On UCL’s 200th birthday, and ahead of Jeremy Bentham’s 278th birthday on 15 February, we chat to legendary philosopher Jeremy Bentham himself * about UCL’s Bicentenary, a trip to New York, and a remarkably intellectual cat...
What is your role and what does it involve? What impact do you hope to make?
These days, my role is largely one of tourist attraction and, dare I say it, intellectual inspiration for the many students, staff members and visitors who pass through UCL’s doors every year. As it happens, I was not, in fact one of the founders of UCL - I shall talk more about that later. But I have had a marvellously varied career, both in life and after death.
How long have you been at UCL and what was your previous role?
I have been at UCL since 1850. Perhaps I should explain... After my death in 1832 I left my body to my dear friend, the physician Dr Thomas Southwood Smith, with the instructions that it should be publicly dissected and then preserved as an ’Auto-Icon’, positioned in a chair and seemingly lost in thought (as I was, so often, in life). This he very obligingly did - after all, what are friends for?
My Auto-Icon remained in Smith’s home until 1850, when he passed it on to UCL. It has been here ever since, bar the occasional visit to Europe, the US and a brief evacuation during World War II - and moved to the Student Centre in 2020.
Many people think that this is somewhat odd or macabre, but my Auto-Icon stands as something of a statement against the Church, and the way that that institution claimed a monopoly - and burial fees - over the disposal of the dead. I also wanted my body to be as useful as possible after death and help advance medical science.
There are two scientific projects currently making use of my physical remains; one is a DNA analysis of my hair (preserved in various mourning rings gifted to my friends). And another is a ’CT’ scanning project revealing fascinating insights into my life and death - more details of this will be revealed soon!
During my lifetime, I was one of England’s foremost thinkers and philosophers. I am probably best known for developing the doctrine of utilitarianism, which aimed to promote ’the greatest happiness of the greatest number’.
Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of your to-do list
Although I am no longer in a position to carry out much work myself, my legacy is still very much alive and well. UCL’s Faculty of Laws is home to the Bentham Project, which has been in existence since 1959, with aim of publishing a definitive scholarly edition of my writings and correspondence. As these writings run to around 100,000 pages plus around 50 printed texts (around 30 million words in total), covering subjects as diverse as prison reform, democracy, sexuality, religion and animal welfare, this is no mean feat. A prodigious output, even if I do say so myself!
There is so much material, in fact, that in 2011 a ’crowdsourcing’ project, Transcribe Bentham, was set up to enable volunteers to help transcribe the thousands of manuscripts - to date around 45,000 pages have been transcribed. This project is still running; indeed, if any readers would like to try their hand at transcription they can do so on the Bentham Project website.
It is a great source of disappointment to me that my most famous project, the Panopticon prison (which is synonymous with my name) was in fact never built, although there are various buildings that claim to be ’panoptic’ in design.
What’s been your most unexpected learning moment at UCL so far? Can you share a recent challenge you’ve overcome - and what it taught you?
In 2020, my Auto-Icon was moved from its long-term position in the South Cloisters to a new location in UCL’s Student Centre. For a journey of a few hundred feet, the effort required was considerable and involved no less than fifteen people and months of preparatory work to ensure that my body and belongings could be moved safely.
The lesson is simple but powerful: that the greatest challenges can be overcome with the help of teamwork from trusted friends and comrades!
What are you most excited about in 2026, UCL’s bicentennial year?
It never ceases to amaze me that disciplines that were in their infancy during my lifetime are now absolutely fundamental to modern life. Take engineering as an example - in 1827 the first Professor of Civil Engineering in the UK was appointed at UCL. Twenty years later, UCL appointed the UK’s first Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Now, in 2026, innovation in this area shows no sign of slowing down - today’s students may learn about Robotics, for example, at the UCL East campus. In fact, I had originally envisaged my Auto-Icon as a kind of robot, with articulated limbs and a small boy working the levers, so that it would appear to be alive and engaged in conversation for the purpose of philosophical discussion.
The list of UCL’s achievements across all disciplines is astounding, and so it is difficult to single out any one thing to be excited about. I would recommend that readers visit the Two Centuries Here exhibition , to get an idea of the scope and breadth of UCL’s past achievements, and imagine what discoveries will take place here over the next two hundred years.
