An Act to unite the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, the Institute of Neurology (Queen Square) and The Institute of Child Health with University College London; to transfer all rights, properties and liabilities from the said school and institutes to the said college; and for connected and other purposes.
[4th July 1996]
WHEREAS—
University College London was founded in 1826, with the title “University of London”, under a deed of settlement executed on 11th February 1826; the foundation stone of the then university building was laid on 30th April 1827, and courses of lectures began in October 1828:
In 1836 a Royal Charter was granted, under which the proprietors of the institution then known as the University of London were reincorporated as University College London. On the same day a Royal Charter was granted to a separate body, to be known as the University of London (hereinafter referred to as “the University”) with powers to examine and grant degrees to persons holding certificates of having pursued courses of instruction approved by the University at University College London or elsewhere:
University College London was admitted as a school of the University in 1900, following the reconstitution of the University as a result of the [1898 c. 62.] University of London Act 1898 and was incorporated into the University in 1907 pursuant to the University College London (Transfer) Act [1905 c. xci.] 1905 with the title University of London, University College and was subsequently disincorporated from the University by a Royal Charter dated 9th December 1977 and reconstituted as University College London (hereinafter referred to as “the College”) by the [1979 c. xxii.] University College London Act 1979, the rights, properties and liabilities of the University relating to the College being transferred to the College:
University College Hospital grew out of the University Dispensary, which opened in September 1828 and medical classes started there on 1st October 1828; in May 1833 the foundation stone of the North London Hospital was laid on a site in Gower Street opposite the College and in 1837 the name was changed to University College Hospital (hereinafter referred to as “the Hospital”):
In 1898 it was found that the University could no longer conveniently incorporate the Hospital nor that part of the Faculty of Medicine dealing with final medical studies and it was therefore decided that the teaching of final medical studies should be carried out by a new corporation and that the teaching of preliminary and intermediate medical studies should continue in the University of London, University College premises:
The University College London (Transfer) Act 1905 accordingly provided for the formation of a separate body corporate by the name of North London or University College Hospital for the purposes of carrying on the Hospital and Medical School; from 1907 until 1948 the Hospital and Medical School were administered as one. Following the [1946 c. 81.] National Health Service Act 1946 the said Medical School by a new scheme of incorporation in 1948 became a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal and became administered separately from the Hospital as an independent school of the University:
By the University College London Act 1979 the said Medical School was dissolved and ceased to exist as an entity separate from the College and all its property, rights, privileges, debts and liabilities were transferred to the College:
By the [1988 c. iii.] University College London Act 1988, The Middlesex Hospital Medical School, the Institute of Laryngology and Otology, the Institute of Orthopaedics and the Institute of Urology were dissolved and all their property, rights, privileges, debts and liabilities were transferred to the College, that part of the College constituting its Medical School being known by the title “The University College and Middlesex School of Medicine of University College London”:
The Institute of Ophthalmology was incorporated on 22nd April 1950 as a company limited by guarantee with the principal objects of promoting the study of diseases of the eye and allied subjects. The said Institute’s activities are now carried on principally in premises at 11–43 Bath Street, London EC1V 1LD and pursuant to an agreement dated 1st August 1995 now form part of the College:
The London School of Medicine for Women was established in 1874 as an association incorporated under the Companies Acts 1862 and 1867 changing its name to The London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women in 1898 in recognition of its association with the Royal Free Hospital, founded in 1828, which provided clinical instruction for the students of the Medical School. It became a school of the University in 1900 under the name and style of the London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women (University of London):
The London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women (University of London) was reconstituted as a body corporate by Royal Charter granted by His late Majesty King George the Sixth on 9th December 1938 which was subsequently revised on 21st May 1947, by the name and style of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine with the main object of acquiring and taking over the property and liabilities of the London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women, providing for the instruction of students to enable them to take degrees in the faculty of medicine of the University or to qualify as medical and dental practitioners and doing all such other things as are incidental or conducive to advancing medical and surgical education, learning and research:
The Institute of Neurology was incorporated on 11th June 1948 as the National Hospital (Queen Square) Institute of Neurology Limited, and on 24th July 1951 as the Institute of Neurology (Queen Square), under the Companies Acts 1929 and 1948 as a company limited by guarantee with the principal objects of promoting the study of diseases of the nervous system, carrying out research and investigation and providing education and practical training of duly qualified medical practitioners as specialists in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. The Institute became a federated institute of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation of the University on 1st August 1950, and its activities are now carried on principally in premises attached to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London:
The Institute of Child Health was recognised by resolution of the Senate of the University passed on 5th February 1945 as the research and teaching arm of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and other related hospitals and was incorporated on 19th October 1949 as a company limited by guarantee and was admitted in July 1949 to the British Postgraduate Medical Federation of the University as an institution for postgraduate study in paediatrics. The Institute’s activities are now carried on principally in premises attached to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust.
The Report of the Inquiry into London’s Health Service, Medical Education and Research under the chairmanship of Sir Bernard Tomlinson dated October 1992 recommended the linking of London Medical Schools to multi-faculty colleges and it is consistent with the policy of the University that the academic strength and financial viability of the medical schools of the University should be enhanced by the merger of some of those schools with certain multi-faculty institutions of the University:
The College, the School and the Institutes have agreed that it is expedient that provision should be made for the School and the Institutes to be united with the College in accordance with this Act:
It is expedient that the other provisions contained in this Act should be enacted:
The objects of this Act cannot be attained without the authority of Parliament:
May it therefore please Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted, by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—