William Butler was a member of the Workers' Education Association (WEA) from 1916 and an associate member of the Ethical Movement, London branch. He collected the material in this collection between 1915 and 1920.
R H Tawney was born in Calcutta in 1880 but educated at Rugby School and then Balliol College, Oxford, where he was elected a Fellow in 1918. After working at Toynbee Hall in London he joined the Workers' Education Association (WEA) in 1905 and took the first tutorial classes in Longton and Rochdale. The success of these helped to establish the 3 year tutorial classes which were the backbone of the WEA in its early years. Tawney was President of the WEA between 1928 and 1944 during which time he became Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics.
The Workers' Education Trade Union Committee (WETUC) was founded in 1919 by the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) and the Iron and Steel Trade Union Confederation to strengthen and give cohesion to the WEA's education work with the trade unions. WEA provided the secretariat at district and national level whilst trade union representatives formed the majority of the Committee.
By the mid 1930s there was a general interest throughout the labour movement in film propaganda. A Joint Film Committee from the Labour Party, the TUC and the Co-operative Movement first met in January 1938. The Committee recommended the establishment of a joint film organization, to be known as the Workers' Film Association (WFA). Joseph Reeves was appointed Secretary-Organizer, and the organization seems to have started its operations in October 1938. At an early stage contacts were made with Labour organizations, and the WFA decided to assist the Labour Party with election propaganda. A free film service was to be provided to marginal constituencies, together with short films of the party leaders. The Association developed an extensive library and distribution service, films were produced, distributed and exhibited, and film equipment was sold. During World War Two, the activities of the Association continued, but were were seriously curtailed. In 1946 the Association merged with the Co-Operative Movement's National Film Service, to form the National Film Association.
The Women's Trade Union League was established by Mrs Emma Patterson in 1874, as the Women's Protective and Provident League. By the 1890s ten London Unions, and over thirty provincial unions were affiliated, from Bookbinding, Shirt and Collar Making, Tailoring, Dressmaking and Milinery, Cigar Making, Match and Matchbox Making, Ropemaking, Weaving, Laundry, Boot and Shoe Making, Silk Working, Upholstery, Lace Making, Pottery, Paper Making and Shop Working. The League was absorbed into the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in 1921.
Jane Lidderdale (1909-1996) was born in Hampstead in Jul 1909, the granddaughter of the painter C S Lidderdale. She was educated at the Society for Home Students (later St Anne's College), Oxford, where she studied PPE. After briefly working at the Royal Institute of British Architects, she moved to the Ministry of Shipping in 1940 where she became the secretary to a number of cabinet committees during the Second World War and its aftermath. She was appointed secretary to the Fuel Committee during the crisis of the winter 1946-7 and went on to work closely with Herbert Morrison during the organisation of the Festival of Britain which took place in 1951, for which she was awarded the OBE the following year. She was then appointed secretary and head researcher for the Nathan Report on Trust Law in 1952 before leaving the Civil Service the following year. After her withdrawal from the service, Lidderdale opened Ray House with Rachel Alexander to provide care for older women. She went on to help found the Kensington Day Centre in 1963 and remained its chair until 1988. She also became involved with the Byham Shaw School of Painting and Drawing in this period and was elected to its council of management in 1961, becoming its Chair nine years later. In 1962 she became one of the guardians of James Joyce's daughter Lucia. Her connection with the Modernists was emphasised in the 1960's when Lidderdale was invited by to write a memoir of Harriet Shaw Weaver, her own godmother and the patron of Joyce, Eliot and Pound. This was published in 1970. She died in Sep 1996.
The Architectural Association (AA) was founded in London in 1847 by a group of young articled pupils led by Robert Kerr (1823-1904) and Charles Gray (1828-?). Inaugurated primarily as a reaction against the prevailing conditions under which architectural training could be obtained, the AA has since developed into one of the most important and influential architectural schools in the world. The first formal meeting under the name of the Architectural Association took place in May 1847 at Lyons Inn Hall, London, immediately following a merger with the Association of Architectural Draughtsmen. Principal amongst the AA's early aims was the development of a system of mutual aid by 'the association on the largest scale, of the entire body of our professional youth, for the end of self education.' Initially, Friday evening meetings were held, alternating between papers given by invited speakers and design sessions (later named AA Class of Design) at which members would bring solutions to design problems. Affording the opportunity for the forging connections, these meetings also acted as a forum for discussion, debate and campaigning for reform in architectural education and practice. In 1859 the AA left Lyons Inn Court and moved to 9 Conduit Street, Westminster, which it shared with the Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA) and the Architectural Union Company. The AA's Class of Design was there supplemented by the Voluntary Examination Class (1862), later named the Class of Construction & Practice (1867), an Elementary Class of Design (1869) and a Class for Instruction in Surveying and Levelling (1869). To these core classes, were added a Class for the Study of Colour Decoration (1872) and a Class for the Study of Architectural Science (1874). The AA's prospectus or 'Brown Book' was published annually from 1861 and a library was formed, its first catalogue being published in 1869.
Following the introduction of the RIBA's compulsory exam in 1882, the AA experienced a vast increase in student numbers and an expansion in the number of classes held. This growth, coupled with the demands of the new examination system, prompted the AA to re-examine its 'mutual' system of study. Under Leonard Stokes (AA President 1889 -1891), the AA underwent a major structural re-organisation which laid the groundwork for a systematic, methodical course of study and the eventual founding of a day school in 1901. The immediate success of the Day and Evening Schools were such that in 1906 the RIBA granted exception from its Intermediate Examination to all students who successfully passed two years in the Day School and two years in the Evening School. During this period, the AA began to move away from an Arts and Crafts influenced approach (the AA had also operated a short-lived School of Handicraft and Design from 1895 - 1909), towards a Beaux Arts curriculum, influenced by French and American educational models. In 1903 the AA was gifted the premises of the Royal Architectural Museum, at No. 18 Tufton Street, Westminster, where it was to remain until 1917 when it moved to Nos. 34-35 Bedford Square, Bloomsbury. The war period also saw women permitted to enter the school for the first time, with the first female students graduating in 1922.
Following the closure of the Evening School in 1920, the AA Day School course consisted of 5 years of study, the completion of which meant exception from part 1 of the RIBA's Final Examination. 1920 also saw the Association incorporated as a Limited Charitable Company and carry out the purchase, the following year, of the lease on No. 36 Bedford Square. Subsequent re-modelling and construction work in Bedford Square including a first floor Memorial Library (1921), designed by Robert Atkinson (1883-1952) and dedicated to the 96 AA members killed in the war and a Studio Block (1926-8) designed by Easton & Robertson. Whilst interest in American educational practice continued after the war, the AA increasingly came under the influence of Dutch and Scandinavian architectural developments and it was not until the late 1920s that the first serious debates over the continental, French and German, Modernism took place within the school. However, by late 1930s a series of internal clashes resulted in the banishment of the classical orders and the replacement of the Beaux Arts curriculum with team work, the unit system and an approach based upon modernist ideals and theories. The Second World War saw the school re-locate to Mount House, Barnet, before returning to Bedford Square in January 1945, under Raymond Gordon Brown (1912-1962). The student population shot up to an unprecedented 461 by January 1947, as service-men and women were gradually decommissioned, and the AA took over a bombed site on Tottenham Court Road, (No. 4, Morwell Street), erecting a 40 foot Nissen hut and establishing a Practical Training Centre). Robert Furneaux Jordan (1905-1978) replaced Gordon Brown as Principal in 1948 and succeeded in raising the AA's profile internationally as a progressive, modernist school, with Prime Minister Clement Attlee, and Frank Lloyd Wright addressing successive AA Prize-giving ceremonies. Other visitors attracted to the school in this period included Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius (1883-1969), with Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), Ernesto Rogers (1909-1969) and Enrico Peressutti (1908-1976) all teaching short courses. Permanent AA staff included a significant contingent of leading young British modernists, including Peter Smithson (1923-2003), James Gowan (1923-) and John Killick (1924-1972), teaching alongside established figures such as Ove Arup, Arthur Korn and Sir John Summerson. An important development from this period was the 1954 formation of the AA Department of Tropical Architecture (Department of Tropical Studies, from 1961). Under the leadership of Otto Koenigsberger the department arguably founded the field of climatically responsive, energy conscious 'Green Architecture'. With the advent of the 1960s, graduates including Cedric Price and Peter Cook joined the teaching staff and the school became perceived as the hub of Archigram - arguably the pre-eminent architectural neoavant-garde of the 1960s and early 1970s. This influence combined with the work of students such as Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Piers Gough and Michael Gold conspired to produce what Peter Cook has termed the 'Electric Decade'. Negotiations were begun by the AA Council in the early 1960's to incorporate the AA into the state education system by merging with Imperial College of Science and Technology. In the face of vociferous student and staff protests Imperial broke off negotiations in February 1970 citing concerns at the nature and intentions of the AA school community. The AA Principal, Michael Lloyd, and the AA Council, led by Jane Drew and John Denny, prepared for closure and the winding up of the school. Nevertheless, students and staff mobilised and a search committee for a new Chairman was established, resulting in the election in 1971 of Alvin Boyarsky, director of the International Institute of Design, an itinerant architecture summer school. From 1971 until his death in 1990, Alvin held autocratic sway over Bedford Square, transforming the AA into a major international cultural institution. With the removal from the AA of UK student grants in the early 1970s, Boyarsky focussed upon making the school a global concern. A highly ambitious programme of exhibitions and publications were embarked upon and the annual Projects Review and Prospectus initiated - all designed to publish and promote the school on the international stage. Boyarsky also made changes to the AA's unit system, modifying and extending it to create a competitive market-place, where tutors, all on one year contracts, had to 'sell' their units to students - who in turn underwent a gruelling process of interviews by the tutors before acceptance into their choice. Over a twenty year period Boyarsky succeeded in creating a hot-house atmosphere, attracting and nurturing outstanding academic staff, including Robin Middleton, Charles Jencks, Elia Zhenghelis, Bernard Tschumi, Peter Cook, Dalibar Vasely and Daniel Libeskind. Talented students were co-opted onto the staff, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid and Nigel Coates all following this route.
