Creating a Civic University

Abstract This chapter explores Roscoe’s role in fundraising alongside Thomas Ashton, the tour of German and Swiss institutions conducted by Roscoe and Principal J. G. Greenwood, the move to Oxford Road in 1873 with buildings designed by Alfred Waterhouse (where the University of Manchester remains today), and the creation of chairs in engineering and economics, all of which transformed Owens College. The appointment of Osborne Reynolds to the new Chair of Engineering, and Stanley Jevons to the new Chair of Logic and Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy, reflected Roscoe’s advocacy of a university linking academia with local commercial and manufacturing businesses. In the heated debates over university status among academics, industrialists, and parliamentarians, Roscoe’s forthright stance steered Owens College toward becoming the first college of the federal Victoria University in 1880. Roscoe was also a passionate promoter of women studying in higher education, obtaining degrees, and entering the professions.