The Society of Chemical Industry held its first meeting in London on 4 April 1881 at the offices of the Chemical Society, now the Royal Society of Chemistry, in Burlington House. Its members had first met the previous year under the societis earlier names - the South Lancashire Chemical Society and the the Society of Chemical Engineers�. The society's first president was Henry Roscoe and its membership included many leading chemists, chemical engineers and industrialists.

The university was founded in 1851 as Owens College, and named after John Owens, a textile merchant, who left a bequest of £96,942 for the purpose. It was first situated on Quay Street, and moved to a new building west of Oxford Road in 1873. In 1880, Owens College became the first affiliate college of the federal Victoria University, joined by University College Liverpool in 1884 and Yorkshire College in Leeds in 1887. In 1903 University College Liverpool left the Victoria University to become the independent University of Liverpool; Leeds followed in 1904 to become the University of Leeds. The new Victoria University of Manchester was established by royal charter on 15 July 1903; the university and Owens College were merged by Act of Parliament on 24 June 1904.