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The home was opened in 1902. It closed in 1968 and the building was then used for Bradstock Lockett Nursery, later Bradstock Lockett Family Centre. More information about the home can be found on the Hidden Lives Revealed website: http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/SOUTH01.html

Born the son of an RAF pilot in 1946, Christopher Palmer was educated at Norwich School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Initially studying modern languages at Cambridge, he switched courses to music. His career was wide and varied: he was a writer, producing biographies, sleeve notes, radio scripts, reviews and articles, mainly on British music; he was also a talented orchestrator and arranger of film scores and classical music; and a record producer who particularly benefited unsung British composers. Palmer had an enthusiasm for Prokofiev, Ravel and Britten, and collaborated with Oleg Prokofiev on the publication of Serge Prokofiev, Soviet Diary, 1927 and other writings (Faber and Faber, 1991). His work on a new biography of Prokofiev was cut short by his untimely death in 1995.

Lina Prokofiev began life as Carolina Codina, born in Madrid on 21 October 1897. Her maternal Polish grandfather had held an important government post in Russia and spoke both Russian and Polish fluently. Lina herself became an adept linguist and so was at ease in cosmopolitan circles. Both her parents were singers, and Lina was trained by her mother to pursue the same career. When Lina was still a girl, her father brought the family from Spain to Cuba, and then to New York. Lina first met Serge Prokofiev in December 1918 following his New York symphonic concert debut at Carnegie Hall. Married in Bavaria in October 1923, they soon moved to Paris which became their main residence until the spring of 1936, when Prokofiev moved his family to Moscow. Lina's existence became particularly precarious when Prokofiev left her during the war in 1941, when he was evacuated from Moscow along with numerous artists, including Mira Mendelson, a young writer who would become his second wife in 1948. The Soviet authorities regarded their separation with a suspicion which was all the more heightened by her regular contacts with Western diplomats following World War Two. Early in 1948 she was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in labour camps. She was released in 1956 following the general amnesty after Stalin's death, though she was unable to leave the Soviet Union until 1974, when she returned to Paris. During her last years she devoted her considerable energy to promoting her husband's work.

Born in Paris in 1928, the second son of Serge and Lina Prokofiev, Oleg Prokofiev studied art at the Moscow School of Art from 1944 to 1947. After a first, unsuccessful marriage, Oleg met and married a young British art historian, Camilla Gray, who died tragically after a short illness. Allowed by the Soviet authorities to bring their daughter Anastasia to England, Oleg settled first in Leeds, where he was awarded a fellowship in the Fine Arts Department, and where he met his third wife Frances. Oleg made his name as an artist, exhibiting his wood sculptures and paintings in a number of countries, and his style was constantly evolving as a response to the new shapes and lights he discovered in journeys to America, Africa and India. Some of his poems were also published. He also dedicated a large part of his life to the promotion of his father's life and work, appearing on television and radio and maintaining a huge correspondence with artists, musicologists and performers involved in working on Prokofiev and Soviet music. He died in 1998.

In 1983, Lina Prokofiev created the Serge Prokofiev Foundation, a British Charitable Trust, which in turn set up the Serge Prokofiev Archive in 1994. The Archive is funded and owned by the Serge Prokofiev Foundation and is housed at the Goldsmiths College, University of London. It is the only archival repository to be exclusively dedicated to Prokofiev studies, and has an active acquisition policy, with the view of regrouping all extant material and facilitating research by connecting all identified repositories of original sources.