The AA's Graduate School flourished, following its inauguration in May 1971, and by 1977/8 was offering six courses consisting of Housing Studies, Energy Studies, Social Institutions and Theory, History Studies, Conservation Studies and Graduate Design. Also serving post-graduate students during this period was the AA's Planning Department (1964-1984) and the Professional Practice course (1976-). Following Boyarsky's death in 1990, Alan Balfour was elected to the post of Chairman, to be succeeded 5 years later by Mohsen Mostafavi, who was to remain in the position until 2004. During this decade the finances of the AA were placed on a secure, stable footing and the Graduate School was developed and enlarged with the addition of the Design Research Laboratory (DRL) in 1997, followed in 1999 by the Landscape Urbanism programme, and the Emergent Technologies and Design (EmTech) programme, in 2001. With the accession of Brett Steele to the position of Director in 2005 the school has expanded to a student population of over 650 full time equivalent students, over 80% of which are from overseas. Alongside the AA's Intermediate and Diploma School, the Graduate School has continued to grow, currently contributing one third of all AA students. Similarly, the AA has also seen a considerable development in its global programme of short term Visiting Schools, which now take place annually in nearly 2 dozen cities worldwide. In terms of property, the AA has also expanded, acquiring Hooke Park in 2002 and from 2005 purchasing leases on no. 16 Morwell Street and nos. 32, 33, 37, 38 and 39 Bedford Square, thereby consolidating the AA onto one campus. Alongside the school, the AA's global membership association flourishes, with over 3000 members supporting the AA's high-profile public programme of lectures, symposia, conferences, exhibitions, site visits and events. Today, the AA remains the only private architecture school in the UK and operates as a participatory democracy with students, staff and members electing a governing Council and taking an active role in the selection of the AA Director. The AA's fiercely guarded independence has permitted the school great freedom and flexibility, nurturing a climate of experimentation and cutting edge architectural practice, which maintains the AA's reputation as one of the leading international architecture schools.
The Royal Architectural Museum (RAM) was established in 1851, under the name of the Architectural Museum, by a group of architectural professionals led by George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878). Its founding members included such notable figures as Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) and George Godwin (1813-1888), with Thomas Philip de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey (1781-1859) as President and Alexander J. B. Beresford-Hope (1820-1870) as a trustee. The museum was formed for the purpose of improving the education of architectural art-workers and was considered by its founders as constituting the nucleus of a national museum of architecture. Its collections were made up primarily of plaster casts of European gothic architectural ornament, together with original examples of decorative ironwork, tiles, woodcarving, sculptural stonework, stained glass and architectural models, plans and drawings. The museum's first home was in Canon Row, Westminster, London where, from 1852 until 1854, it incorporated a School for Art-workmen.
Under the patronage of Prince Albert (1819-1861) and with the backing of John Ruskin (1819-1900), the museum expanded rapidly and in 1857 moved to the new South Kensington Museum (now Victoria and Albert Museum), where it retained its independent status and name. Following disputes with the South Kensington Museum authorities, the Architectural Museum purchased the lease on numbers 18-20, Bowling Street, Westminster, London (re-named Tufton Street in 1870), where it erected a museum building designed by members Ewan Christian (1814-1895) and Joseph Clarke ([c. 1819]-1888). On the museum's re-opening in July 1869, patronage was renewed by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and permission granted for the title 'Royal' to be appended to the museum name. The collections continued to grow rapidly and at the publication of a catalogue in 1876 holdings totalled in excess of 6000 items. On Scott's death in 1878, leadership of the Museum passed to the architect, John P. Seddon (1827-1906), who worked to establish closer links with contemporary firms of art workers. In 1870 a School of Architectural Art was opened within the Museum, administered jointly by the RAM, the Architectural Association (AA) and the Royal Institute of British Architects. By 1873 the RAM was the sole administrator of the school and by 1875 had managed to obtain Government funding - the name of the school being changed to the Westminster School of Art (WSA) by 1888. The RAM and WSA were subsequently jointly registered as an incorporated company on 27 December 1893. In 1904 the RAM was wound up and its premises and collections passed to the AA, who continued to operate the Museum's administrative, legal and curatorial functions under the RAM name. The AA's architecture school co-existed within the Museum buildings until 1915 when it was decided that conditions were too cramped. The premises were then sold to the National Lending Library for the Blind and the collections dispersed, primarily to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where a portion remain on display in the cast courts.
The Athenaeum was founded in 1824 at the instigation of John Wilson Croker, Secretary of the Admiralty, as "a Club for literary and scientific men and followers of the fine arts..." "...In order to keep our Club what it is intended to be, ... we must lay down, clearly and positively, as our first rule, that no one shall be eligible into it, except Gentlemen who have either published some literary or professional work, or a paper in the Philosophical transactions... Bishops [and] Judges, who are, par état, literary men, altho' they may not have published any literary work [will be included]." [John Wilson Croker letters to Sir Humphry Davy, 1823] The first secretary was Michael Faraday and the first Chairman Sir Humphry Davy. John Wilson Croker continued to be influential in the development of the Club.
The first Committee meeting took place on 16 February 1824 in the rooms of the Royal Society. The next nine meetings were held in the home of Joseph Jekyll at 22 New Street, Spring Gardens. In May 1824 the Club moved into rented premises at 12 Waterloo Place. On the recommendation of John Nash, it commissioned the 24 year old Decimus Burton to design a clubhouse, originally intended for a site nearer the present Trafalgar Square. By 1827, the designs and plans for a house in the Grecian style were approved and the tender of the builders accepted. The house was built on a portion of the courtyard of the demolished Carlton House on lease from the Crown and opened in 1830. It was one of the earliest buildings to be lit by gas and, in 1886, the clubhouse became one of the first buildings to be lit by electricity. The premises were extended by the addition of a top storey designed by T E Collcut in 1899 and completed in 1901. This was remodelled to provide accommodation for Members in 1928. The magnificent premises have been carefully maintained and some of the mahogany furniture designed for the Club by Decimus Burton is still in use today.
Number 6 Carlton Gardens, which had been built by John Nash, was leased from the Crown Estate Commissioners in 1936 to provide Members with somewhere to take lady guests. It was known as the Ladies' Annexe. By the 1950s its use was declining. The lease expired in 1961 and the Crown Estate Commissioners refused to renew it. The building was demolished soon after. A new Ladies' Annexe was created in the basement of the Athenaeum with a separate entrance from the street and opened in 1962. From 1972 lady guests had access to the same areas of the Club as male guests. Ladies were invited to become Members of the Club from 2001.
At the first meeting of the Club held on 16 February 1824, the membership limit was set at four hundred. This was steadily increased and by December 1824 was set at one thousand. The cost of the magnificent premises had resulted in a deficit of some £20,000 and two hundred Supernumerary Members were elected in 1830 to restore the finances. By 1838 the Club was again in straitened circumstances after undertaking expensive remedial action because of the damage caused by the gas lighting. To alleviate the situation, one hundred and sixty Supernumerary Members were admitted to ordinary membership. An additional forty candidates were brought forward from the waiting list for election by Committee. These "forty thieves", as they became known, were selected from "Individuals known for their Scientific or Literary attainments, Artists of eminence in any class of the fine Arts, and Noblemen and Gentlemen distinguished as liberal Patrons of Science, Literature, or the Arts." They included Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the time candidates waited to come up for election was increasing until some candidates had been waiting as long as thirty years. By the time of the First World War, the numbers waiting had significantly reduced. The present complement is two thousand members.
