If you join MSUOTC you will be part of an organisation with over 100 years of history,

In 1851 John Owens, a prominent Manchester textile merchant, founded Owens College which became part of the Victoria University of Manchester in 1880.

In 1898, a Volunteer Rifle Company was raised from the under-graduates here. First called Owens College Company, it was commanded by Captain Williarn Thorburn and was part of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Manchester Regiment- Only one year later, the company raised volunteers for the South African War.

After the Boer war, the Company was re-named the Manchester University Company, and later N Company of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. Under the Haidane Reforms of 1908, N Company was renamed The Manchester University Officers' Training Corps, with a strength of 90 cadets.

Three years later, unit strength was raised to 270, in two infantry companies and a wireless section. Cadets enrolled for two years and paid a subscription of five shillings for the honour. Rifle training was conducted at Stalybridge and Diggle, guided by the 6th Volunteer Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, Drill took place in Fallowfield.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the unit, commanded by Major Sir Thomas Holland, was at camp on Salisbury Plain - 95% of those at Camp immediately volunteered for service, and 240 had been granted commissions by October. By the end of hostilities, 96 former members of the unit had earned the Military Cross and four admitted to the Distinguished Service Order.

These men had served in a wide variety of units, from the traditional County Regiments of Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire to the fledgling Royal Flying Corps and the Tank Corps. In June 1921 a memorial to the unit's dead was unveiled in the drill hall and was transferred later, along with memorials to the South African casualties, to the new University Barracks.

In the interwar years, the unit was reduced to a single infantry company. Training was conducted on Saturday mornings with an Annual Camp conducted in July alongside contingents from Sheffield, Liverpool and Nottingham. The unit had no integral transport and moved by train or charabanc, marching the last miles to the training camp. Field training was conducted with Lee Enfield rifles and Lewis machine-guns - though in the hard-up '20's, the Lewis guns were replaced by wooden models and football rattles when on field exercises-

Outbreak of war in 1939 led to the unit's expansion to approximately 850 and a temporary re-badging as the 61st City of Manchester Battalion, Home Guard. University courses were compressed into two years each of four terms; hence personnel turnover was rapid.

The unit's Headquarters at the McDougall Centre (the University Sports Centre, built in 1938), was in fact the only military installation in Manchester to be hit during the German attacks, when a bomb passed through the CO's office and the unit swimming pool without exploding.

After 1945, the unit adapted to changing times, at various points forming detachments of Royal Engineers, Royal Signals, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Intelligence and Womens' Royal Army Corps. During this period, the unit began Easter Camps, then usually held at Holcombe Moor.

In 1974 the unit began to recruit from the former Royal College of Advanced Technology, renamed the University of Salford in1967. This was reflected in the adoption of the current unit title, Manchester and Salford Universities Officers Training Corps.