in accordance with the will of John Barber Beaumont, to support the Philosophical Institution he had founded.
The People's Palace was located on the grounds of the former Bancroft's School, acquired from the Drapers' Company. The facility included the Queen's Hall, a library modelled after the British Museum, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a winter garden, and schools.
The library and swimming bath were completed in 1888 as were the technical and trade schools. The People’s Palace Technical Schools offered a Day School and Evening Classes. The Day School, which began autumn 1887 in the old Bancroft School buildings, was for boys 12+ and the Evening classes were from 1888 open to all in technical, trade and scientific subjects. The winter garden, begun in 1890 and completed in 1892, was also used for concerts and refreshments. The gymnasium, constructed in 1891, had a roller-skating rink in the basement.
However, the financial management of the Palace soon ran into difficulties. It was saved by the Drapers' Company which committed a subsidy of £70,000 over ten years. In 1889 a separate students' library had been established and by 1902 the Governors agreed that the original library should be transferred to the Borough of Stepney to form the basis for the first public library in Mile End.
The People’s Palace Technical Schools changed its name to East London Technical College in 1896. By this time, the College consisted of a Day School for boys aged 13-16; Day Classes for men and women at a higher education level in Engineering, Chemistry and Art; Evening Classes preparing students for University of London examinations in Science or entry into Civil Service. The Bow and Bromley Institute amalgamated with the People's Palace as a branch of East London Technical College in 1898; this branch closed in 1911.
East London Technical College became East London College in 1905, the same year a University level Arts course was added to the Day and Evening Classes. The Day School closed in 1906 but in 1907 the College’s application to be recognised as a School of the University of London was approved. In 1908 a Professorial Board was established and the Director of Studies position was retitled Principal. Faculties of Arts, Science and Engineering were established and providing “facilities for research” was added to the objectives of the College.
In 1911 the Visiting Committee of the Palace Governors was split into two to form a Palace Committee and an East London College Committee albeit still under the umbrella of the Palace Governors. This was the beginning of a final administrative separation of the Palace from the College which was formalised under a new scheme sealed by the Charity Commissioners and Board of Education in 1913. From 1913 onwards East London College, which would be renamed Queen Mary College in 1933, was administered separately.
In 1931 a fire destroyed the Queen's Hall and it was decided to reside the People's Palace in St Helen's Terrace. This gave the whole of the original site to the College and physically separated the People’s Palace and East London College. The new People's Palace was opened in 1937, providing a concert and dance hall. However, postwar conditions meant that the People's Palace was no longer financially sustainable, and in 1953 it came on the market. In 1954 it was acquired by Queen Mary College.
Queen Mary University of London Archives, catalogue entry QM/1 (http://archives-catalogue.library.qmul.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=QM%2f1)
Joseph Priestly is best known a British philosopher and chemist who is believed to have discovered oxygen and carried out some of the earliest experiments on the carbon cycle. He was born on 24 March 1733 and died on 6 February 1804.
Growing up, Priestly was educated to eventually become a minister in the Nonconformist churches and so, in order to gain the necessary experience, he spent most of his life preaching and teaching. He received a good education in languages, science, literature and philosophy and he began to question certain aspects of his religion – leading him to adopt Unitarianism.
Priestly’s interest in science had massively grown in 1765 after meeting Benjamin Franklin, an American scientist. He encouraged Priestly to publish his work titled The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments (1767). Within this, Priestly utilised history to indicate that progress in science relied on new facts rather than theoretical insights. This inspired many of his methods to experiment and where he discovered that charcoal conducts electricity, recognised the relationship between chemical change and electricity as well as anticipating the inverse square law.
Due to these experiments, he was elected as a member of the Royal Society of London in 1766 and his current investigations motivated him to conduct tests in other areas.
In 1767, whilst at Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds, Priestly began investigations into chemistry. He published multiple volumes and articles to describe his findings on “airs”. Priestly is known to have discovered multiple new gases, including: nitric oxide, ammonia and sulphur dioxide. He was known to take an unconventional approach when conducting investigations, for example, by utilising apparatuses in an unusual way and having unordinary methods, to be successful in his findings. In 1773, Priestly was awards the Royal Society’s Copley Medal – a prestigious award. His approach in conducting experiments eventually enabled him to isolate eight gases, including oxygen, whereas his predecessors often thought that there was only ‘one air’.
