ABSTRACT
In 1843 the Managers had considered a proposal from Brande and Faraday to extend the remit of the RI to include a school of practical chemistry. There was, however, not enough space in 21 Albemarle Street for the plans to be carried out and the proposal was dropped. A solution came into sight in 1892 when Ludwig Mond bought the freehold of 20 Albemarle Street. By then there were other institutions in London that were offering training in chemistry to prospective students but, Mond thought, there was still a need for laboratory space for trained independent chemists to carry out research. Professors generally had one or more assistants but there were no research schools where a man could aim for a higher degree in the way that was then possible in Germany, and still less, for independent or semi-independent research workers of the kind that we now recognise as post-doctoral fellows. It was this need that Mond, now a wealthy man and living in London, aimed to meet. His formal association with the governance of the RI began in 1889 when he joined the Board of Visitors, and was strengthened in 1892 when he became a Manager for the next two years. He was re-elected 2 in April 1894 and almost at once became a Vice-President and a member of all Committees except for the Library Committee. 3 Meanwhile, in April 1893, Frederick Abel had applied to the Managers for ‘permission to be allowed to make use of extracts from a Report on a proposed School of Practical Chemistry at the Institution, prepared by Professors Brande and Faraday in 1843’. 4 Clearly the ground had been well prepared for the greatest single benefaction that the RI had received. On 2 July 1894 Mond laid before each of the Managers an offer which he explained in the following terms:
It has been my desire for many years to found a Public Laboratory which is to give to the devotees of pure science … the facilities necessary for research in Chemistry and more particularly in that branch of the science called Physical Chemistry. … I have come to the same conclusion as the Promoters of the scheme of 1843, viz.: that such a Laboratory would still have the greatest prospect of success under the aegis of the Royal Institution. 5