What’s a small habit or ritual that helps you stay grounded at work?
Taking the odd moment to converse with my cat, The Reverend Doctor John Langborn. Although the cat is for the most part (like all cats) a universal nuisance, he is nevertheless remarkably intellectual - and sociable as well, as he likes to take his meals at the dining table alongside his human companions. Especially when macaroni is on the menu!
Who would be your dream dinner guests?
My dinner parties during my lifetime were very elevated affairs, where I discussed politics and ideas for reform with a host of famous and influential guests; for example US President John Quincy Adams, Irish liberator Daniel O’Connell, the French policitian Count Talleyrand, the Indian writer and reformer Ram Mohan Roy, the President of New Granada, Francisco de Paula Santander... the list goes on.
Other guests for a ’dream dinner party’ might include Frances Wright, the Scottish feminist philosopher and abolitionist, and Anna Wheeler, philosopher and advocate for women’s liberty. The historian James Mill and his son, the philosopher John Stuart Mill, would most certainly be on the list. The American writer and activist John Neal - an ardent advocate of women’s rights and anti-slavery campaigner... the comte de Mirabeau, the ’father of the French Revolution’, with whom I corresponded... I might also invite some of my detractors (Charles Dickens springs to mind) for an evening of civilised Disagreeing Well!
What advice would you give your younger self?
Despite my well-known (at least to law students) ’disappointment prevention principle’, it is true that disappointment is an inevitable and necessary part of life, which you must be prepared to encounter and overcome. Particularly in the matter of plans for Panopticons...
What’s one thing most people don’t know about your life outside of work?
Many people are under the impression that I was one of the original founders of UCL - but this is not actually the case. That honour must go to a number of people - notably lawyer and statesman Henry Brougham, poet Thomas Campbell, and financier Isaac Goldsmid. They are rightly being celebrated in the forthcoming ’Faces of UCL’ exhibition, as the originators and founders of UCL. It is a testament to their vision and principles that, 200 years later, this institution is now a world leading hub of education and expertise, which continues to operate on the principles of equality and excellence on which it was conceived.
My part in the founding of UCL was extremely modest, although I am very pleased to be thought of as the ’intellectual founder’ of the institution. Some of the key aspects of UCL’s ethos can be traced directly back to my ideas - for example, the promise that the university should be open to those of all faiths (or none), and its commitment to fostering ’useful knowledge’, of benefit to wider society, are still core to its vision, mission and values.
Where do you go (physically or mentally) when you need to recharge? What’s your favourite place?
During my lifetime I was extremely keen to visit the land of America, as it seemed to me then that their political system had much to recommend it. However, I never got the chance. In 2018, though, my Auto-Icon achieved in death what I had not been able to do in life!
From March to July 2018 my Auto-Icon appeared, complete with clothes, hat, chair and walking stick, alongside sculptures by some of the world’s most famous artists, at the Met Breur exhibition Like Life: Sculpture, Color and the Body, 1300-now. This new setting - in the context of a gallery, thousands of miles away from its usual location - added another layer of meaning to my Auto-Icon , as visitors were encouraged to consider how the clothed, padded skeleton with a beautifully carved wax could be seen as a representation and evocation of the presence of a living person. It is astonishing that, nearly 200 years after my death, the Auto-Icon continues to invite new conversations about its meaning and uses.
Share a joke, gif, or meme that always makes you laugh or smile (pre-watershed)
Joe Miller’s Jest Book was a favourite source of jokes during my lifetime. Alas, some of the quips therein have not aged well... but as an example:
A certain lady, finding her husband too familiar with her chambermaid, turned the maid away immediately. "You hussy!" said she - "I have no time for shirkers, who do only the work I choose not to do myself!"
Jeremy Bentham
- University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT (0) 20 7679 2000
UCL Press now publishes the Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. To date 38 volumes have been published in the edition, but there will be 85 when it is completed. All volumes published by UCL Press are available to download in open access editions.
Mental Floss: Dr Tim Causer (UCL Bentham Project) and conservator Emilia Kingham (UCL Culture) comment on the appearance of Jeremy Bentham’s ’Auto-Icon’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY