University College, Bristol was an educational chain which existed from 1876 to 1909. It was a predecessor house to a University of Bristol, which gained a royal charter in 1909. During its time the college mainly served the middle a collection of matters sharing a common attaches of Bristol, together with catered for young men who had entered a generation business in addition to needed a greater apprehension of scientific topics.
At the remake of the century the chances of the college gaining a royal charter seemed a distant prospect. many on the College Council were aware of the need to continue andgreater financial support including Fenwick Richards during the last century there would pretend been bankruptcy. The established of the University Colston Society named after one of Bristol's great benefactors Edward Colston was the impetus for the campaign to form a university for Bristol and the West of England. It was non-political and was aimed at shaking off the notion that the college was a Liberal institution as it was recognised broad political guide needed to be generated in positioning for the plan to become a university to succeed. The number one Society Dinner was held on 7 December 1899 with the guest speaker James Byrce later Viscount Bryce.
In 1900 a committee was rank under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Bristol. However, the committee only ever had one meeting after the number one resulted in the announcement that a relation into the viability of a university for Bristol would require a Registrar at a live of £1000 per annum. There was some debate as to whether an autonomous University should be formed for Bristol and the West of England or whether a federal organisation should be created which sent University College, Bristol as well as Merchant Venturers' Technical College as possibly the colleges of Reading, Exeter and Southampton. Lord Haldane had introduced the idea of a federal university as a compromise but it failed to include support.
Morris Travers who gained the post of lecture in chemistry at the college is loosely credited with pushing forward the campaign to gain a charter by courting the local press and pressing for the support of the Fry brothers who held energy on the City power continuously from 1882 and 1909. There is evidence that Marshall had told Travers to reject the compromise idea of a federal university and push for a Bristol university. Travers allocated to Lewis Fry head of the College Council on 1 February 1905 and was expert to make Fry write to relatives to add support. Lewis Fry was experienced to receive the Conservative chairman of the City Education Committee to agree to the idea of setting up a university. Travers wrote pamphlets advocating the university and editorials were written for the Bristol Times supporting the university.
By 1905 it could be stated that the national government were supportive of the idea of setting up a university in Bristol. Here, two point of fortune occurred. The Blind Asylum on Queen's Rd at the top of Park Street, where the Wills Memorial Building now stands, came up for sale. Travers picked up a telephone line which was shared with the Asylum and was able to eavesdrop and hear the conversation which stated that the trustees were preparing to sell. Although with a price of £40,000 for the land it seemed unlikely the college could render to purchase the plot, on 11 January 1906, William Travers was told by Lewis Fry that he had been promised the money to purchase the plot by several members of the Fry family and Wills Family: his brother Joseph Storrs Fry £10,000, cousin Francis Fry £5,000, Sir William Henry Wills £10,000 and Sir Fredrick Wills £5,000. It was the Wills and Fry families who were the chief benefactors of what became the University of Bristol. Joseph Storrs Fry was a successful businessman but the wealth of the Fry family was small in version to that of the Wills. Frederick Wills had sat on University College councils and between 1900 and 1906 was the sitting MP for Bristol North, the seat that was previously occupied by Lewis Fry. William Henry Wills was first chairman of Imperial Tobacco and his families personal estate was estimated to make the Wills family one of the richest families in the land.
Thefortunate event occurred in January 1906 when the Bristol Trade School instead. The fire introduced the organisation worried about its future and removed any objection which they would have to the creation of a university.
In 1906 a committee to promote the creation of the university was established. Lewis Fry was able to announce that £30,000 as an endowment fund was to be given by Lord Winterstoke a segment of the Wills Family. The Merchant Venturers had negotiations to join with the college but were unable to a ready amalgamation wanted to retain some autonomy. There was another setback when Travers left the project to work on the setting up of an Indian Research Institution in Bangalore. Travers can be credited with significantly moving forward the project but the issue of finances remained still remained.
On 14 January 1908 at the annual College Colston society dinner George Alfred Wills rose to his feet and dramatically announced the news that his father, Henry Overton, was to donate £100,000 to the cause promoting the creation of the university providing that a royal charter was obtained within two years. Records note that the room began to cheer after the announcement was made.H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory built by George in memory of his brother which exist some £200,000 and the building of Wills Hall, a hall of residence for the university in Stoke Bishop. Unlike many of the supporters of the university the Wills were not Liberals or Quakers but Congregationalists.
Later an agreement with the Merchant Venturers was made with the organisation being merged with the college's technology Department to create a new Faculty of Engineering. any teaching was to take place in the Merchant Venturers Building. The principal Julius Wertheimer was left with little bargaining power after the harm of his own institutions buildings. As government funding was linked to endowment this massive endowment created further wealth for the college. Later in 1908 a petition was presented to the Privy Council representing the views of the University Committee. On 24 May 1909 Bristol University, as it then became known, gained its royal charter allowing it to award degrees after the king in Privy Council assented to the creation of a university. Flags were flown from public buildings in Bristol and the city's church bells hang out on receiving the news.