page_title: Union Theological College
section_title: The Assembly's College
hierarchical_section_title: Union Theological College / History / The Assembly's College
caption_attribution_description: English: Chamber of the Senate of Northern Ireland when at Assembly's College, in 1921
context_page_description: Union Theological College is the theological college for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
  The College offers a range of courses in Theology through the Presbyterian Theological Faculty Ireland. The professors of the College constitute the PTFI which was granted a Royal Charter in 1881 to confer academic degrees. Until 2019, the College had provided teaching and assessment for undergraduate and postgraduate awards offered through the Institute of Theology of the Queen's University of Belfast.
context_section_description: The College was founded in 1853 as the Assembly's College. The Renaissance Revival style building with its grand Doric porch and Baroque attic was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon, the architect of the main building at Queen's and built with Scrabo stone at a cost of £5,000. Merle d'Aubigné of Geneva participated in the opening ceremony on 5 December 1853 alongside Henry Cooke, President of the Faculty (the five other professors in the new college were John Edgar, Robert Wilson, William Killen, James G. Murphy and William Gibson).
  There was a large influx of students in the wake of the 1859 Revival and the south wing with its dining hall and student accommodation ('Chambers') was added in 1869. Princeton seminary had an important influence in the shaping of the ethos of the College during this period: the Rev Roberts Watts who was appointed Professor of Systematic Theology in 1866 hoped to make 'Belfast another Princeton'. The north wing with its wood-panelled chapel was designed by John Lanyon, son of original architect, and completed in 1881. The first degrees under the Royal Charter were conferred in 1883. However, the death of Watts in 1895 marked the beginning of the end of the Princetonian influence. A partial union took place between the faculties in Belfast and Magee in 1922.
  The newly formed Parliament of Northern Ireland met in the Assembly's College from 1921 until 1932 while Stormont was being built: the Commons met in the Gamble Library and the Senate in the College chapel. During this period the College conducted classes in a house and provided library resources in a house on University Square. In 1926 the College became a Recognised College of Queen's University. During this period the College came under criticism for its embrace of theological liberalism. This culminated in a charge of heresy being brought against Professor J Ernest Davey in 1926-27. The College officially reopened in October 1932 and the inaugural lecture was delivered by the Scottish Historian Robert Rait.
  Between 1941 and 1948 the city police used the College as its own headquarters were bombed in the Belfast Blitz. In 1953, to mark the College's centenary year, Prof Davey was elected Moderator of the General Assembly.
caption: The Senate.
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