Serge Prokofiev was born in Sontsovka, in the Ukraine, in 1891. He played the piano and composed from an early age, and studied with Reinhold Gliere in the summers of 1902 and 1903. He attended the St Petersburg Conservatory from 1904 to 1914, and studied composition, conducting and piano, though his overwhelming desire to develop his own style often brought him into conflict with his teachers. He played his first public performance on 18 December 1908 in St Petersburg at one of the 'Evenings of Contemporary Music', premiered his first full compositions, and graduated in 1914, having won the coveted Anton Rubinstein Prize for the best student pianist. Following his graduation, Prokofiev travelled widely, performing his compositions in Paris, London and the USA. He composed in a wide range of musical genres, including symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets and film music, though the modern nature of his music often led to censure on the part of the music press of the time. He moved to Paris permanently in 1923, after his marriage to Lina Codina. Tours of Soviet Russia in 1927, 1929 and 1932 contributed towards Prokofiev's decision to return to his homeland permanently in 1936, joined by his wife and two children. He developed an intense interest in writing scores for film, beginning with Lieutenant Kizhe in 1933, and for the theatrical stage - Peter and the Wolf was written in 1936 and performed by the State Children's Theatre. He also composed ballets such as Romeo and Juliet, premiered in 1938. Though Prokofiev initially conformed to Soviet ideology, the limitations imposed upon his artistic freedom proved stifling, and he was soon forbidden permission to tour outside the Soviet Union. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, all senior cultural figures were evacuated from Moscow, including Prokofiev, whose wife and children were left behind for the duration of the war. Lina Prokofiev, being Spanish by birth, was later arrested (1948) and sent to a labour camp for 8 years. In the same year her marriage to Prokofiev was annulled by the state, after which Prokofiev married Mira Mendelson. His composition remained prolific, and the works created during the War proved to be some of his most successful, notably War and Peace, Cinderella, and his Fifth Symphony. Suffering from increasing ill-health, Prokofiev died on 5 March 1953 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Morden College was founded in 1695 by Sir John Morden (1623-1708).

John Morden was born in London, 1623, the son of George Morden, goldsmith. In 1643, he was apprenticed to Sir William Soames who was Master of the Grocers' Company, Levant Company (Turkey Company) assistant, East India Company Committee member, and Sheriff of the City of London. Initially posted to Aleppo in Turkey, John Morden returned to London in 1660 having amassed a 'fair estate' trading as an East India Merchant. In 1662 he married Susan Brand (1638-1721) daughter of Joseph Brand of Suffolk. The couple were childless.
By the 1660s Morden was a member of the board of both the Turkey Company and the East India Company. In 1669 he purchased for £4 200 Wricklemarsh Manor (now the Cator estate) in Blackheath, which comprised 271 acres and a mansion house.
Created a baronet in 1688 by King James II, in 1691 he became Commissioner of Excise under King William III. He was briefly the Member of Parliament for Colchester. In 1693, he was appointed Treasurer of Bromley College, Kent, a home for clergy widows. In 1695, he resigned this appointment to become Treasurer of his own College.

Morden's aim was to found a college for 'poor Merchants...and such as have lost their Estates by accidents, dangers and perils of the seas or by any other accidents ways or means in their honest endeavours to get their living by means of Merchandizing'.

The College Buildings were erected in 1695 in the style of Christopher Wren and under the supervision of his Master-mason, Edward Strong, on the north east corner of the Wricklemarsh Estate. They were intended to house forty single or widowed men, who were each given an allowance of £40 per annum, coals and a gown (and servants to look after their apartments). There was also a public kitchen, a dining hall, and an apartment for a chaplain with a salary of 50 shillings a year. The College had its own burial ground. Until 1867 members had to be members of the Church of England, with a certificate of proof from their parish priest. They were required to attend chapel twice daily.

By 1881, admission requirements had relaxed somewhat. After World War One, a shortage of 'decayed merchants' led to further changes to membership conditions and the College now provides accommodation for women (as non resident out pensioners since 1908, and residents since 1966) and married couples (since 1951). Since 1700 more than 4,648 people have been College beneficiaries. Provision is also made for a group known as outpensioners, who do not require accommodation, but are in financial need.

Terms of administration: Sir John Morden's will provided for seven trustees, to be chosen from the Turkey Company; on its cessation from the East India Company, and on its demise, from the Aldermen of the City of London with ultimate recourse to 'gentlemen of Kent'. Day to day administration was in the hands of a Treasurer and a Chaplain. In 1945, the Treasurer's post was renamed Clerk to the Trustees. The College is funded by endowment of the Manor of Old Court (Greenwich) purchased by Sir John in 1698. The Dame Susan Morden endowment contributed funds originally for the support of the chaplain.