Over the nearly two hundred years since its foundation the Athenaeum has maintained its standard of high attainment and distinction in the membership. More than fifty members have been awarded the Nobel Prize, including at least one in each category. Amongst the professions well represented in the Club are: academia of all disciplines; art; the church; the civil service; engineering; law; medicine; music; science; and literature; with a small number of professionals from business and politics. The wide interests of the Club's membership are reflected in the Athenaeum Library, the finest club library in London. From the outset Members were encouraged to donate works to the Library and many of the Library's 70,000 volumes are donations. The Archive is substantially intact from the foundation of the Club in 1824. The Library and Archive are managed by the Library Committee.
The Club is governed by the Trustees and a General Committee of Members. The day to day running is managed by an Executive Committee which was established in 1889. There are also standing sub-committees for: Audit; the Library; Investment; Music; Talk Dinners; Wine; and Works of Art.
In 1917 when the Cambridge University diploma in Medical Radiology and Electrology was proposed there was no medical body to inaugurate and sponsor the teaching in London, so a medical society - the British Association for the Advancement of Radiology and Physiotherapy (BARP) - was formed. It was composed chiefly of medical members of the Röntgen Society and members of the Electro-therapeutic Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.
In 1921, BARP was incorporated, and in 1922, acquired premises at 32 Welbeck St. In 1924 it changed its name to the British Institute of Radiology (BIR). It worked in collaboration with the Röntgen Society whose meetings were held at the same premises, until 1927 when the two societies amalgamated to form The British Institute of Radiology incorporated with the Röntgen Society. The Society of Radiographers (founded in 1920) also became affiliated with the Institute at this time. The BIR received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1958.
The National Radium Trust and Radium Commission was established by Charter, 20 July 1929, to augment the supply of radium for use in the treatments of the sick, and to advance knowledge of the methods for rendering treatment. It was not a government department, most of the Trust's funds having been subscribed on the basis of its independence.
Its first meeting was held at the Ministry of Health on the 31 July, chaired by Lord Parmoor. Its initial duty was to make arrangements for the purchase of radium, and secure premises in London to house the administration of the Commission. Its initial purchase amounted to about 13 grams of radium. The trust occupied premises at 5 Adelphi Terrace, from 1929-1936, and when this building was demolished, moved to 18 Park Crescent, Portland Place until 1940.
Viscount Lee of Fareham, was the first chairman of the Commission, which worked independently from the Trust, but presented to it an annual report. Professor Russ was appointed Scientific Secretary. The Commission endeavoured to keep in touch with other bodies concerned with the radiation treatment of cancer., including the Ministry of Health, the Dept of Health for Scotland, the Radiology Committee of the Medical Research Council, the British Empire Cancer campaign and the National Physical Laboratory. It generally met at monthly intervals.
The Commission was operating in a context of little co-ordination between radium and X-ray departments of hospitals. The Commission decide not to undertake direct responsibility for experimental research with radium, but recognising the need for such work, allowed the Medical Research Council to make use of its radium for research, while maintaining its focus on the treatment of the sick and the evaluation of the results radium treatment of cancer. It established the designation 'national radium centres, in order to retain effective control over the distribution and use of the radium committed to its charge.
Radium insurance was also an issue addressed by the Commission, while the National Physical Laboratory took over responsibility of measuring, testing and issuing the national radium. The Commission established a National Postgraduate School of Radiotherapy in 1930, in cooperation with the Mount Vernon Hospital at Northwood, Middlesex, where the clinical and pathological work was carried out, and the Radium Institute, where the diagnostic and out-patient departments were located.
The Commission also undertook statistical research in order to establish the extent of the use of radium for treating disease, especially cancer, and ensure that adequate clinical records were kept. In 1932, a Registrar was appointed to the direct the compilation of annual statistics.
In 1938, the Cancer Bill was passed with the object of securing extended and improved provision for the treatment of cancer in Britain. It gave local authorities responsibility for making arrangements to secure facilities for treatment for persons suffering from cancer in their areas. The Radium Trust was granted a supplementary charter in 1939, granting it power to purchase in addition to radium, other radioactive substances and apparatus and appliances required for radiotherapeutic treatment, and the Radium Commission was instructed to make arrangements for the custody, distribution and use of radioactive substances and apparatus and appliances purchased by the Trust.
During the World War 2, the Commission was concerned about the protection of radium from loss due to enemy action. No radium was lost during the War however, the Commission's headquarters was demolished, though most of the collection of patient records were able to be retrieved. From 1941, the Commission was temporarily based at Westminster Hospital, moving to Manchester Square in 1943 where it remained until it was wound up in 1948.
The Commission had a number of committees. The Statistical Committee was established to assist the Commission's Registrar in the work of keeping accurate records of patients treated by national radium. The Technical Committee dealt with the distribution of radium in appropriate containers among a number of institutions where it was used for radiotherapy, while the Radon Committee was established to assess applications from hospitals for radon, and to bring uniformity to the use to which it was put. The Pathological Advisory Committee was appointed as an advisory body to which hospitals might submit material of particular difficulty or interest. An Executive Committee, and an informal Secretary's committee also met at various times.
The National Radium Trust was wound up in 1948, and the Commission abolished.
X-rays were discovered on 8 Nov 1895, by Professor Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, of the Institute of Physics of the University of Wurzburg, Bavaria. The first radiological society - the X-ray Society - was formed in London in March 1897, by a group of medical men interested in Röntgen's discoveries. They drew up a code of rules for consideration by a larger committee meeting, and in June the same year, the name was altered changed to the Röntgen Society. The first General meeting of the Society was held in June 1897, and Professor Silvanus Thompson, was elected its first president. Members of the Society were more strongly representative of the field of physics than of medicine. In 1917 when the medical members of the Society, joined with the Electro-therapeutic Section of the Royal Society of Medicine to form the British Association for the Advancement of Radiology and Physiotherapy (BARP).
The Röntgen Society worked in collaboration with BARP and its successor the British Institute of Radiology (BIR). In 1927 it amalgamated with the BIR.
Brunel University developed from Acton Technical College which was built by Middlesex County Council in 1928 to provide evening classes in engineering and to accommodate the Junior Technical School, founded in 1910, transferred from Chiswick Polytechnic. In the 1950s Acton College was an early developer of Dip. Tech. Courses and began building a new science block. These two factors led to the establishment of Brunel College of Technology as a separate institution in 1957. The name was taken for Isambard Kingdom Brunel who had local connections and whose Great Western Railway ran through Acton. The availability of a large site in nearby Uxbridge, already owned by Middlesex County Council, was instrumental in the designation of Brunel as a College of Advanced Technology (CAT) in 1962, with the Department of Education and Science stipulating that the new College should be there. Building began in 1965 but the move was not finally completed until 1971 although even then some buildings had not been completed. In 1966 Brunel received its charter to become Brunel University. Acton College continued to function separately and eventually merged with Ealing Tertiary College. In 1980 Shoreditch College of Education, formerly Shoreditch Training College (part of Shoreditch Technical Institute 1907-1930), became part of the University. In 1995 the West London Institute of Higher Education was incorporated into the University. The Institute, with campuses at Twickenham and Osterley, was itself an amalgamation, in 1976, of Borough Road College, Maria Grey College and Chiswick Polytechnic.
The University Court is responsible for the overall management and administration of the University. The Court receives the annual audited accounts of the previous year and a report from the Vice Chancellor. The Academic Advisory Committee advises on the standard of education and higher degrees, and the Senate is responsible for the overall academic work of the University.
The Transport History Collection consists largely of two substantial bequests relating to British railway history, namely the Clinker collection and the Garnett collection. Charles Ralph Clinker was born at Rugby in 1906 and joined the Great Western Railway from school in 1923 as a passenger train runner. By the time of the outbreak of World War Two he had risen to become liaison officer for the four major railway companies with Southern Command HQ, and as such was involved in the planning and execution of the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 and the D-Day Landings in 1944. He left railway service in 1946 and devoted the rest of his life to research and lecturing on railway history, a taste for which he had acquired when seconded to assist E T MacDermot in the preparation of his History of the Great Western Railway (London, 1964), and which Clinker subsequently revised for publication in 1982. Clinker wrote numerous books and pamphlets on railway history; his Clinker's Register of closed passenger stations and goods depots in England, Scotland and Wales, 1830-1977 (1963, revised 1978) is widely regarded as his magnum opus. He died in 1983.
David Garnett was born near Warrington in 1909 and as young man qualified as a chartered electrical engineer, soon afterwards completing his training at the Brush works in Loughborough. He then worked at the lift manufacturer Waygood-Otis, and during World War Two served with the National Fire Service, then at the Admiralty. In the 1950s he began to build a collection of railway and other maps which at the time of his death in 1984 was one of the finest such collections in the country.
