On October 1st, 1880, the College was formally opened, when a brilliant address was delivered in the Town Hall, by Professor Huxley, before a meeting attended by representatives of the Universities, and many leading scientific bodies, and presided over by the Mayor; and, in the evening of the same day took place the formal transfer of the building by the Founder to the Trustees. “Thus was completed a work which stands without parallel in the annals of modern education in England, the gift of a college, amply planned, nobly built, liberally endowed; the generous benefaction of one man, who looked for no reward but the consciousness that, by the foundation, others would have the means of acquiring knowledge denied by the poverty of his early life to himself; trusting that though unblessed with children of his own, he might, in the students of his college, leave behind him an intelligent, earnest, industrious, and truth loving and truth seeking progeny for many generations to come.” During the first year of work, 53 students attended: in 1884-85, 523, of whom 199 were in the evening classes. During the session, 1882-3, the college began receiving a grant from the science and art department, in aid of the instruction of a limited number of teachers engaged in science teaching. During the same year, by arrangement with the School Board, the Council granted six Wright Memorial Scholarships, to enable scholars from Board Schools to go through a science course at Mason College.[26] These scholarships are tenable for three years, and relieve the scholars of the payment of all fees.