Yamao Yozo and the University College, London

Abstract

Yamao Yozo (1837-1917) is well known for his contributions to the establishment of the Imperial College of Engineering (the predecessor of the present Faculty of Engineering of Tokyo University) in 1873. It is pointed out that his plan leading to this College comes from his study of science and technology in London and Glasgow from 1863-68. But there are still many unknowns about his activities during his stay in the UK.
This study is to uncover the details of his stay as a student at the University College and then clarify the influences of his experiences upon his plan, based upon the materials that I collected at the archives of the College. I found that he, in fact, was registered as “a student not matriculated” from 1864 to 66 at the College and studied Analytical Chemistry, Chemistry and Civil Engineering. He also visited various industrial centres to study at first-hand railway engineering, mining, ship-building, surveying, iron smelting and other industries. During his stay, Yamao was under the care of Mr. H. M. Matheson, managing partner of Matheson & Co., and Professor A. W. Williamson of the College. Their kind guidance and influence were very helpful to him.
As I compared the Calender of the College and his plan, I found that there are similarities between the two. In conclusion, his plan was based upon the University College model in several respects.