Harper Adams University

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. The college had just six students to begin with. In 1909 a specialist poultry husbandry was created. 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…

Ruth Archer, a character played by English actress Felicity Finch in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers, attended Harper Adams University College as part of her fictional backstory.