UCL was founded in 1826 as a secular alternative to Oxford and Cambridge by prominent intellectuals such as James Mill and Henry Brougham. UCL was the first university to be established in London, and the first entirely secular university to admit students regardless of religion. It was also the first university to admit women on equal terms with men.
The founders of UCL were inspired by the radical ideas of philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who some people see at UCL’s ‘spiritual father’. Bentham (or Jezza B., as he is affectionately known) is kept as an auto-icon sitting on a wooden cabinet at the end of the South Cloisters.
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