Harper Adams University

Harper Adams University is a land-based public university in Edgmond, Shropshire, United Kingdom. Established in 1901 as Harper Adams College, Harper Adams University gained university status in 2012 and is a member of the Land Based Colleges Aspiring to Excellence (Landex). Harper Adams College, which would become the university, was founded in 1901. Its first principal was Headworth Foulkes (1901–1922). Thomas Harper Adams, a wealthy Shropshire gentleman farmer, died in 1892, bequeathing the estate which was the original foundation. In 1909 a specialist poultry husbandry was created. The college had just six students to begin with. During the First World War, Harper Adams remained open, and in 1915 the first women were admitted into the college on wartime farm courses. Harper Adams was the first institute to do so, and in 1916 women were admitted as full-time students onto a wide variety of courses. Approximately, 200 staff and former students served during the war and 40 are known to have died as a result.