Origins
King's was founded in 1829 in response to the founding of "London University", latterly known as University College London, in 1826. UCL was founded, with the backing of Jews, Utilitarians and non-Anglican Christians, as a secular institution, intended to educate "the youth of our middling rich people between the ages of 15 or 16 and 20 or later". King's principal objective was "to imbue the minds of youth with a knowledge of the doctrines and duties of Christianity, as inculcated by the United Church of England and Ireland". At King's attendance at College Chapel and the study of Christianity formed an important part of College life.
The rivalry can be glimpsed in the second verse of a 1820s satirical song set to the music of the British national anthem:
- King's College lads arise!
- New Universities
- Shall quickly fall;
- Confound their politics,
- Frustrate their teaching tricks,
- O, Church! on thee we fix,
- Maintain us all
One of the earliest potentially violent consequences of the contrasting styles and purposes of the two colleges arose when the Earl of Winchilsea, one of the principal financial donors to the fledgling King's College, accused its leading patron, the Duke of Wellington, of seeking to water down the orthodox, Protestant, character of the new College.
Wellington had recently played a central role in securing Catholic Emancipation and Winchilsea, an opponent of emancipation, feared that he planned to turn King's into a 'Catholic Seminary' as the new College was to place no religious test for entry. Early in 1829 Winchilsea publicly challenged Wellington about the Duke's simultaneous support for the Anglican King's College and the Roman Catholic Relief Act. The result was a duel in Battersea Fields on 21 March. Shots were fired but no-one was hurt. Duel Day is still celebrated annually at King's in March.
Read more about this topic: King's College London And UCL Rivalry
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