George Birkbeck
Dr George Birkbeck was a British physician, academic, philanthropist, pioneer in adult education and a professor of natural philosophy at the Andersonian Institute. He is the founder of Birkbeck, University of London and was head of the Chemical Society. He is one of the creators of the earliest chemistry laboratory for undergraduates at University College London.Biography
Born to a Quaker family in Settle, North Yorkshire, Birkbeck went to Sedbergh School and then completed his training as a doctor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1799 with an MD degree. He is of the same Birkbeck family as early 19th-century Illinois pioneer, social reformer, author, publicist and agricultural innovator Morris Birkbeck. Before practising as a physician, however, he initially embarked on an academic career, being appointed professor of natural philosophy at the Andersonian Institution, which later became the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.
After mechanics started asking questions about the apparatus he used in his lectures, he had the idea of holding free, public lectures on the 'mechanical arts'. These Saturday evening events proved very popular and continued after his departure to London, leading to the formation in 1821 of the first Mechanics' Institute in Glasgow.
Working as a doctor in London in 1823, Birkbeck, along with Jeremy Bentham and MPs John Hobhouse and Henry Brougham came together to discuss the education for the working men of London. To achieve this they established the London Mechanics Institute in November 1823 - of which Birkbeck was the first president. The Mechanics Institute concept was quickly adopted in numerous other cities and towns across the UK and overseas, but his association with the ground-breaking London institution was marked by it being renamed the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution in 1866.
He died in 1841 at his home in Finsbury Square and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London. A monument is also to be found in St Akelda's church in Giggleswick, near his birthplace in Settle.