Priestly moved to Birmingham in 1780 after having accepted the position of preacher at the New Meeting House. He also became a member of the Lunar Society which was a prestigious group of gentlemen that lived in nearby areas and who incorporated the scientific and technological principles to solve problems that were commonly located in 18th century urban life. This was when Priestly developed a piece of equipment that resulted in carbonated water – something he assumed could give medicinal benefit to fevers such as scurvy. Despite it not being able to provide any benefit, this laid the basis for sparkling water in the near future.
Throughout Priestly’s life, his unconventional opinions often led him to become a victim to violence and controversy. He was a support of the American and French Revolutions which the English government and press considered seditious. In 1791, a mob had destroyed his house and laboratory in Birmingham. However, Priestly retreated to Hackney, London where his friend, Richard Price, a fellow philosopher, had a congregation. Priestly defends his anti-British government views in Letters to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke (1791).
Despite his defence, there was a growing conservative reaction to the French Revolution. In 1794, Priestly and his family decided to relocate to the United States and built a home in Pennsylvania.
Joseph Priestly died in Northumberland, Pennsylvania and he was respected by Thomas Jefferson – the third President of the United States.
(No date) Internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Available at: https://iep.utm.edu/priestly/ (Accessed: 17 September 2023).
The discovery of oxygen and the chemical revolution of Joseph Priestley (no date) Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Priestley/The-discovery-of-oxygen-and-the-chemical-revolution (Accessed: 17 September 2023).
Joseph Priestley (2023) Science History Institute. Available at: https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/joseph-priestley/ (Accessed: 17 September 2023).
The Queen’s Building was originally designed as a new science building containing a library, now known as the Octagon. It was built with the intention of bringing in more science students. The Queen’s Building architect was Mr E. R. Robson.
According to the building’s plans in 1956, the total building costs half a million pounds.
Queen Mary College began to admit students for the subjects of Chemistry, Physics, Botany and Zoology in October 1961. The Queen’s Building provided labs and lecture halls for approximately 270 students.
The new science building consists of five floors and a basement in the main block, with two side wings, one containing lecture theatres, and the other the Zoology department. In the main block, the floors are allotted as follows: basement, workshop; ground and first floors, physics; second and third floors, chemistry; forth floor, botany.
The foundation stone was laid by Sir John Cockcroft, O.M., K.C.B., C.B.E., F.R.S., on May 3rd 1960.
The Queen's Hall's foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales in June 1886, and Queen Victoria officially opened it the following year. The Queen's Hall hosted a variety of events, including lectures, concerts, organ recitals, exhibitions, and entertainment, drawing large crowds.
The Clock Tower was built in the Spring of 1890.
The architect for the Clock Tower was Mr E. R. Robson.
Draper’s Bar and Kitchen is named after The Drapers’ Company.
The Drapers’ Company consisted of an association of merchants of the City of London who traded in woollen cloth. They are known to have existed as far back as the 12th century. This trade guild, among the many that emerged during the early Middle Ages, gained formal recognition from the Crown to secure control over a profitable source of income. This recognition came in the form of a Royal Charter granted by Edward III in 1364, acknowledging the significance of the Drapers.
In 1439, the company was granted a Coat of Arms. This famous document, the earliest surviving English Grant of Arms is probably the Company’s most precious possession.
However, over the centuries, the cloth trade diminished in importance. Men unconnected with any such trade came to be admitted to the Freedom of the Company which, increasing in wealth and influence, began to exercise political power in the affairs of the City of London and in the election of its Members of Parliament.
The Company acquired property of its own and came to be known as an efficient and reliable body to entrust money to for charitable purposes.
Today, the Company acts as the trustee of several charities, including two schools, four sets of alms-houses and a block of flats for the elderly, a number of pension charities for the benefit of the poor and generous donations that are utilised to provide educational grants to young individuals.
