Inspiring student leadership: King's, Macadam and NUS

Ivison Macadam is a key part of that history, as the founder and first President of the National Union of Students (NUS) and President of King's College Student Union - otherwise known as KCLSU.

Founded by Macadam to promote national and international co-operation after WW1, the NUS has since been a fundamental influence in the education sector with over 600 students’ unions affiliated to it. KCLSU continues to support its student members, driving innovative change through campaigns on key topics including mental health and sexual harassment.

King’s was one of the first universities to have a student common room society, from 1873 – later named the Union Society of King’s College. After running into financial difficulties, it was re-established in 1905, when the College Council agreed that a sum should be deducted from the fees of every student to support it.

Macadam came to King’s to read engineering after having fought in the First World War. Having witnessed the effects of a world war, he was motivated by the aim of promoting friendship between the future leaders of different nations.

In 1939 Macadam became Assistant Director General of the new Ministry of Information formed to direct public opinion during the Second World War. Knighted in 1955, he became a Fellow of King’s in 1939, and in 1975 his name was given to the Macadam Building, then home to King’s Students’ Union at the Strand campus.

Photo credit: Alfredo Falva

Photograph of Ivison Macadam: By William I. Macadam (William I. Macadam, his eldest son) [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons