John Owens was described as possessing a good deal of hard-headedness and practical common sense, a keen buyer and a good payer, very methodical in his habits and operations, and who acted up to his favourite motto, Honestas optima politia. He was a staunch Dissenter and a “stalwart” Radical, a shy, silent man, known only to a few intimates, a misogamist, if not actually a misogynist, of no great intellectual ability, and with few cultured tastes, nor, so far as can be gathered, particularly friendly to learning. There is reason to believe that his first intention was to leave the greater part of his fortune to his lifelong friend and former schoolfellow, George Faulkner, a well-known and prosperous Manchester merchant, who in declining it appears to have suggested the idea of founding a college in Manchester. The suggestion took root. In developing it Owens seems to have been mainly moved by a feeling of bitterness against a system which imposed subscription to articles and creeds on a young man before he could be admitted to the ancient Universities.
He was determined to break down this injustice so far as he was able; he therefore made the trust subject to “the fundamental and immutable rule and condition … that the students, professors, teachers, and other officers and persons connected with the said institution shall not be required to make any declaration as to, or submit to any test whatsoever of, their religious opinions, and that nothing shall be introduced in the matter or mode of education or instruction in reference to any religious or theological subject which shall be reasonably offensive to the conscience of any student, or of his relations, guardians, or friends, under whose immediate care he shall be.”[3]
John Owens died, unmarried, in July 1846, at the age of fifty-five. Mr. George Faulkner, who had been named as one of the executors, proceeded to carry out the provisions of the will. The estate took some years to realize, and the accounts were not finally closed until 1857, when the total sum received for the purposes of the college amounted to £96,942—not a very large amount considered as endowment, but still sufficient, viewed from the standpoint of the middle of last century, to enable a modest start to be made, with prudent management on the part of the trustees, and a reasonable amount of sympathy and goodwill on the part of the community that was to be benefited.
The executors, without waiting for the complete realization of the estate, proceeded to execute the provisions of the bequest as regards the projected college. In the selection of the trustees appointed to carry out his intentions John Owens acted with sound judgment and a wise liberality. It is evident from the terms of the will that he had given considerable thought to the character of the institution he wished to found. But in spite of all his care and of the legal skill with which his wishes were expressed, the theological difficulty managed to creep in, and ingenious casuists raised doubts and differences of opinion concerning the interpretation of the testator’s will in regard to religious instruction. This occasioned delay, and a certain amount of sectarian jealousy and unfriendly feeling was stirred up which acted prejudicially against the new institution for some years after its establishment.
The College was formally opened in March 1851. Its first Principal was Mr. A. J. Scott, who was Professor of English Literature in University College when Roscoe studied there. In addition to being Principal he was appointed Professor of Logic, Mental and Moral Philosophy, and English Language and Literature. The circumstance that he undertook, with the consent of the trustees, to give courses of lectures on “The Influence of Religion in Relation to the Life of the Scholar,” was one cause of the hubbub which was raised in the town and which brought the Church party to the support of the trustees who had sanctioned these courses. Other teachers were Mr. J. G. Greenwood, Professor of the Language and Literature of Greece and Rome; Mr. Archibald Sandeman, Professor of Mathematics; Dr. Edward Frankland, Professor of Chemistry; Mr. W. C. Williamson, Professor of Natural History, Botany, and Geology; Mr. T. Theodores, teacher of German, Hebrew, and Oriental languages; and M. Podevin, teacher of French.
The College was located in what had been a private house, formerly the residence of Richard Cobden, and situated in a dreary and somewhat disreputable neighbourhood in the vicinity of Deansgate, one of the main thoroughfares of the poorer quarters of the city. This building was purchased from Mr. Cobden by Mr. George Faulkner, the chairman of the trustees, and was subsequently conveyed by him to the other trustees as an absolute donation for the benefit of the College. As it was unsuited for the provision of a chemical laboratory, the trustees determined to erect at the rear of the house a building specially designed for the purpose; but as they were precluded from using any of the corpus of the estate for building, they raised a sum of nearly £10,000 for the installation of a chemical laboratory and lecture theatre, the formation of a library and for general purposes. The chemical laboratory, which was planned under the direction of Dr. Frankland, could accommodate about fifty workers; it was conveniently arranged, and was indeed one of the best of its kind at the period of its erection.
The College made a fairly auspicious start as regards numbers, but for various reasons such popularity as it had rapidly declined, and each succeeding session saw a diminished entry. At the time Roscoe joined the students numbered only thirty-five, of whom fifteen were working in the chemical department.
We gather from the reports of the professors to the trustees that many causes contributed to retard the progress of the institution. Curiously enough, one of the chief of these was what was subsequently considered the chief glory of the foundation, namely, its unsectarian character. But another and more practical reason was that the generally unsatisfactory character of the school work of the students prevented them from obtaining full advantage of the College courses. In fact, the training afforded by the College was beyond the desires of the people. Higher education was not considered by Manchester as requisite for the accumulation of wealth. In those days lack of education had little or no effect on the social position of its moneyed men. They were inclined to think that a highly educated youth was unfitted for the routine work of a counting-house and was of little use as a salesman on the floor of the Exchange.
But there were doubtless other causes of a different nature. It was unfortunate for the College that the days of its infancy should be cast in the troubled times of the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny—events which dislocated trade and affected the prosperity of the district.