A new Dining Hall was completed in 1845, and a Library in 1860. A Nursing Centre, Cullum Welch Court, was opened in 1971, rebuilt 2004, providing beds for residents requiring nursing care. Premises built in 1933 for use as a Sick Bay were refurbished and opened as a Club House in 1971, and further enlarged in 1990. The Staff Quarters added to the old Sick Bay in 1958, are still used for their original purpose. A number of other homes have been built within the grounds, including Alexander Court, 1957, Wells Court, 1966, and Montague Graham Court, 1976. In 1994, a house adjacent to the College, 22 Kidbrooke Gardens, was refurbished and opened for use by College beneficiaries. A number of other homes in Blackheath and Beckenham now form part of the College, and are located in Broadbridge Close, Graham Court in Kidbrooke Grove, St Germans Place, Vanbrugh Park and Ralph Perring Court.

Charles Kelsall (1782-1857) bequest: book collection, pictures, maps, papers

The United Kingdom Alliance was founded in 1853 in Manchester to work for prohibition of alcohol in the UK. This occurred in a context of support for the type of law passed by General Neal Dow in Maine, USA, in 1846, prohibiting the sale of intoxicants.

It was initiated by Nathaniel Card (1805-1856), an Irish cotton manufacturer and member of the Society of Friends. He had also been a member of the Manchester and Salford Temperance Society since 1852, and was interested in what was coming to be known as the Maine Law. At a private meeting at Card's house on 20 July 1852, the National League for the Total and Legal Suppression of Intemperance was formed. Other members included Alderman William Hervey of Salford and Joseph Brotherton MP (Salford). At the third meeting of the League a Provisional Committee was formed, based in Manchester.

Their objectives were openly political, to form and enlighten public opinion nationally, believing that the self-denying and benevolent efforts of temperance societies would never be able to end the liquor trade while legalised temptation to drink and get drunk was permitted. They aimed for total and immediate legislative suppression of traffic in intoxicating beverages.

The name of the League was changed on 14 Feb 1853, to the UK Alliance for the Suppression of the Traffic in all Intoxicating Liquors, and Sir Walter C Trevelyan, became the first president in June the same year, with a General Council holding its first meeting on October.

A weekly newspaper Alliance News was begun in 1854, a journal of moral and social reform, and sold for one penny. Since 1980 it has been published as a bi-monthly magazine.

They were not a total abstinence society, and membership was open to teetotallers and drinkers alike, by 1858 membership had risen to 4500, and £3000 was raised by subscription for their work. Their chief public spokesman was Sir Wilfrid Lawson, MP (1829-1906).

In 1862, the London Union of Alliance members changed to the London Auxiliary of the Alliance, and appointed it's the first London agent, Rev John Hanson. The Alliance had occupied premised in Victoria St, London, until the decision was made to build a new headquarters. A site in Caxton St was purchased in 1937, the new building - Alliance House - being opened in 1938, at a cost of £75,000.

In 1942, the Alliance became a limited company, the UK Temperance Alliance Ltd. By the 1970s the main role of the Alliance was educational work and its interest had broadened to other areas of addiction besides alcohol (much of which is undertaken by the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS), a trading arm of the Alliance. In 2003, the UK Temperance Alliance was renamed the Alliance House Foundation.

National Temperance Federation (NTF) was reconstituted at its annual meeting in 1936, and declared its policy as the representation of every section of the temperance movement of approximately three million members of temperance organisations throughout the country.

National Commercial Temperance League (NCTL) was formed in the 1890s to appeal to the business and professional community in the economic and ethical field of thought. In 1953, it approached the UKA with a view to amalgamation.

National United Temperance Council (NUTC) was founded in July 1896 at a National Conference of County United Temperance Councils. The aim of both County and National UTCS was to consolidate support amongst various temperance organisations for temperance legislation and to promote the temperance movement in general.

Parliamentary Temperance Committee, consisting of members of parliament supporting temperance legislation was formed around 1906.

