Sheffield was at that time the only large city in England without a university. William Mitchinson Hicks, who was Principal of Firth College from 1892 to 1897, had an ambition to establish a university in the city. As a first stage of his ideal, Hicks was devoted to the union of the three higher education institutions in Sheffield and to transform Firth College into a university college. He also extended the college by creating new departments and adding new buildings. In 1897, Firth College merged with the Medical School and the Technical School to form the University College of Sheffield, and Hicks served as its first principal. Six years since the foundation of the university college, on 18 May 1903, the resolution to apply for a royal charter was passed. The university college started to develop its estate soon after: Western House by Weston Park on Western Bank was bought and demolished in 1903 for building a new university property. A building with a traditional collegiate quadrangle (later known as Western Bank building and now Firth Court) was planned on the site. Sir Frederick Mappin later successfully sought financial support from the Sheffield City Council and appealed for public donations. In 1904, steelworkers, coal miners, factory workers and the people of Sheffield donated over £50,000 via penny donations to help found the University of Sheffield.thumb|210x210px|William Mitchinson Hicks was the founding vice-chancellor of the universityIt was originally envisaged that the university college would join Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds as the fourth member of the federal Victoria University. The new university was proposed to be named "Victoria University of Yorkshire" by Leeds but was rejected by the Privy Council. The Victoria University, however, began to split up as independent universities before this could happen, when Liverpool gained a charter of its own in 1903. Rather than joining a Yorkshire university with Leeds, the University College of Sheffield was driven by civic pride to pursue independent university status, to bring higher education, give support to industries and serve as a centre for disease study. Hicks also advocated the independent degree awarding power would attract talented staff. The University College of Sheffield's charter was sealed on 31 May 1905 and became the University of Sheffield. On 12 July 1905, Firth Court on Western Bank was opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. St George's Square remained the centre of departments of Applied Science, and the departments of Arts, Medicine and Science moved to Western Bank. Sheffield is one of the six pre-World War One red brick universities, the civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England.