Chris Wookey was born on 2 Aug 1957 and was a student at Brunel University, 1975-1979, obtaining an honours degree in Applied Biochemistry. He was a keen railway photographer and Chairman of the Brunel University Railway Society for two years. After leaving Brunel he taught Chemistry for almost ten years at Ryden's School in Walton-on-Thames. He died in 1989.
The archive of working class autobiographies at Brunel University Library was gathered together by John Burnett, David Mayall and David Vincent during their compilation of their three volume annotated bibliography The autobiography of the working class (Harvester Press, Brighton, 1984-1989). The authors "sought to identify not only the large numbers of printed works scattered in various Local History Libraries and Record Offices, but also extant private memoirs, many of which remain hidden in family attics, known only to the author and a handful of relatives" (introduction to volume 1, p29). The criteria for inclusion in the autobiography were that the writers were "working class" for at least part of their lives, that they wrote in English and that they lived for some time in England, Scotland or Wales between 1790 and 1945. The autobiography indicates the location of unpublished items (over 230), which comprise the archive kept at Brunel. A few others of more marginal relevance are also available upon request.
There is evidence of a guild of Goldsmiths in London as early as 1179. In 1300 King Edward I passed a statute defining metallic standards and regulating assaying of silver vessels. However it was not until 1327 that the Goldsmiths' Company received its first Royal Charter in 1327, which granted it the right to elect Wardens to enforce good authority and the standards within the trade, and emphasised its standing over provincial goldsmiths. In 1339, nineteen goldsmiths purchased land at the north end of Foster Lane for the use of the Goldsmiths' Company. In 1341 the Goldsmiths sought to extend its privileges in order to help those injured at work as well as the poor and for this purpose obtained a licence to purchase and hold tenements and rents.
In 1364, a new statute of King Edward III ruled that every goldsmith must have his own mark, which was to be known by the Company, and that objects must not be marked until they had been assayed and found good.
King Richard II granted the Goldsmiths a new charter in 1392-1393, and from this time the Company was to be a perpetual community, to elect annually four Wardens to 'oversee, rule and duly govern the said craft and community'. Under this charter the company was also able to purchase estates and rent tenements, to accept charitable donations and to retain a chaplain. The Company's rights were further increased by Letters Patent from Edward IV in 1462, which confirmed its previous charters, as well as granting the Wardens to be a body corporate, to make bye-laws and ordinances to regulate the Company, the retain its right of search and powers of punishing offenders in London and elsewhere.
At this time, the whole Company met three times a year to hear the ordinances read aloud and ratify the decisions of the Wardens. The Company also appointed two Renters each year to collect the rents and monitor the condition of the properties, four Auditors, and Clerk and a Beadle. The Company year began on 19 May, St Dunstan's day, with a solemn procession to church followed by a feast.
In 1478, King Edward IV issued a statute making the Goldsmiths' Company specifically responsible for wares found below standard, with due penalties. It set the gold standard at 18 carats in order to differentiate between the old wares, condemned in the statute and future wares. The King's mark - the leopard's head, was to be shown crowned on the new wares. The Wardens undertook a major reorganisation to establish a system of control, which involved the appointment of a Common Assayer, a full time post with a salary of £20 per annum, and a quarterly levy to be paid by Company members. The Assayer was also given his own mark (now known as the date letter), which was changed annually on St Dunstan's day.
The Goldsmiths first property, purchased in 1339, was located much where today's present Hall stands in Foster Lane, and was a merchant's house. Various sections of this structure appear to have been rebuilt over time. A new Hall was erected from 1634-1636, on an enlarged site, in the Palladian style of red brick ornamented with Portland Stone. This building was gutted in the Great Fire of London, 1666, though the plate and records were saved, and rebuilding was not completed until 1669. In 1681, the Assay Office and apartments of the Assayer and Clerk in the south west wing of the building were burned down, and along with it the records of makers marks, and had to be rebuilt. By the early nineteenth century, this building was in a dilapidated state and in 1829 was demolished. Philip Hardwick was commissioned to produce plans, and the new building opened in 1835.
Entidad colectiva
·
Since 1611 (traditionally since 1537)
The Honourable Artillery Company is the oldest regiment in the British Army, traditionally dating back to 1537 during the reign of Henry VIII. Throughout our history we have had strong connections with the City of London and have also played our part in the South African War (1899-1902) and the two World Wars, as well as more recent conflicts. We have an interesting history and a range of traditions, as well as important collections of archives and artefacts.
In October 1985 Charles Graham-Dixon, then Vice-President of the Corporation of the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, offered to lend his personal collection of paintings to be exhibited at the Hall. On his death in 1986, Charles Graham-Dixon bequeathed a total of 33 paintings from his collection to the Royal Albert Hall, half of which are on permanent display in the Prince of Wales Room. In 2006 five of the paintings were cleaned and restored by Maria Greenley, and hung in the then newly created Clive Room; from September 2008 to May 2009 she restored the rest of the collection, two of which now hang in the lobby of the Clive Room. The rest have been glazed and hung in the Hall's Prince of Wales Room, this project having been achieved through the generosity of former President of the Corporation Charles Fairweather. The pictures are drawn mainly from the 17th century schools of the Netherlands, Italy and one English work. The finest pictures are the Dutch pieces which were acquired with the help and guidance of one of Londons leading dealers, the late Alfred Brod.
The Great Exhibtion of 1851 was held in London in a specially-designed glass building erected in Hyde Park, nicknamed the Crystal Palace. The profits from this Exhibition purchased the Kensington Gore Estate on which the area named 'Albertopolis' was built and the Royal Albert Hall would come to be erected. The subsequent London International Exhibition on Industry and Art of 1862 was held from 1 May-1 November 1862 in South Kensington, in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, which would later adjourn the Royal Albert Hall on the south side. The Queen, who was in mourning for her recently-deceased husband, did not attend the opening ceremony. The particular aim of the world exhibitions in the 19th century was to promote peaceful competition between nations and would be the last large international exhibitions in Great Britain.
Following the 1851 Great Exhibition (May 1-Oct 15 1851), the Commissioners of the Exhibition spent the bulk of the profits together with money from the government to buy the Kensington Gore Estate, in South Kensington, which lay opposite the Exhibition's location in Hyde Park. Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, proposed that a permanent series of facilities be built on the site for the enlightenment of the public including a 'music hall' . Progress on the scheme was slow and sadly in 1861 Prince Albert died without having seen his ideas come to fruition. The following year, Sir Henry Cole was given H.M. Queen Victoria's blessing to build the music hall if built in conjunction with a memorial to Albert. Sir Henry Cole directed the project and Captain Francis Fowke's drew up the Hall's designs, but unfortunately died in December 1865 leaving the design work to Colonel Henry Scott R.E. In 1867 the Commissioners granted the lease of 999 years on the site of the Hall at an annual rental of one shilling. To fund the Hall's construction private investors could buy seats at 100 pounds each - two of the first buyers were Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. In April Queen Victoria signed the Royal Charter under which the Hall operates and Lucas Brothers began building the foundations of the Hall. In April Queen Victoria laid the Hall's foundation stone and declared the building would from then on be known as the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences. The Hall's official opening ceremony was on 29 March 1871, at which the Hall's aim was described as, to be the 'finest in Europe for seeing, hearing and convenience', which its still aims to be today.
The list of famous performers, sports people, and world figures who have appeared at the Royal Albert Hall since it opened in 1871 is unrivalled. Wagner, Verdi and Elgar conducted the first UK performance of their own works on its concert platform, Rachmaninov played his own compositions and nearly every major classical solo artist and leading orchestra has performed at the Hall. The list of popular music artists includes Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Oscar Peterson, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Sting and Elton John and from a younger generation Adele, Jay Z, Kaiser Chiefs and the Killers. Sports men and women from a wide array of disciplines including boxing legend Mohammed Ali, tennis player John McEnroe and Sumo grand champions have entertained the Hall's audiences. Among leading world figures who have spoken at the Hall are Her Majesty The Queen, Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton. The Hall hosts several annual events including Cirque du Soleil, Teenage Cancer Trust concerts, the Royal Bristish Legion Festival of Remembrance, English National Ballet and the Henry Wood Promenade concerts every summer.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp's Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp’s Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp's Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp's Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp’s Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp’s Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
The Medical Planning Sub-Committee was set up in July 1941 by the Council of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association a predecessor body of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Sub-Committee was responsible for liaising with other medical bodies like the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), the British Medical Association`s Group of Practitioners of Psychological Medicine and the Royal College of Physicians on the admininstration, and the future of psychiatric services.
The British Geriatrics Society and the Royal College of Psychiatrists Joint Liason Committee was set up in 1976. The Committee was established to facilitate discussion on matters of common interest concerning old age psychiatry.
