Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located atBarnard's Inn Hall offHolborn inCentral London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597[a] under thewill of SirThomas Gresham, and hosts over 140 free public lectures every year. Since 2001, all lectures have been made available online. As of 2025[update], the Acting Provost isProfessor Sarah Hart.[3]
Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of theRoyal Exchange, left his estate jointly to theCity of London Corporation and theMercers' Company, which today support the college through the Joint Grand Gresham Committee under the presidency of theLord Mayor of London. Gresham's will provided for the setting up of the college – in Gresham's mansion inBishopsgate, on the site now occupied byTower 42, the former NatWest Tower – and endowed it with the rental income from shops sited around the Royal Exchange.
The early success of the college led to the incorporation of theRoyal Society in 1660,[4] which pursued its activities at the college in Bishopsgate before moving to its own premises in Crane Court in 1710. Gresham College was mentioned "particularly and academically" alongside theInns of Court and other colleges in London as part of a figurative University of London in SirGeorge Buck's tract,The Third Universitie of England: Or a Treatise of the Foundations of all the Colledges, Auncient Schooles of Priviledge, and of Houses of Learning, and Liberall Arts, within and about the Most Famous Cittie of London, published in 1615 as an appendix toJohn Stow'sAnnales. The 17th century saw various proposals for athird university in England, including one in London, taking in Gresham College.[5]
The college remained in Gresham's mansion in Bishopsgate until 1768, and moved about London thereafter until the construction in 1842 of its own buildings in Gresham Street EC2. Gresham College did not become part of theUniversity of London on the founding of the university in the 19th century, although a close association between the college and the university persisted for many years. In 1892 the foundation of a 'Gresham University' in London was proposed in Parliament, intended to be a "Teaching University worthy of this Metropolis."[6] This was opposed by theVictoria University on the grounds that its medical faculty would dominate medical teaching in the country to the detriment of Manchester.[7] The proposed university may just have borrowed the name from the college.
Since 1991, the college has operated atBarnard's Inn Hall,Holborn EC1. Since 2000, the college regularly invites visiting speakers to deliver lectures on topics outside its usual range, and it also hosts occasional seminars and conferences. The college provides over 140 lectures a year, all open to the public free of charge.
Since 2001, the college has been recording its lectures and releasing them online in what is now an archive[8][9] of over 2,000 lectures. Since 2007, lectures have also been available throughYouTube, with 54 million views of 3,000 videos and 282,000 subscribers as of August 2024[update].[10][11]
Annual lectures series of particular note hosted by the college include: the Gresham Special Lecture, the Annual Lord Mayor's Event, and theGray's Inn Reading.
These original endowed chairs reflect the curriculum of the medievaluniversity (thetrivium andquadrivium); but as a place for the public and frequent voicing of new ideas, the college played an important role in theEnlightenment and in the formation of theRoyal Society. Early distinguished Gresham College professors includedChristopher Wren, who lectured on astronomy in the 17th century, andRobert Hooke, who was Professor of Geometry from 1665 until 1704.[13]
The geometrician is to read as followeth, every Trinity term arithmetique, inMichaelmas andHilary terms theoretical geometry, in Easter term practical geometry. The astronomy reader is to read in his solemn lectures, first the principles of the sphere, and the theory of the planets, and the use of theastrolabe and thestaff, and other common instruments for the capacity of mariners.[14]
The professors received £50 a year, and the duties of their positions were specified tightly.
Today three further professorships have been added:
The professors generally hold their positions for three years,[18] extendable for a fourth year, and give six lectures a year. There are also regularvisiting professors appointed to give series of lectures at the College, and many single-lecture speakers.
The Gresham Special Lecture – now called The Sir Thomas Gresham Annual Lecture – originated in 1983 as a free public lecture delivered by a prominent speaker. It was devised as a focus-point among the many free public lectures offered every year.
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