Textiles as an Applied Science at the University of Leeds, 1904 to 1979

Abstract

The textile department at the Yorkshire College of Science was opened in 1875 and absorbed into the University of Leeds in 1904. Thereafter it was transformed from a well-equipped centre for technical education, meeting local industrial needs, to an applied science department of high academic achievement, and international renown, with a graduate employment record which was both successful and diverse. Throughout, it received the generous support of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers. The transformation, which was neither straightforward nor painless, required a strategic response to each of three questions by three successive generations of university managers, as follows. Firstly, can a technical curriculum be sustained in a university setting? Secondly, can the study of textiles be redefined as an applied science? Thirdly, can other disciplines be included to provide broader insights? By considering the responses, this article explores the manner in which social relationships, academic behaviour, industrial practice, and industrial change interacted to shape the curriculum and the research agenda, during an era of large-scale textile production in the UK.