The Science and Art Department was a

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

body which functioned from 1853 to 1899, promoting education in art, science, technology and design in Britain and Ireland.

Background

The Science and Art Department was created as a subdivision of the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

in 1853, expanding the existing

Department of Practical Art Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

. Its first superintendent was

Henry Cole Sir Henry Cole FRSA (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) was a British civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in the 19th century in the United Kingdom. Cole is credited with devising the concept of ...

, and it supported not just science but also "practical arts" – i.e.

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

and

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

. The department benefited substantially from the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...

of 1851, part of the profits of which were distributed by the Commissioners of the Great Exhibition for educational purposes. That donation funded a large site in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

accommodating the Science and Art Department, the South Kensington Museum, and other bodies. In 1856 the Science and Art Department was absorbed by a new Education Department, but retained considerable autonomy in promoting artistic and scientific higher education, especially for teacher training. The Science and Art Department took over the ''Government School of Design'', founded in 1837, which became the ''National Art Training School'' in 1853, and finally in 1896

the Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It off ...

, under which name it still flourishes. It developed what became known as the

South Kensington system South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

in art education. The headmaster until 1875 was

Richard Burchett Richard Burchett (1815–1875) was a British artist and educator on the fringes of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who was for over twenty years the Headmaster of what later became the Royal College of Art. He was later described as "a promin ...

. On the science side it ran classes in South Kensington in the 1870s, which led directly to the formation of the

Normal School of Science The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from th ...

, a constituent college of

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. From 1859 the Science and Art Department had offered examinations for prospective science teachers, and promoted evening classes in science across Britain. From 1872 the Science and Art Department began offering scientific higher education directly through evening classes at the South Kensington site. In 1880 these classes acquired formal recognition as the Normal School of Science. During the 1880s a number of royal commissions considered the question of technical education, and their recommendations led to an increasing role in scientific training for other branches of government. The increased attention paid to education led to the formation of the

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

in 1899, into which the Science and Art Department was fully integrated.

References

{{reflist

External links

History of Technical Education, UK National Archives
Defunct departments of the Government of the United Kingdom Education in the United Kingdom Ministries established in 1853 1853 establishments in the United Kingdom 1899 disestablishments

Background

See also

References

External links