The British Paediatric Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists Liaison Committee was established in 1986 to enable collaboration between the two bodies to discuss and debate joint issues, to facilitate closer integration of paediatrics and psychiatry, and to provide a source of advice and guidance on training for the two bodies.
The Standing Joint Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and British Psychological Society was set up in 1975, but held its first meeting on 7 January 1977.
The The Royal College of Psychiatrists and the College of Occupational Therapists was established in 1988 to promote professional links and understanding between the two disciplines and to encourage joint research.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has been in existence since 1841. Initially as the Association of Medical Officers of Asylums and Hospitals of the Insane, then as the Medico-Psychological Association (1841-1865). In 1926 after receiving the Royal Charter it became the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, and in 1971, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, when it received the Supplemental Charter.
The Association of Medical Officers of Asylums and Hospitals of the Insane was the brainchild of Dr Samuel Hitch, who was resident superintendent of the Gloucestershire General Lunatic Asylum. In a circular letter dated 19 June 1841 which was addressed to eighty three visiting physicians and resident superintendents of twenty asylums and hospitals in England, seven in Scotland and eleven in Ireland he suggested the formation of the association. The respondents to the letter held a preliminary meeting at his hospital on 27July 1841, where they agreed to form the association. At this meeting there were present Dr Shute, Visiting Physician of the Gloucester Asylum (in the chair); Mr Gaskell, Medical Superintendent of Lancaster Asylum; Dr Hitch , Resident Medical Superintendent of Gloucester Asylum; Mr Powell, Resident Medical Superintendent of Nottingham Asylum; Dr Thurnam, Resident Medical Superintendent of York Retreat; and Mr Wintle, Resident Medical Superintendent of Oxford Asylum (Warneford). The stated objective of the association was that medical men connected with asylums should communicate more freely the results of their experience and assist each other in improving the treatment of the insane.
During the early years attendance at the irregular meetings was very poor. However, it is important to note that despite these difficulties there were a few who managed to overcome them, and came to be regarded as heroes of British psychiatry. These were: John Conolly (Hanwell), Samuel Hitch (Gloucester), Samuel Gaskell (Lancaster), John Thurnam (The Retreat, York) and John Bucknill (Exeter). The first annual meeting was held at Nottingham Asylum on 4 November 1841. In 1843 the Association met for the first time in London at Morleys Hotel in Trafalgar Square and on subsequent days at Hanwell, the Surrey Asylum (Springfield Hospital) and St Lukes Hospital. It was only in 1851, under the great leadership of John Conolly that the Association had a very successful meeting which was held at the Freemason`s Tavern in London and drew an attendance of twenty six. In 1852 an even more successful meeting was held at Oxford.
In 1847 members of the Association met in Oxford at the Warneford and Littlemore Asylums. It is at this meeting that the idea of publishing a journal was first mooted. The Asylum Journal of Mental Science as it was originally called was only published in November 1853 under the editorship of Dr John Bucknill. This journal became the forerunner of todays British Journal of Psychiatry. At the 1851 meeting a committee including John Conolly, Forbes Winslow, John Bucknill, and Corsellis was appointed to examine the lunacy acts and to report thereon. A request from Dr Wiliams of Gloucester for the establishment of a central criminal asylum was generally supported and a petition in favour of it was ordered to be drawn up and forwarded to the Secretary of State. At the London Meeting of 1854 a decision was taken to form a permanent Parliamentary Committee, the first positive step designed to influence legislation affecting the control of asylums and the welfare of patients committed to them. During the same year it was also decided to institute the office of President, and during that year Dr A. J Sutherland of St Lukes Hospital, London was elected the first President of the Association.
In the late 1860s it was decided that Quarterly Meetings be held in addition to Annual Meetings. The suggestion was approved and implemented in 1883 when Quarterly Meetings were introduced in Scotland and Ireland. The meetings were the forerunners of the Divisional Meetings of today.
In 1865 the name of the Association changed to The Medico-Psychological Association. The change of the title reflected a growing confidence of its membership, and recognition that the role of the Association needed to be strengthened and its influence extended outside the confines of asylums. Membership of the Association was no longer limited to medical officers of public and private asylums and hospitals for the insane, but was extended to all legally qualified medical practitioners interested in the treatment of insanity. The affairs of the Association were now being run by the Council, which comprised of the president, treasurer, general secretary, the secretary for Scotland, the secretary for Ireland, the editor of the journal, two auditors, and eight ordinary members. These officers of the Association were to be elected by ballot at each annual meeting.
In 1855 the membership of the Association was a mere 121, but as new county asylums were opened under the provisions of the 1845 and 1853 Acts, membership rose to 250 in 1864, and by 1894 to 523.
The Parliamentary Committee which was formed in 1854 lay dormant until 1882 when it became involved in active lobbying in an attempt to get some of the objectionable clauses removed from the Lunacy Act Amendment Bill, which was going through Parliament, and was eventually enacted as the Lunacy Act of 1890.
From 1865 the Association was also involved in discussions aimed at improving the education of doctors and nurses concerned with mentally ill patients. For example Henry Maudsley in 1865 was instrumental in persuading the convocation of the University of London to resolve that instruction in mental diseases should be required in the curriculum for the final MB. And in 1885 as a result of pressure by the Association, the General Medical Council added mental diseases as a separate item to the curriculum and, furthermore, ruled that it should be tested. During the same year the Association founded the Certificate of Proficiency in Psychological Medicine. This was replaced by a Diploma in Psychological Medicine in 1948. From 1891 the Association started to organise examinations for nurses employed in hospitals for the mentally ill. The qualification was known as the Medico-Psychological Association Certificate of Proficiency in Nursing. The certificate was the first to be awarded to nurses nationally as opposed to those awarded by individual hospitals.
In 1894 a number of developments took place concerning the administration of the Association. The constitution of the Association was re-drafted and new activities defined including the establishment of Divisions delineated on territorial lines, each with its own chairman and secretary. The Divisions were empowered to arrange for meetings to be held in their own areas. Educational and Parliamentary Committees were made Standing Committees of Council. The rules also established that women doctors were eligible for membership. The first woman to be elected a member was Dr Eleanor Fleury of Richmond Lunatic Asylum in Dublin. A Library Committee was established, and in 1895 after the death of Dr Daniel Hack Tuke, the great grandson of the founder of the York Retreat and the Associations first Honorary Member, his widow presented to the Association his invaluable library. These books form the core of the Colleges antiquarian book collection.
The early years of the twentieth century were a period of consolidation. The Association campaigned through its Parliamentary Committees for reforms in legislation relating to the care of the mentally ill, particularly for powers to admit voluntary patients to mental hospitals; for facilities for early treatment and for the establishment of out-patient clinics. The impact of the First World War had an effect on the direction of the Association. The high incidence of "shell-shocked" soldiers, and others with hysterical conversion symptoms, together with other varieties of neurotic breakdown, attracted medical practitioners whose roots were in neurology, internal medicine and general practice. This development together with the upsurge of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy resulted in the emergence of a new breed of psychiatrists.
In 1926 the prestige and dignity of the Association were enhanced when it received a Royal Charter which entitled it to change its name to the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. As a result of the Royal Charter the Association was able to exercise more political clout. For instance it played an important part in the formulation of Mental Treatment Act, 1930 and the Mental Health Act of 1959. The Association also played an important role by giving evidence before various Royal Commissions concerning issues relating to divorce, suicide, homosexuality and abortion.
On 16 June 1971 the Royal Medico-Psychological Association became the Royal College of Psychiatrists after being granted a Supplemental Charter.
For further information on the history of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, see Thomas Bewley, Madness to Mental Illness: A history of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (London, 2008), and:
City University was founded as the Northampton Institute in 1894 with the aim of "the promotion of the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes". In 1906 the name was changed to Northampton Polytechnic Institute, from 1935 it was Northampton Polytechnic which in 1957 became Northampton College of Advanced Technology (CAT). Following the Robbins Committee Report of 1963 the College acquired University status and its charter was granted in 1966 when it became The City University (TCU), it is now known as City University London.
The first proposal for the Institute was made in 1891 in a Charity Commissioners' scheme for a City Polytechnic, linking Birkbeck College, the City of London College and a proposed Northampton Institute in Finsbury, to facilitate funding for these institutions by the City Parochial Foundation. The City Polytechnic was dissolved in 1906 without any real links having been established between the three institutions but it had enabled funding for the building and establishment of the Northampton Institute on land given by the Marquess of Northampton. Other funding came from the Skinners' Company, the Saddlers' Company and the Technical Education Board of the London County Council.
Building began in 1894 to a design by Edward Mountford (1855-1908) and teaching at the Institute commenced in 1896 under Robert Mullineux Walmsley (1854-1924), its first Principal, with the Institute being fully operational by September 1897. The organisation of the Institute was greatly influenced by the nearby Finsbury Technical College, and, in common with the Polytechnic ethos, the social aspects of the Institute, which survived until World War I, were as important as the educational classes which concentrated on providing technical instruction, initially in the evenings only, relevant to the trades and crafts of its immediate neighbourhood of Clerkenwell. Its six departments were mechanical engineering and metal trades; artistic crafts; applied physics and electrical engineering; horology; electro-chemistry; and domestic economy and women's trades. From 1900 the Institute had a number of University of London recognised teachers and students were able to register for internal degree courses of the University. In 1903 the sandwich course system was introduced requiring students to spend one quarter of their course working under supervision in an appropriate industry. The Institute pioneered systematic courses of instruction rather than the study of isolated subjects.
With recognition as a CAT in 1957 Dip.Tech courses were introduced and residential accommodation for students was provided. The relationship with the London County Council and its funding ended in 1962 with the award of direct grant status through the Department of Education and Science, followed by transfer to the University Grants Committee in 1965 and university status the following year. City University has remained on its original site and a conscious decision to limit student numbers and not move out of London to a country site was taken in 1966.
On conversion to a university in 1966, the Northampton College of Advanced Technology (CAT) adopted typical university administrative organs. These comprised the Council as the governing body, controlling the financial and legal side of the university's business; the Senate as the supreme academic body; the Court, a body representing wide and various interests across the university and meeting annually, and Convocation, the corporate body of graduates. Senate itself has a number of committees, beneath which lie other Boards of Studies, Boards of Examiners, Departmental Boards and Staff-Student Committees. The Northampton CAT was required under the terms of the Robbins Report of 1963 to institute an Academic Advisory Committee (AAC) to inform its transition to a university, and oversee the drafting of a charter and approval of its courses. The AAC first met in May 1964.
The Academic Board of Northampton CAT began in 1962 as a replacement for the Board of Studies, which had itself started life in the Northampton Institute as the Board of Heads and Associate Heads in 1912. Under the new College Scheme of 1962, reflecting the direct funding from central government, the Academic Board acquired legal status, and four members were entitled to sit on the College's Governing Body.
The official newsletter of the Northampton College was the Northampton College Gazette which began in 1961, and continued after the change to university status in 1966 as TCU Gazette, and later as City News in 1977. The magazine Quest was produced for distribution to individual subscribers and outside bodies, including schools.
Born 1903; educated Central School Sheffield (Birley Scholar); Sheffield University (Linley Scholar); Gonville and Caius College Cambridge (Wollaston Scholar); PhD Sheffield; PhD Cambridge; 1851 Exhibition Student, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, 1926-1930; High-Voltage Laboratory, Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company, Manchester, 1930-1946; Member, British Mission on Atomic Energy, Berkeley, California and Oakridge, Tennessee, 1944-45; Director, Laboratory, Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), Aldermaston, 1946-1963; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1948; Scientific Adviser, AEI, 1963; Chief Scientist, Central Electricity Generating Board, 1963-1970; External Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, 1967-1979; Visiting Professor of Physics, City University, since 1971; Robert Kitchin (Saddlers) Research Professor, since 1983, and first Frank Poynton Professor, Physics Department, since 1984, City University.
Publications: The Release and Use of Nuclear Energy (1961); Rutherford: Father of Nuclear Energy (Rutherford Lecture 1972, published 1973); The Royal Society and its Dining Clubs (1975); Lightning: the long spark (1977); Cockcroft and the Atom (1983); Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. and the Cavendish Laboratory (1984); The Making of Physicists (1987); Philately and the Royal Society (1990); papers on high voltage and transient electrical phenomena, fission and fusion.
In 1955, Lord Halsbury, the Managing Director of the National Research Development Corporation , opened a summer school at the then Northampton College of Advanced Technology on the application of electronic digital computers and calculaters to accountancy and management. The success of this initiative led Lord Halsbury to arrange for one of the earliest Ferranti Pegasus computers to be installed on permanent loan to the College in 1957, and it also played an important part in the formation of the London Computer Group and the British Computer Society (BCS) in the same year. L T G Clarke, the Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics Department of the College was also a founder member of the BCS and was instrumental in organising the growth of this computing function in the College. The College's Governing Body was keen to support the BCS by granting it free use of rooms at the College for meetings. Clarke later became Manager of the City University Computer Unit in 1967, and also Chairman of the BCS Library Committee. The BCS library was housed in the Skinners' Library of City University from 1967 until financial circumstances dictated that the Library could no longer undertake to manage the BCS holdings. In 1977, therefore, the BCS moved its library to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London.
Robert Birley began his career as a history teacher at Eton in 1926 and was then appointed headmaster of Charterhouse in 1935. During this time, he authored the Fleming Report, 1944, on the relationship between public schools and mainstream education. After World War Two, he became, in 1947, Educational Advisor for the Control Commission in the British Zone in Germany responsible for educational reconstruction. On his return to the UK in 1949 he was appointed headmaster of Eton, where he remained until 1963. He subsequently became a visiting Professor at Witwatersrand University, South Africa from 1964-1967, and was Professor and Head of Department of Social Science and Humanities at City University from 1967-1971. He wrote and lectured extensively on education, apartheid and human rights issues.
The Colleges of Advanced Technology (CATs) were established in1956 following the publication of a Government White Paper on Technical Education which listed 24 technical colleges in receipt of 75% grant for parts of their advanced work. Government confirmed that the proportion of advanced work at these colleges should be increased so that they could develop as quickly as possible into Colleges of Advanced Technology. Eventually ten of the 24 were confirmed as CATs including Battersea, Chelsea and Northampton Polytechnics in London and, in 1962, Brunel College of Technology. From the start the newly designated CATs felt the need to establish a basis for joint action and although the Principals were all members of the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions, they decided that they needed to meet as a discrete group. The first meeting took place in June 1957 and a formal announcement of the establishment of the Committee came in June 1959. The Committee met 54 times until it dissolved in 1965 prior to the Colleges becoming Universities when the Principals joined the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals. Throughout its existence the Committee was chaired by Dr P F R (later Sir Peter) Venables (1904-1979), Principal of Birmingham College of Technology, the first CAT, and the Hon. Secretary was Dr (later Sir) James Tait (1912-98), Principal of Northampton Polytechnic, later City University.
The early educational work of the Northampton Institute reflected the trades found in the Clerkenwell district of London. Thus the six departments of the 1890s were Mechanical Engineering and Metal Trades (including the building and furniture trades), renamed Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering in 1918; Artistic Crafts (for industrial applications), which closed in 1916 and was transferred to the London County Council Central School for Arts and Crafts; Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering; Horology, which developed into a National College of Horology and Instrument Technology in 1947; Electro-Chemistry (renamed Technical Chemistry in 1900, and later Applied Chemistry); Domestic Economy and Women's Trades. The Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering department, under the direction of the Principal, was the largest department and included telegraphy and optics, and introduced pioneering sandwich courses in engineering in 1904-1905. In 1903-1904 Technical Optics emerged as a department in its own right, renamed the Department of Applied Optics in 1926, Ophthalmic Optics in 1946, and Optometry and Visual Science in 1977. In 1909 the Institute started classes in Aeronautics, with Frederick Handley Page arriving as lecturer in the following year, though Aeronautical Engineering remained with the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering until 1958, when it became a separate Department of Aeronautics. In 1925 Electrical Engineering became a department in its own right. Physics and Mathematics became separate departments in 1937 and 1931 respectively. A Computer Unit emerged as a separate department from Mathematics in 1976. A Department of Production Technology and Control Engineering was introduced in 1959 (renamed Automation Engineering in 1968 and Systems Science in 1973), following redesignation of the Institute as a College of Advanced Technology.
Upon conversion to The City University, Civil and Mechanical Engineering became separate departments in 1966. A Department of Management Studies commenced in 1966, developing into the City University Business School in 1976. A Centre for Information Science was started in 1970. A Department of Social Science and Humanities was developed and a City University Business School evolved in 1975 from the Department of Management Studies. A Centre for Arts and Related Studies was inaugurated at the same time to cater for courses in Arts Administration, Music, Journalism and Adult Education.
No further information at present.
The original site of the Northampton Institute comprised one and a half acres donated by the 4th Marquess of Northampton and his son. The area faced St John Street, Ashby Street and Lower Charles Street, London, on the site of the former Clerkenwell Manor House, subsequently used as a school and lunatic asylum. The Institute's first building was designed by the architect Edward W Mountford (1855-1908), later the architect of the Old Bailey. The foundations were laid in 1894, with gradual use of the facilities as completed until the official opening of the building in 1898 by the Lord Mayor of London. Extensions were provided in the courtyard of the building for Metallurgy in 1898 and Mechanical Engineering in 1901. The Governing Body authorised the building of a five storied block in the residue of the courtyard in 1908, completed and opened by the Earl of Halsbury in the following year. However growth of the Institute placed greater pressures on existing accommodation, and loans from the New River Company and Skinners' Company provided the means to provide a site for an annex by the purchase of houses on the west side of St John Street in 1908. The intervention of war and economic depression prevented the exploitation of this site until an extension fund was started in 1927. Work began in 1930, and the Connaught Building was opened in 1932 by Prince George, Duke of Kent. It occupied around half the annex site and provided accommodation for chemistry, clockmaking, furriery, a lens workshop, automobile laboratories and general classrooms. Work started on extensions and additional floors to the Connaught Building from 1938 but was curtailed by the coming of war.
The next major phase of development was carried out during from 1949, when it was proposed a further site in St John Street be acquired, the Great Hall be rebuilt, and the Gymnasium block was also to be rebuilt to provide five stories for engineering workshops, classrooms, a staffroom and new library. The site in St John Street was replaced by another in Spencer Street and work started in 1950. The new library was opened in 1955, as was the new Great Hall. The new hall block provided new laboratories in the basement. The new development was officially opened by Sir David Eccles, the Minister of Education, in 1956. In 1959 work started on adding two extra floors were added to the Connaught Building to provide extra laboratories for chemistry and additional classrooms. These were opened by Lord Fleck in 1961.
At the same time a larger development was planned on a site on the north east corner of the Connaught site. The first phase was to comprise the Electrical Building, High Voltage Laboratory and refectory block, followed by a new library, Student's Union, lecture theatres and a new hall. These were completed and handed over during the period 1969-1970, and opened by the Chancellor, Col Sir Ian Bowater, in Nov 1970.
The next development (subsequently named the Tait Building), was to comprise a new Civil and Mechanical Engineering Building and lecture theatre). Construction began in 1971 and it was opened by Dr O A Kerensky in 1974.
Northampton Hall, the first hall of residence, opened in 1964, followed by the Finsbury hall of residence on the Goswell Road site, which opened in 1972. The Saddlers' Sports Centre was opened in 1974, and another hall of residence, Heyworth Hall, was in use by 1977. The City Parochial Foundation provided the funding for the purchase of six acres of land in Oakthorpe Lane, Palmers Green, North London, in 1906, to use as playing fields for the Institute.
Under the 1883 London Parochial Charities Act, the Trustees of the London Parochial Charities were required to administer the numerous charitable funds existing in the many City of London parishes for ecclesiastical purposes and to `promote the welfare of the poor of the Metropolis by way of education, free libraries, open spaces or otherwise'. They therefore allocated capital to the formation of the City Polytechnic, of which under the Charity Commissioners' City Polytechnic Central Scheme of 1891, the Northampton Institute was one of the three constituent educational institutions. Under the original constitution of the Northampton Institute, three of the Trustees of the London Parochial Charities (or City Parochial Foundation) would be members of the Governing Body. By 1962, one Trustee still sat on the College's Governing Body, although donations from the CPF were small in relation to the College's other sources of income. Between 1891 and 1935 the CPF had donated nearly £2,000,000 to the institutions which had comprised the original Central Scheme. CPF funding from 1891-1931 covered some examination fees, and from 1902 covered endowment insurance for staff, and a compassionate scheme in 1903. The CPF was instrumental in purchasing recreation grounds for the Institute at Palmer's Green. The City University still receives monies from the CPF as the corporate successor to the Northampton Institute. In 1893 the London County Council (LCC) had set up a Technical Education Board, and a member of the Board sat on the Governing Body of the Northampton Institute. Thereafter LCC control and regulation was to strenghthen, reflecting the increasing proportion of LCC's financial contributions in relation to other sources of the Northampton's income. The 1903 Education (London) Act made the LCC the Education Authority for London, and while the power the LCC wielded over the Northampton had been discreet, from 1909 the LCC was its using its award of block maintenance grants to enforce its recommendations on the future of the Artistic Crafts Department on an unwilling Institute. By 1924, the Institute was complying with all the LCC's requirements, and LCC was regulating many of the Institute's operations, from setting student's fees, to the number of hours work required by staff to qualify for superannuation. The annual reports of the LCC Inspectors were an important influence on regulation, covering most matters from quality of courses to the standards of accommodation and hygiene.
Funding the original building and equipment of the Northampton Institute came from a number of sources. The site for the building had been donated by the Marquess of Northampton and Earl Compton. The greatest part of the building capital came from the Trustees of the London Parochial Charities (the City Parochial Foundation) who were the Central Governing Body of the City Polytechnic scheme, particularly the proceeds of the Charity of Sir Thomas Smythe, transferred from the Skinners' Company. Subsequent annual income was to come from Skinners' Company, the City Parochial Foundation, Robert Kitchen's Charity via the Saddlers' Company, the London County Council (LCC), and students' own fees. LCC funding came to predominate, and resulted in tighter central control over the expenditure and activities of the Institute. In 1962, the then Northampton College of Advanced Technology (CATs) received direct grant funding from the Ministry of Education, as the CATs moved towards full university status, with central funding overseen by the University Grants Committee.
The original Governing Body of the Northampton Institute was to comprise seventeen members composed as follows: three appointed by the Central Governing Body of the City Polytechnic (the Trustees of the London Parochial Charities, also known as the City Parochial Foundation or CPF), one by the London County Council (LCC), one by the Schools Board for London, four by the Skinners' Company, one by the Saddlers' Company, one each by the Governing Bodies of the Birkbeck Institute and the City of London College, and five co-opted members (these original five comprised three then engaged in the major local industry of the watch and clock trade). The Governing Body first met at the Birbeck Institute on 1 Feb 1892. The 4th Marquess of Northampton and his son, the Earl Compton both desired to become members of the Body, and the scheme was amended to increase its composition to twenty one members. Meetings were held monthly.
Designation of the Institute as College of Advanced Technology (CAT) in 1957 also involved a revision of the Governing Body. No less than five members were now to be appointed by the LCC, one each by the County Councils of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex, one from the University of London, four by the Skinners', one by the Saddlers', three by the CPF, and six cooptative members. Not less than six of the Governors were to have current professional or industrial experience relating to the work of the college. Advisory bodies representing industry and professional bodies in each technology were also established. The transition of CATs to direct grant' funding from the Ministry of Education in 1962 involved another reform of the Governing Body; five Local Education Authorities (of which four were to be LCC), one from the Regional Advisory Council, two from the University of London, four from the Skinners', one from the Saddlers', four from the Academic Board of the College, one from the Ministry of Education, the Principal ex-officio and co-opted members. As a result of the Robbins Report of 1963, proposing the conversion of the CATs into full technological universities, the College sought interest of affiliation with other relevant institutions. Discussions were begun with Sir John Cass College, Jewry Street, London and the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, though no resultant link was achieved. The Governing Body held its final meeting on 26 Sep 1966. This was also its first meeting as the successor body, the Council of The City University, which controls the financial and legal side of the university. The Lady Superintendent wasresponsible, under the direction of the Principal, to the Governing Body, for all matters educational and social connected with women attending the institute'. The first Lady Superintendent, Mrs A Winton Thorpe, was appointed in 1896, and was succeeded by Mrs A M Tuck in 1898. Her successor, Miss V P Muddock, was appointed in 1928. On her retirement in 1949, the post was not filled again.
Sir Thomas Gresham (c1518-1579) acquired wealth through his activities as a Mercer and Royal Agent. The death of his only son and heir in 1564 enforced a decision on the ultimate disposal of this wealth, leading Gresham to fund the building of the Royal Exchange in 1566, and under the terms of his will of 1575, transform his spacious house in London's Bishopsgate into a college. The will provided for the seven professors to lecture on astronomy, divinity, geometry, law, medicine, music and rhetoric, and who were to be conjointly governed by the City Corporation and the Mercers' Company. The success of the lectures, particularly in astronomy and geometry, led to the incorporation of the Royal Society in 1663, and the pursuit of its activities at Gresham College. This link was maintained until the Royal Society moved to new quarters in 1710. In 1768, by act of parliament, the site of Gresham College was sold to the crown, and the lectures were given in a room at the Royal Exchange until the building of a new college site on Gresham an Basinghall Streets in 1843. The College was omitted from incorporation into the University of London, though in the 1880s the City and Guilds of London Institute conducted its business from the College, whose premises were rebuilt in 1913. In 1965 negotiations were conducted between the Gresham Grand Committee and the City University on a possible association of the lectures with the university. In 1966 their transfer was approved for an initial five years. In 1975, proposals by the university and the Gresham Grand Committee were accepted to incorporate the Business School and the Unit for Banking and International Banking into a new Gresham Building on the main university campus. In 1979 two Gresham professorships in Engineering and Commerce were agreed in addition to the originally constituted seven subjects, as well as a scheme for Gresham Research Fellows. The Gresham College Council was restructured in 1986-1987 and resulted in the discontinuation of the Gresham Lectures at City University.
Prior to 1957, the library (known as the Skinners' Library due to the original charitable contribution of the Skinners' Company to the Northampton Institute) had received little in the way of adequate funding or accommodation. It had opened in 1896 with 1700 volumes and the totat had only increased to some 4500 by 1956. Redesignation of the Institute as a College of Advanced Technology (CAT) required large investment in provision. In 1955 a further substantial donation from the Skinners' Company allowed the opening of a new Skinners' Library, though growth in holdings continued to be slow in comparison to other CATs. A new library was planned in the mid 1960s; the lack of funding and book stocks were highlighted in a survey of 1969 which placed the library at the bottom of a league table of university libraries. Major new grants were given from Senate and from the Skinners' to double the book stock within five years, and the move into the new library premises was made in 1970. The Cranwood Annexe branch library rejoined the main university library in 1976. A further floor was added and opened in 1979. In 1967 microform, non-book media collections, and the University Archives Collection were started. Special collections were acquired, including the Fincham collection on optics, the Auerbach collection on art and the London Society Library.
Philip de la Hay le Marquand was a City and Guilds evening class student at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute, 1923-1924.
The College was founded in 1946 by the Department of Education as the National College of Horology following the recommendations of the Percy Committee report. This provided for the establishment of National Colleges for industries of high importance requiring small numbers of skilled technicians. The new colleges were to be located within existing technical colleges which already provided tuition in the specialist subject and were to be fully financed by Government. Northampton Polytechnic was a natural centre for the College being situated in the traditional area for watch and clock making and having had a Department of Horology since its inception. Instrument Technology was incorporated into the title of the College before it was finally established, and new buildings were provided at the Polytechnic financed by the Department of Education. The College was operational from October 1947 and ceased functioning as a separate entity in 1960 when the Polytechnic became a College of Advanced Technology (CAT) with higher entrance requirements. The final student intake was in 1957 and its courses were absorbed into the relevant CAT department.
A D Roscoe was an undergraduate student at the Northampton Polytechnic, London, 1945-1951.
Sir Thomas Smythe (?1558-1625) was a merchant and governor of the East India Company, a Sheriff of London in 1599 and a member of the Haberdashers' Company and the Skinners' Company. He amassed a large fortune part of which he devoted to charitable purposes.
Dr Robert Mullineux Walmsley, the first Principal of the Northampton Institute, was appointed in Sep 1895 at the age of 41, from some 94 applicants, and commenced work in Jan 1896. He had previously been First Senior Demonstrator at Finsbury Technical College, 1883-1887; Principal of the Sindh Arts College in Bombay, India, 1887-1888; on the staff of the City and Guilds (Engineering) College, 1888-1890; First Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, Heriot-Watt University, 1890-1895.
At a meeting of academic staff in Nov 1922 it was proposed that `a committee be appointed to represent the staff'. Draft rules were drawn up in Jan 1923 for the organisation, which determined that it be called the Northampton Polytechnic Staff Association (subsequently known as the Academic Staff Association or ASA). The business of its early years was concerned with social activities, redundancies, workload and leave allowance for summer holidays. A Staff Social Committee was formed from the main committee in 1930 to supervise social activities. In 1962 the ASA became involved in the actual administration of the institution, and were closely involved in the change to university status. The ASA has its place in the university charter as the forum from which academic staff are elected to Senate.
A Social Committee was formed by students to improve the social life of the Northampton Institute in 1910, and the Union Society was instituted in Mar 1912. A number of Northampton students were also instrumental in the foundation of the University of London Union in the 1920s. The Northampton Polytechnic Institute Day Students Magazine commenced in Dec 1912 but ceased publication in 1915 due to wartime restrictions. Its successor (the newspaper of both the union and past students' society), the Northampton Gazette, commenced publication in Jul 1919. The Students' Union started its own newspaper, the Beacon, in 1948. The Union was appointed its first sabbatical president in 1968, and moved into new purpose built premises in 1970. The Engineering Society was formed in 1905, and the energy of its own social activities served to promote the foundation of the Students' Union Society in 1912. The name of the society was changed to the Northampton Engineering College Engineering Society in 1913. The Principal, Dr Robert Mullineux Walmsley, was first President, and after his death, the `Mullineux Walmsley' lectures on engineering were instituted by the Society. Two prizes were available from the foundation of the Society in 1905, namely for the best papers read by a current and a past student.
The N'Ions is the association of past students of the Northampton Institute and City University, founded in 1909 as the Northampton Past Day Students' Association, and serving to promote the interests of the City University and its past students. The first annual dinner of the N'Ions was held in 1922, and branches were organised in the midlands and north west of England. Its magazine, the Northampton Gazette commenced publication in 1910, and following a temporary cessation during World War One, resumed joint publication with the Union Society in 1919. Its title was changed to The N'Ion in 1935. Following World War Two, two means of commemorating those former students killed during the war were instituted. A plaque was erected and a fund was established to enable undergraduates and graduates to visit other countries to enable them to gain experience in their chosen field by the observation of other nationals engaged in the same sphere of industry or research. The first award was made in 1951.
Gipsy Hill Teacher Training College was founded in Upper Norwood, Streatham, in 1917 as an independent and non-denominational residential college providing the first two-year course of training for teachers of children aged two to seven. Its first Principal was Lillian de Lissa, who received her training at the Sydney Kindergarten Training College, Australia, c1902-c1905, and subsequently established the first free kindergarten in Adelaide and the college which later became Adelaide Kindergarten Training College. She completed the International Training Course in Rome under the educational pioneer Dr Montessori in 1914. The college of which she became head in England was to train teachers who would apply innovative contemporary ideas to the education of young children. The college was housed in two Victorian houses in Gipsy Hill. Two more houses were later added as numbers - which included some overseas students - increased. Provisional recognition from the Board of Education subsequently became full and permanent. The Rommany Nursery School was opened as the college's demonstration school. During World War Two (1939-1945) Gipsy Hill College evacuated itself first to an hotel in Brighton and subsequently to Bankfield house near Bingley, Yorkshire. Meanwhile the premises at Gipsy Hill were damaged by enemy action. In 1946 the college became the responsibility of Surrey County Council and moved to a house on Kingston Hill (Kingston-upon-Thames), Kingston Hill Place, with nearby houses (Coombehurst adjacent, and Winchester and Tankerville about a mile away) providing additional accommodation. In that year Lillian de Lissa retired. In 1949 the college acquired Kenry House (adapted for Army use during the war), to which alterations were subsequently made (allowing Winchester and Tankerville to be relinquished). In the same year, in addition to the existing nursery-infant course, a junior course was introduced to extend the educational principles to the education of children aged seven to eleven years.
Demand for teachers continued and the College pioneered the London University BEd degree. Gipsy Hill College was included in the London Delegacy as a member of the Birkbeck College group for examination purposes, but became a constituent college of London University Institute of Education at its formation in 1949. In 1959 a course of training for secondary school work was introduced. The first day students were also accepted. Gipsy Hill became a College of Education in 1963. Extensions to Kenry House were completed in 1966-1967.
Demographic changes caused a contraction in the demand for teacher education by the 1970s and, in a climate of absorption of colleges of education by polytechnics, Gipsy Hill College of Education moved towards Council for National Academic Awards (rather than London University) validation before it eventually merged with Kingston Polytechnic in 1975 following negotiations between the Education Committees of Surrey County Council and the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.
Variant spellings of the name as Gypsy are frequently found, but the college evidently took its name from Gipsy Hill in Upper Norwood where it was originally located.
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin, Ireland on 15 Jul 1919. When she was very young Iris and her parents moved to London, England, and Iris studied at Frobel and Badminton Schools. She followed this with studies in classics, ancient history and philosophy at Oxford, and further study at Cambridge. During the war years Iris worked for the Treasury in London, and then joined the UNRRA providing relief in formerly occupied countries in Europe. In 1948 she became a fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, where she taught and researched philosophy.
Iris Murdoch wrote a number of tracts on philosophy, however it is for her novels that she is best known. She wrote 26 novels in total, her first being Under the Net published in 1954. Other notable works include The Bell and The Sea, the Sea,/i>, for which she won the Booker Prize. Her last novel, Jackson's Dilemma, was published in 1995.
In her youth Iris Murdoch had relationships with a number of individuals, including Elias Canetti. She met author and scholar John Bayley while at Oxford, and they married in 1956. She wrote to a great number of people and maintained friendships in this way.
Later in life Iris Murdoch was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease, the first effects of which she had attributed to writer's block. She died in 1999.