The primary contemporary role of the Company is to use its corporate funds to support deserving charitable causes. In 1959, it established the Drapers' Charitable Fund using its own resources. Most of the Company's charitable grants, spanning various causes such as education, healthcare, and the arts, in both the United Kingdom and abroad, are now primarily channelled through this fund.
Throughout its 600-year history, the Company has adjusted to evolving social circumstances. Today, its role as a provider of charitable grants is nearly as significant as its commercial functions during the Middle Ages.
Some of the Company’s grants include the formation of Queen Mary College, scholarships for Westfield College and other grants have benefited schools, hospitals, art schools and etc.
The Cemetery found on Queen Mary University’s campus is the second plot of land that was bought in 1733 due to the previous cemetery needing multiple repairs and it had been quickly filled up.
It is a burial ground of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in London from 1657 to 1735. It contains graves belonging to the Jewish community of 17th century and 18th century.
Some notable people that are buried here, include:
The statue of Clement Atlee is dedicated to the man who was the leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955 and who served as Britain’s Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951. He is best known as the Prime Minister that significantly improved social services and the public sector in a post-war Britain. Atlee created the National Health Service (NHS) and nationalised major industries and public utilities. His government is also known to have oversee the process of decolonising Pakistan, India, Ceylon, Jordan and Burma.
Clement Atlee was part of a middle-class family in London and studied at Oxford University before training as a lawyer. Eventually, he managed Haileybury House which is a charitable youth organisation in Limehouse, East London that impacted his political views as he witnessed the poverty firsthand. This inspired him to join the Independent Labour Party in 1908.
When the First World War began, Atlee applied for a Commission, and he served as a Captain within the War. He was granted a promotion to the rank of a Major for being known as an effective and efficient leader.
When returning from the war, Attlee became the Mayor of Stepney in 1919 and MP for Limehouse in 1922. Eventually, he was elected leader of the Labour party in 1935.
During the Second World War, he was part of Winston Churchill’s coalition government and held the title Deputy Prime Minister from 1942 to 1945.
He became Prime Minister when a general election was held at the highest point of the war in Europe and he led the Labour Party to an unexpectedly large victory: they had won 393 seats compared to the Conservative’s 213 seats.
As a Prime Minister, Attlee was perceived as a notoriously blunt and quiet man who was able to take quick and decisive action. While his leadership appeared to be collaborative, once the Prime Minister allowed his Cabinet members to express their views, he swiftly made decisions with precision, leading to the successful implementation of nearly all of Labour's manifesto commitments during Attlee's tenure.
Although the Second World War had left Britain almost bankrupt, he managed to establish the National Health Service and brought many of Britain’s largest industries under state control. These industries included: coal mining, electricity and the railways. He successfully managed to do so under the post-war issues that Britain was facing; currency crises alongside shortages of food and resources that led the British people to continue to ration despite the war ending.
Whilst elected as Prime Minister, Attlee also participated in important foreign policy activity. He and his Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, supervised the process of Indian independence, Financial assistance from the United States, including 'Marshall Aid,' for the reconstruction of Britain and Western Europe, the Berlin airlift, and Britain's dedication to the United Nations.
When the General Election was held in 1950, Labour had lost its majority. Nevertheless, Attlee remained at the helm of the Labour Party until 1955 and passed away in 1967 at the age of 84.
Source used:
Clement Attlee (no date) History of Clement Attlee - GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/clement-attlee (Accessed: 17 September 2023).
The Student’s Union started by being known as the Union Society of East London College and later, declared on December 12th 1934 to change their name to Queen Mary College Union Society.
The union would perform a variety of tasks, such as ask permission from the university for speakers to come in and address different groups of people and societies.
The Octagon room is a library room that is octagonal in shape. This was designed by Mr E. R. Robson and costed around £10,000 to develop. The building of this room commenced immediately after the Queen’s Hall was completed.
It can accommodate for 250,000 volumes of specific book size formats known as octavo. The shelves for these literary mediums are fitted into iron supports that run from the floor to the second gallery. Galleries are reached by spiral staircases which extend from the roof to the basement.
The foundation stone of this library was laid by H.M. the King of the Belgians on June 25th 1987.