The university had its origins in the Fourah Bay College, which was established as an Anglican missionary school by the Church Missionary Society with support from Charles MacCarthy, the governor of Sierra Leone.

Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first student to enroll at Fouray Bay.

[2] Fourah Bay College soon became a magnet for Krio and other Africans seeking higher education in British West Africa.

These included Nigerians, Ghanaians, Ivorians, and many more, especially in the fields of theology and education.

[3] This article on a Sierra Leonean institution of higher education is a stub.