Northampton Institute, Clerkenwell

Although not situated in the town of Northampton but on St John street Clerkenwell. It was named the Northampton institute as it was built on land in 1894 presented by the Marquess of Northampton, close to the centre of the British manufacturing optics industry. It opened for classes in 1896.

The first principal was Dr Robert Mullineaux Walmsley born in 1854 and lived until 1924 he was an electrical engineer with a keen interest in optics and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers known as the SMC. A point of personal interest is that he lived in the next road to the notorious Dr Crippen. In August 1898 this was the very first institution in the UK to provide systematic educational courses in technical optics.
These were:
*      Optical and scientific instruments
*      Applied optics and heat and its applications      for opticians
*      Visual Optics

Over time the name has changed from The Northampton Polytechnic Institute to Northampton College of Advanced Technology,
then became The City University in 1967.
City joined the University of London federation on 1st September 2016. The University of London was founded by Royal Charter in 1836. City changed its name to 'City, University of London' to reflect this change, its logo including the strapline 'Est 1894'. In January 2017 it was announced that The College of Optometrists had accredited City, University of London as a provider of its professional certificate in paediatric eye care.

Sources for this post include:
college-optometrists.org.uk
Images: Google/archives