125 years in images

This year marks 125 years since the University of Birmingham received its royal charter. We take a look through the archive to learn more about our history.

Scene from the University sports day in 1927 of a student doing a pole vault with Old Joe in the background.

This year marks 125 years since the University of Birmingham received its royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1900. As part of our anniversary celebrations, the Cadbury Research Library is sharing a digital and physical exhibition of previously unseen (or less well-known), archival images from our research and teaching, campus, and people and community.

They say a picture paints a thousand words, and these images tell important stories about the University and the city of Birmingham, its people, and how it has and continues to evolve over a century and a quarter.

Research and Teaching

Chemistry research in the 1900s

Professor Frankland and members of his chemistry research team and students

Percy Frankland was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Mason Science College in 1894 and worked at the University of Birmingham until his retirement in 1919. The Frankland building, where chemistry was taught, was named for him. This photograph shows members of Frankland’s research team who collaborated with him, taken outside the Mason Science College buildings in Birmingham city centre and includes a number of women students who studied chemistry.

The University of Birmingham has done innovative chemistry research since its creation, with staff and alumni winning three Nobel Prizes for Chemistry in 1922, 1937 and 2016. New projects at the university include the development of a hydrogel lollipop to be used to help diagnose mouth cancer and the development of a bio-based resin for more environmentally friendly 3D printing.

Tech in the 80s

Computer Science students using microcomputers, University of Birmingham prospectus, 1982-1983

The University of Birmingham acquired its first mainframe computer in 1963, though there had been a lecturer in Computing since 1959. Computing services were within the Department of Mathematical Physics until 1965 when Computing Services was established as a separate unit. Computers were being used across academic and administrative departments by the 1970s, and an MSc in Computer Science was established in the early 1970s. Joint Honours undergraduate computing degrees were offered from the mid-1970s onwards, in Computer Science and Electronic Engineering and Computer Science and Software Engineering, as well as Mathematics and Computer Science. In 1994 a new degree, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science was offered, and from 2004 onwards it was possible to take a single honours degree in Computer Science. This photograph shows students in the new microcomputer laboratory, set up in the early 1980s to accommodate the increasing number of students taking Computer Science subjects.

Now, the University of Birmingham does ground-breaking work on quantum computing, such as the UK Quantum Technology Research Hub in Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT), and researching Artificial Intelligence technology.

Campus

Official openings for University buildings

King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra opening new University of Birmingham buildings in 1909

King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra officially opening the new University of Birmingham buildings in 1909, in a ceremony in the Great Hall

Edward VII and Queen Alexandra opened the new University buildings on 7 July 1909, the birthday of Joseph Chamberlain. Chamberlain himself was unable to attend as he had suffered a severe stroke in 1906, but his wife, Mary Endicott Chamberlain was present as Lady Mayoress, and his eight year old granddaughter, Hilda Mary Richards, presented a bouquet of flowers to the queen. The royal party had also visited the Council House in the city centre before travelling in carriages to Edgbaston.

The Great Hall has become an iconic part of the University’s campus for students as it hosts their graduation ceremonies every year.

Old Joe and a changing Birmingham

Postcard view of campus with Selly Oak factories in the background

This commercially produced postcard provides a view of the Edgbaston campus from an unusual viewpoint. It is taken from the north side of the campus, on formerly agricultural land belonging to the Calthorpe Estate, which had not yet been gifted to the university by the family. The Harding Library can be seen in front of the clock tower, and the Frankland building can be seen to the right. In the background is a reminder that, although the Calthorpe Estate provided the new campus, it was also very close to the then-industrial district of Bournbrook, with several factories and businesses nearby, and terraced residential housing. This postcard probably dates from the 1910s or 1920s.

The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock or ‘Old Joe’ as it is affectionately known by students, staff, and Brummies, is still an iconic Birmingham landmark and the largest free-standing clocktower in the world.

Campus in the 70s

Front cover of the University of Birmingham prospectus, 1976-1977

The University of Birmingham started to produce prospectuses in the late 1960s. Before this, prospective students had to rely on printed syllabuses and information booklets. In the 1970s the prospectuses started to include colour photographs and to focus more on student life rather than just providing details of degree courses, with the aim of attracting students to Birmingham and particularly to the leafy Edgbaston campus.

This photograph on the front cover of the 1976-1977 prospectus shows students sitting on the grass, with the Arts building and Muirhead Tower in the background.

Campus continues to develop with the opening of the new Molecular Sciences Building in 2024 and our longer-term plans laid out in our 2045 Campus Vision.

People and Community

Sports on campus

A student doing a pole vault from the University sports day in 1927.

There were limited sports facilities on the Edgbaston campus before the Second World War, and no playing fields until 1908 when Lord Calthorpe made an additional gift of twenty acres of land next to the Bristol Road. Before this, University sports teams had used various playing fields elsewhere in the city’s suburbs, including the Warwickshire County Cricket Club ground, where annual athletic sports days had been held until 1909.

This photograph shows a scene from the University sports day in 1927, part of a set of images included in the student magazine, ‘University Gazette, showing competitors and spectators on the playing fields, and the Aston Webb complex of buildings in the background. This image shows J. C. Braggio, an Engineering student from Buenos Aries, Argentina, competing in the pole jump which he won. He also won several other track and field events at successive sports days and was the winner of the Victor Ludorum Challenge Cup.

The University has an excellent sporting legacy and enviable sports and exercise facilities. In 1946 the University of Birmingham became the first university to offer an undergraduate course in physical education. More recently, in 2022 Birmingham hosted the Commonwealth Games which saw the campus become a hub of activity for athletes and spectators alike. The University hosted multiple events including hockey and squash, turned the Vale student accommodation into an Athletes Village and had 20 students and alumni competing in the games, with 12 medals won.

Partnerships in war and peacetime

Raymond Beazley (Historian) in his office, about 1923

Charles) Raymond Beazley (1868-1955) was Professor of History at the University of Birmingham from 1909-1933. He replaced the first holder of the position, J. H. B. Masterman, a clergyman who also taught history. During the First World War he lectured soldiers in France for the Young Men’s Christian Association, and in 1919 he gave a series of lectures to French universities as a member of the University Delegations to France. He also went on lecturing visits to Germany in the 1930s and lectured at a number of American universities.

This image shows Beazley in his rooms in the old Mason College buildings on Edmund Street, in around 1923, surrounded by maps of Europe. Beazley, and his successor, Keith Hancock, built up the Department of History and, after the Second World War, it became a centre for Marxist historical thinking, notably through medieval historian Rodney Hilton.

The University continues to lecture and develop international relationships during times of war. In recent years the University of Birmingham has worked with Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in Ukraine on a number of projects and visits, including the development of an English-Ukrainian legal dictionary, a summer school, and exchanges with the Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre and the Shakespeare Institute, during Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.

These images are just a few that will be featured in the exhibition, so show how even though the university has changed a lot over 125 years, our legacy and history are still connected to the work we do today. We are looking forward to see what the next 125 years bring.

These images and more are available to see online and will be featured in a physical exhibition at the University of Birmingham Library from 15 January and will run until the end of 2025.

The University will also be sharing photos of the campus throughout history and what it looks like now across social media so make sure you are following us on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn so you don’t miss anything!