Soon after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 private academies were formed to try to overcome moves made by the church and government to restrict worship and prevent the education of nonconformist ministers. These academies were more or less "one-man bands" run by a single tutor who was also a minister to a congregation.

Many of these academies had levels of education better in some cases than the Oxford and Cambridge Universities. One such was the Sankey Street Academy run by Charles Owen from about 1697 to 1746 and associated with Sankey Street Chapel. This was Warrington's first academy established during the time that the persecution of dissenters was diminishing, and continuing until the death of its founder. John Seddon succeeded Charles Owen as the Minister at Sankey Street Chapel and became one of the founders of the new Warrington Academy.

By the mid 1700s as the laws relaxed or at least were not enforced fully, there was an opportunity for academies with several tutors to be established, teaching several different subjects .

The Warrington Academy existed for 29 years between 1757 and 1786. It was established, by Dissenters, as an independent academic institution - it had no charter or state support, but, like the private academies after 1689, it was also free from state control. Being established relatively late it did not suffer from the church interference or from political reaction which temporarily closed the doors of many academies. It had its own trustees, subscribers and management committee and was the earliest and most important example of the institutional type of academy.

The objectives of the Academy were to provide an adequate supply of ministers for the nonconformist churches and for the education of men preparing for other learned professions and for commercial life. To achieve these aims the Academy intended to take the best of the public and private methods of education to provide for the extensive learning of the students and the security of their morals.

The academy was originally funded by an appeal for support to the generosity of all friends of religion, liberty and learning. Subscriptions totalling £300 were received from Liverpool, Birmingham, Nantwich, Bristol and Exeter, as well as Warrington. Houses were found for the three original tutors who would take in students as boarders, charging them £15 pa for those who took 2 months vacation and £18 for those with no vacation. Further payments were necessary for tea, washing, fire and candles. Tutors received £100 pa salary rising ultimately to £135. They were obviously not well off but for the most part content and happy with their situation. All the tutors got on well together and Lucy Aikin (daughter of John Aikin one of the first three tutors) wrote:

Many of the supporters of the Academy were newly affluent business men and industrialists interested in academic subjects related to the commercial world. The Oxbridge universities had a bad reputation amongst these new middle classes. They were not providing the standard of education of the academies and had become decadent. Traditional topics had become outdated and science was largely neglected . The examination system and hence the value of their degrees had become a farce. One notable exception to this was the mathematics taught by Newton at Cambridge but few were interested in studying it.

Unlike Oxford and Cambridge, the Academy was foremost in letters and science not in theology. Less than 1 in 6 students was a student of divinity. The majority of students were destined for the law, medicine, the army, or trade. A wide range of subjects was taught in addition to divinity including, logic, pneumatics, mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, astronomy, magnetism, electricity, ethics, jurisprudence, Jewish antiquities, church history, theory of language, oratory, history, French, Italian, philosophical criticism, civil law, accounting, mathematics, chemistry, physiology and anatomy. In 1760 the Academy introduced a 3 year course for students entering the commercial world.

During its time the Academy taught about 400 students. At the end of its first year there were only 5. Students came from all parts of England, Ireland, West Indies and the American Colonies. The first student to enrol was Thomas Percival who went on to achieve great distinction in medicine. He founded the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and was mainly responsible for founding the Academy in Manchester when the Warrington Academy finally closed down.

The Warrington Academy did not survive into the 19th century. Due to various personal, religious, and political controversies which attended its infancy and growth, it had its critics amongst high society and its patrons and, due to the lack of discipline of some of its students, it had a poor reputation amongst local people in Warrington. The financial management of the academy had never been good. Subscribers had not been made aware of the state of the finances on a regular basis to encourage more donations. Large investments had been made in new college buildings and the move from Bridge Foot to Academy Place in 1762. The new students' lodging house alone cost £1700. It became difficult to attract new students and the Academy eventually got into financial difficulties.

As a means of trying to increase the numbers of lay students and to raise money they tried for a period of time to take boys under the age of 14 years old to train them in Latin and Greek and to prepare them for the higher classes. They were also taught reading writing and arithmetic. Parents were further induced to send their sons to the Academy by appointment of a foreign teacher of modern languages. This grammar school failed after 2 or 3 years. The expected advantages did not materialise and the required discipline between the school and the academy was found to be so incompatible that the whole scheme was discontinued.

Work at the Academy was suspended in 1783 and it was finally dissolved in June 1786. Its library , equipment and proceeds from the sale of buildings all went to the newly opened Manchester Academy.

The records show that many students left their mark in life and established a fine tradition of public service. They also show that the Warrington Academy demonstrated that its principle of undogmatic freedom of religion and learning was right and effective. This spirit lived on through the Manchester Academy and Oxford.

The Manchester Academy, in its turn, had varied fortunes moving in succession to York, back to Manchester, then to London (where it became a purely theological training college for a time) and finally to Oxford. In 1893 it was housed in its present buildings as part of the University of Oxford. Today it has become the Harris Manchester College and continues the traditions of liberal education established by the Academy and its successors.

In a brief history on the Harris Manchester College website, the old nonconformist tradition of the Warrington and Manchester Academies is recognised. The Harris Manchester College is proud of its liberal and pioneering history supporting reforming causes such as the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts and the abolition of slavery. The connection with the Warrington Academy trustees, staff and students is commemorated in a handsome stained glass window in the College library. The Warrington Window was paid for by a fund established by the Minister and congregation at Cairo Street Chapel. The library also houses the books of the Warrington Academy which had found their way via Manchester, York and London.

Today the College is a chartered college of the Oxford University for mature undergraduate and postgraduate students.

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