Foundation The earliest antecedent of the university was the engineering department of the
Merchant Venturers' Technical College (founded as a school as early as 1595) which became the engineering faculty of Bristol University. The university was also preceded by
Bristol Medical School (1833) and
University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, The university was able to apply for a
royal charter due to the financial support of the
Wills and
Fry families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations and chocolate respectively (while there was no funding from
Edward Colston). A 2018 study commissioned by the university estimated 85% of the philanthropic funds used for the institution's foundation "depended on the labour of enslaved people". The royal charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the university in October 1909.
Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor. {{quote box|align=right|width=23em| There shall be from henceforth for ever in Our said City of Bristol a University... Since the founding of the university itself in 1909, it has grown considerably and is now one of the largest employers in the local area, although it is smaller by student numbers than the nearby
University of the West of England.
Early years (Schools of Law and Earth Sciences) on
Park Street, Bristol. The tower was cleaned in 2006–2007. After the founding of the university college in 1876, government support began in 1889. Funding from mergers with the Bristol Medical School in 1893 and the Merchant Venturers' Technical College in 1909, allowed the opening of a new medical school and an engineering school – two subjects that remain among the university's greatest strengths. In 1908, gifts from the Fry and Wills families, particularly £100,000 from
Henry Overton Wills III (£6m in today's money), were provided to endow a university for Bristol and the West of England, provided that a
royal charter could be obtained within two years. In December 1909, the king granted such a charter and erected the University of Bristol. Wills died in 1911 and in tribute his sons
George and
Harry built the
Wills Memorial Building, starting in 1913 and finally finishing in 1925. Today, it houses parts of the academic provision for
earth sciences and law, and graduation ceremonies are held in its Great Hall. The Wills Memorial Building is a Grade II* listed building. In 1920, George Wills bought the
Victoria Rooms and endowed them to the university as a
students' union. students at the University of Bristol in 1940 At the point of foundation, the university was required to provide for the local community. This mission was behind the creation of the Department of Extra-Mural Adult Education in 1924 to provide courses to the local community. This mission continues today; a new admissions policy specifically caters to the "BS"
postcode area of
Bristol. Among the famous names associated with Bristol in this early period is
Paul Dirac, who graduated in 1921 with a degree in engineering, before obtaining a second degree in mathematics in 1923 from Cambridge. For his subsequent pioneering work on quantum mechanics, he was awarded the 1933
Nobel Prize in Physics. Later in the 1920s, the H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory was opened by
Ernest Rutherford. It has since housed several Nobel Prize winners:
Cecil Frank Powell (1950);
Hans Albrecht Bethe (1967); and
Nevill Francis Mott (1977). The Laboratory can also claim associations with other notable physicists including
John Lennard-Jones,
Heinz London,
Walter Heitler, and
Herbert Frölich, many of whom spent several years at Bristol. More recently, the Laboratory has housed
Prof. Sir Michael Berry FRS, a theoretical physicist known for his work on the
Berry phase and
Berry curvature. Berry joined Bristol in 1965 and has spent his entire career there. The H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory stands on the same site today, close to the
Bristol Grammar School and the city museum.
Winston Churchill became the university's third chancellor in 1929, serving the university in that capacity until 1965. and out of character compared to the architecture of the rest of the Clifton area, having been mentioned in a
BBC poll to find the worst architectural eyesores in Britain. The university has proposed relocating the Union to a more central location as part of its development 'masterplan'. More recently, plans for redevelopment of the current building have been proposed. The 1960s were a time of considerable student activism in the United Kingdom, and Bristol was no exception. In 1968, many students marched in support of the
Anderson Report, which called for higher student grants. This discontent culminated in an 11-day sit-in at the Senate House (the administrative headquarters of the university). the Students' Union AGM voted to disaffiliate from the
National Union of Students (NUS). On both occasions, however, the subsequent referendum of all students reversed that decision and Bristol remains affiliated to the NUS. In 1988, Sir
Jeremy Morse, then chairman of
Lloyds Bank, became chancellor.
21st century As the number of postgraduate students has grown (particularly the numbers pursuing taught master's degrees), there eventually became a need for separate representation on university bodies and the Postgraduate Union (PGU) was established in 2000. Universities are increasingly expected to exploit the intellectual property generated by their research activities and, in 2000, Bristol established the Research and Enterprise Division (RED) to further this cause (particularly for technology-based businesses). In 2001, the university signed a 25-year research funding deal with IP2IPO, an intellectual property commercialisation company. In 2007, research activities were expanded further with the opening of the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) and The Bristol Institute for Public Affairs (BIPA). In 2002, the university was involved in an argument over press intrusion after details of then-prime minister
Tony Blair's son's application to university were published in national newspapers. In the same year, the university opened the new Centre for Sports, Exercise and Health in the heart of the university precinct. At a cost, local residents can also use the facilities. is left of centre. Viewed from the
Cabot Tower on Brandon Hill
Brenda Hale, the first female
Law Lord, became chancellor of the university in 2003. is intended to further the study of dynamics and is the most advanced such facility in Europe. It was built as an extension to the Queen's Building and was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II in March 2005. In January 2005, the School of Chemistry was awarded £4.5m by the
Higher Education Funding Council for England to create Bristol ChemLabS: a Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL), with an additional £350k announced for the capital part of the project in February 2006. Bristol ChemLabS stands for Bristol Chemical Laboratory Sciences; it is the only chemistry CETL in the UK. September 2009 saw the opening of the university's
Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information. This £11 million building is known as the quietest building in the world and has other technologically sophisticated features such as self-cleaning glass. Advanced research into quantum computing, nanotechnology, materials and other disciplines are being undertaken in the building. There is also a plan to significantly redevelop the centre of the University Precinct in the coming years. The first step began in September 2011, with the start of construction of a state-of-the-art Life Sciences building. In 2018 while building work was underway in the
Fry Building, the building caught fire. In 2024 the university revised their emblem, removing the dolphin emblem because of its connection to the slave trader Edward Colston and adding an image of moving pages and a bookmark. In 2025, BristolSEDS, a student society within the University, successfully hot-fired a 6 kilo-newton bi-propellant rocket engine, claiming the record for the highest thrust of an engine of this type designed by students in the UK. == Campus ==