The Band of Hope was founded in 1847, with the aim of instructing boys and girls as to the properties of alcohol and the consequences of its consumption. Generally involving midweek meetings with music, slides, competitions and addresses on the importance of total abstinence. By 1855, there were so many local bands that a London Union was formed and in 1864, this was expanded to become the UK Band of Hope Union. By 1901 there were more than 28,000 societies with a total membership of more than 3.5 million children.

International Order of Good Templars (IOGT) was formed around 1852 in the United States of America, it spread to England around 1869, to Scotland and Ireland about 1970, and Wales 1871. Its object was to secure personal abstinence from the use of all intoxicating drinks as a beverage and the prohibition of the manufacture, importation and sale of intoxicating drink. Membership was achieved by signing a lifelong pledge of abstinence.

The Japan Society of London was founded at a meeting of the Japanese Section of the International Congress of Orientalists held in London on 9 September 1891, when a resolution was passed calling for the formation of a society 'for the encouragement of Japanese studies and for the purpose of bringing together all those in the United Kingdom and throughout the world who are interested in Japanese matters'.

The proposal of Arthur Diosy was warmly supported by members of the Section, and Diosy along with Diagoro Goh, Chancellor of the Imperial Japanese Consulate General in London, were appointed its initial honorary secretaries. The societies objectives were the encouragement of the study of Japanese language, literature, history and folk-lore, art, science and industries, of the social life and economic condition of the Japanese people, past and present, and all Japanese matters. Diosy, Goh and Francis T Piggott (former Legal Advisor to the Japanese Cabinet) formed an organizing council which met in the Royal Society of Arts in Dec 1891. Professor William Anderson FRCS (formerly medical doctor to the Naval Medical College, Tokyo, and medical officer to the British Legation) was elected the first chairman. There were 124 original members and two corresponding members.

In 1896, the Society was involved in collecting money for the relief of sufferers in Japan from the tidal wave that struck the north-east coat of Japan, Jun 1896 - raising a total of £3, 872. It also provided some £3,000 for the Red Cross Society of Japan in 1904.

By 1897, the Society had 803 members. The Society prospered in the climate engendered by the Anglo Japanese Alliance, 1902. Their lectures proved popular with an average attendance of 200 in 1905. There was general admiration for the Japanese exploits in the Russo-Japanese was, 1904-1905, and in 1910 the Society participated in the Japan British Exhibition was held at Shepherds Bush.

The society was also involved with the visits of a number of Japanese princes and statesmen, including Marquis (later Prince) Hirobumi Ito in January 1902, Count Masayoshi Matsukata former prime minister and finance minister, with his wife in May 1902, Prince Akihito Komatsu, brother of the Emperor, in July 1902, Prince Arisugawa in July 1905, Prince Fushimi in May 1907, Prince Morimasa Nashimoto and Princess Nashimoto, in 1909, and Prince Yorihito Higashi-Fushimi and Princess Higashi-Fushimi in 1910.

The outbreak of World War One in 1914 led to a decrease in membership through resignations and death of members killed in action, as well as a general curtailment of activities. While their programme was revived following the war, membership did not reach pre-war levels and by 1930 total membership numbered 674. In 1919, the lease on the premises occupied by the society was not renewed, and the office moved to 22 Russell Square, while continuing to hold its lectures at 20 Hanover Square. The Crown Prince of Japan and the Edward, Prince of Wales, became patrons of the Society around 1921, a position which they both gave up on accession to their respective thrones.

