Faraday House Electrical Engineering College was created to train engineers in power generation and distribution. It was set up at a time before engineering was widely taught at universities, founded as an adjunct to a commercial company for supplying towns with electricity. It operated between 1889 and 1967, mainly at

Southampton Row The A4200 is a major thoroughfare in central London. It runs between the A4 at Aldwych, to the A400 Hampstead Road/Camden High Street, at Mornington Crescent tube station, via Holborn, Bloomsbury, Euston and Somers Town. Kingsway ...

, London. Six of its alumni have been presidents of the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and information technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

. The Faraday House curriculum covered the whole electrical field, at a level less theoretical than the City and Guilds Institute at South Kensington, with the four-year course of study resulting in a D.F.H. (Diploma of Faraday House). The first year was spent at the college, then eight months at a mechanical engineering works, followed by five more terms at the college, and finally a period spent as a graduate apprentice at an electrical engineering works. Examinations were supervised by the

, and two senior scholarships were offered; the Faraday (75

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

per annum), and the Maxwell (40 guineas per annum). At a 1992 symposium held in his honour, the microscopist

Vernon Ellis Cosslett Vernon Ellis Cosslett, FRS (16 June 1908 – 21 November 1990) was a British microscopist. The eighth child (of six sons and five daughters) of Edgar William Cosslett (1871–1948), a Welsh cabinet maker and carpenter, clerk of works on the es ...

, who lectured at the college from 1935 to 1939, during an interview with Tom Mulvey, of the Department of Electronic Engineering and Applied Physics at

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, related: "... Faraday House... an 'Engineering College for the sons of Gentlemen'... was set up in the 1880s before electrical engineering was respectable at universities; the engineering industry set it up on their own account and funded it themselves. They had a grand man in charge, one Alexander Robinson, a man of some eminence... running the thing very well at a level we would now call HNC,

Higher National Certificate A Higher National Certificate (HNC), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is a higher education/ further education qualification in the United Kingdom. Overview In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualifica ...

Higher National Diploma Higher National Diploma (HND), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is an academic higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and various other countries. They were introduced in England and Wales in 1920 alongside th ...

level." The building has been occupied by

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

study abroad International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 million international ...

program since 2005.

References

1890 establishments in England 1967 disestablishments in England Defunct universities and colleges in London Educational institutions established in 1890 Electrical engineering departments Engineering education in the United Kingdom Syracuse University buildings {{UK-university-stub