The Yorkshire College of Science was founded in 1874, largely because the wool and textile industries worried that the rapid development of new technologies in Europe posed a threat to the local cloth trade. It initially put its full weight behind scientific studies, but after a few years, it started to offer courses in classics, modern literature and was renamed the Yorkshire College. In 1884, the Yorkshire College combined with the Leeds School of Medicine and three years later the two Leeds-based institutions joined forces with Owens College Manchester, and University College Liverpool, to become the federal Victoria University.