The Royal Manchester Institution was founded in 1823 by those keen to dispel Manchester’s reputation as a “place of commercial philistinism”.^[1] Such was the appetite for the idea that £23,000 was raised by public subscription by January 1824.^[2] The prime mover behind the project was the influential merchant George W. Wood, whose vision was not just that the new organisation should make fine works of art available to the public, but that it should also offer technical instruction in chemistry and mechanics to the labouring classes.^[3]

A competition was held to find a suitable design for the institution’s new building, won by Charles Barry. His design, in the Greek Revivalist style, suggested a link between the democracy of Ancient Greece’s independent city states and the industrial powerhouse that was 19th-century Manchester.^[2] Work began in 1824, and was completed in 1835.^[4] The building housed concerts, lectures, a growing art collection and the newly founded School of Design, later to become the Manchester School of Art. Visitors were charged a 6d entrance fee.^[1] Originally named the Manchester Institution for the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Arts, the institution’s name was changed to the Royal Manchester Institution after King George IV granted his patronage.^[2]

The institution also conferred honorary professorships, although it served primarily as a venue for lectures and exhibitions rather than as a formal educational establishment. In 1843 Lyon Playfair became the first Honary Professor of Chemistry;^[5] he was succeeded by Frederick Crace-Calvert in 1846.^[6]. John Dalton also lectured on atomic theory at the instution, but did not hold a professorship.^[7]

In 1882 the Royal Manchester Institution handed over its building and collection to Manchester Corporation to create a free public art gallery, on condition that the corporation agreed to spend a minimum of £2,000 on art work annually for the next 20 years, equivalent to more than £270,000 a year as at 2024.^[a]Calculated using the retail price index.^[8] The new Manchester City Art Gallery, now the Manchester Art Gallery, was duly opened in the institution’s old premises in January 1883.^[1]