In February 1828, when A. de Morgan was appointed on the Mathematical Chair of the newly founded London University, he was only twenty-one years of age and youngest of over thirty applicants. With no teaching experience whatsoever, he had only recently acquired his BA degree from Cambridge, had published nothing and was studying at Lincol’s Inn to be a lawyer. Let cite: “Yet the council of the first English university to be founded since the Middle Ages saw fit to appoint this relative novice as their founder professor of mathematics. This paper, therefore, seeks to pose and answer a very obvious question: why?” The London University was officially founded on 11 February 1826. Around Christmas advertisements appeared in various newspapers. Among vacancies for twenty-four professorships two mathematical chairs were offered. The answer on the question posed above is based on a list of candidates drawn by the author from two sources: library of University College (letters of application) and Cancel Minutes, Vol. I. This list is analysed from several aspects. For ten de Morgan’s principal opponents there is examined why they were rejected. Meanwhile the council had turned with personal letters to Charles Babbage and John Herschel offering the professorship of higher mathematics and mathematical physics. Their replies, which turned the offer down, are partly cited and analysed. From the testimonials in favour of de Morgans’s candidature from this former tutors only four survive. The extracts are cited, stressing his all-round mathematical talent and knowledge. With the testimonials young de Morgan sent a sixty-six folio manuscript “Elements of Statics” (unpublished, now in Univ. Coll. Archives). The author of the present paper concludes: “…the council of London University made an excellent decision. De Morgan was…one of the longest serving and highly respected professors in what is now known as University College London”.