Sir Nathan Bodington (29 May 1848 – 12 May 1911) was the first Vice Chancellor of the

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having been Principal and Professor of

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at the Yorkshire College since 1883.''

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'' accessed 25 July 2009 From 1897 to 1901 he was also Vice-Chancellor of the Victoria University. Bodington was born in

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, Birmingham, and educated at

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, and

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, where he studied

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

. He was a teacher at

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and

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, Professor of classics at Mason College, (which later became

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), and Fellow of

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.Draper, W. (1912) ''Sir Nathan Bodington: a memoir''. London: Macmillan Bodington was responsible for consolidating the Yorkshire College's position within the Victoria University and later, when the fragmentation of members occurred, for obtaining the charter for the separate university in Leeds. His demeanour around the 1890s was described by a colleague thus:C. M. Gillespie, 'A Retrospect', ''The University of Leeds Review'', 1 (1948–49), 19–24 (p. 21).

though transplanted from an Oxford which was then almost exclusively devoted to classical studies, he adapted himself wonderfully to the direction of an institution which, always short of money, appealed for funds almost entirely on the ground of its utility to local industry. In public he has a formal, somewhat academic, manner, which was against him in his dealings with City Councillors and businessmen and suchlike: but in private he unbent and was excellent company, with a keen sense of humour. His greying beard made him look ten years older than he really was ..Bodington was at his best in the chair at meetings of the Senate and other academic bodies, patient, courteous and impartial.

He was knighted in 1908.''London Gazette''
17 December 1908 He married Eliza, the daughter of Sir John Barran, on 8 August 1907, but they had no children. As remembered by C. M. Gillespire, 'in his own house he was a charming host, but not until his happy marriage late in life was he able fully to indulge his gifts of hospitality'. Bodington died in

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, on 12 May 1911. In 1961, the university opened Bodington Hall its largest hall of residence, named after him.Leodis
Bodington Hall, Adel Lane A housing estate on this site is now called Bodington Manor.''Yorkshire Evening Post'' 4 September 2013
Homes set to be built on former university site in Leeds as market recovers From 1995 to 2012, Leeds University's

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, a Leeds-built open-source system, was known as the Nathan Bodington Building.

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