Despite the Society's apolitical character, the lack of British public support for the policies of the Japanese government, particularly in China, during the 1930s, contributed to the decline in the Society's membership numbers. The Society's activities continued however, until suspended by a meeting of the Council 1 April 1942. The lease on the Society's offices was given up, the library put in storage and publication of the Transactions ceased, though the Society was to remain in being.
The Society was revived in 1949 at an Extraordinary General Meeting held at the Royal Society of the Arts. They produced a new publication Bulletin, in June 1950 giving news on the Society and its members. The Society welcomed the signing of the Peace Treaty with Japan, 8 Sep 1951 in San Francisco, however during the 1950s UK-Japan relations did not run smoothly in the wake of war-time atrocities and new resentments over trade, however membership gradually increased from 657 in 1956 to over 1000 in 1964-5. A new constitution was adopted in 1958 with the objective of the promotion of mutual understanding and good feeling between the British and Japanese peoples. This same year corporate membership was instituted.
The Society had a number of committees catering for interests of the members, including a Social, Programme, Library, House Entertainment, Publications, Finance and Garden Committee. In 1961, the Garden Committee established the Bonsaikai, which eventually separated from the Society in 1988. There was also a stamp group, and Ikebana group (formed 1964), two separate art circles, an Otomodachi-kai - an information group of English and Japanese ladies (formed 1961).
In 1959, the Wakatakekai was formed independently to cater for the interests of younger people who had visited Japan or were interested in its culture, as well as a growing number of young Japanese coming to work in the UK. In 1962, this independent group became the junior section of the Society.

The Society's constitution was amended between 1986-1988, removing the time limit for service of the Chairman, altering the name to The Japan Society, and rewriting its objectives to emphasise its Charitable status and purposes. The Society's centenary in 1991 was marked by The Japan Festival - over 300 events held throughout the UK.

The Society is governed by a Constitution (Articles of Association) and by decisions taken at the Annual General Meeting. The AGM also elects the Chairman and Members of its Council, which manages the affairs of the Society. The Society became a Company Limited by Guarantee in 1998.

Born, 1924, educated at Sedbergh School, St Andrews and London Universities; served in the Royal Air Force (RAF), 1943-1947 after which he joined the Foreign Office; held posts in Singapore, 1950-1951, Tokyo, 1951-1954, 1961-1965, 1966-1970, Britain 1954-1958, 1965-1966, Bonn, 1958-1960, Royal College of Defence Studies, 1971-1972, and Washington, 1972-1975; appointed, 1975, Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1975-1980; and Ambassador to Japan, 1980-1984; after retiring from diplomatic service, Cortazzi held office as Director, Hill Samuel & Co., later Hill Samuel Bank, 1984-1991; Senior Adviser: NEC Corporation, Japan, 1992-; Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, Japan, 1992-; Bank of Kyoto, 1992-; Wilde Sapte, solicitors, 1992-; PIFC Consulting Plc, 1993;; Director: Foreign and Colonial Pacific Trust, since 1984; GT Japan Investment Trust plc, since 1984; Thornton Pacific (formerly Pacific) Investment Trust, since 1986; Member of the Economic and Social Research Council, 1984-1989; President, Asiatic Society of Japan, 1982-83; Chairman of The Japan Society 1985-1995; Member of the Council and Court, Sussex University, 1985-1992; Hon. Fellow, Robinson College, Cambridge, 1988; Hon. Dr Stirling, 1988. Grand Cordon, Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japan), 1995; appointed GCMG 1984 (KCMG 1980; CMG 1969).

Publications: Translated from Japanese, Genji Keita: The Ogre and other stories of the Japanese Salarymen, 1972; The Guardian God of Golf and other humorous stories, 1972, reprinted as The Lucky One, 1980; (ed) Mary Crawford Fraser, A Diplomat's Wife in Japan: sketches at the turn of the century, 1982; Isles of Gold: antique maps of Japan, 1983; Higashi No Shimaguni, Nishi No Shimaguni (collection of articles and speeches in Japanese), 1984; Dr Willis in Japan, 1985; (ed) Mitford's Japan, 1985; Victorians in Japan: in and around the Treaty Ports, 1987; For Japanese students of English: Thoughts from a Sussex Garden (essays), 1984; Second Thoughts (essays), 1986; Japanese Encounter, 1987; Zoku, Higashi no Shimaguni, Nishi no Shimaguni, 1987; (ed with George Webb) Kipling's Japan, 1988; The Japanese Achievement: a short history of Japan and Japanese culture, 1990; (ed) A British Artist in Meiji Japan, by Sir Alfred East, 1991; (ed) Building Japan 1868-1876, by Richard Henry Brunton, 1991; (ed with Gordon Daniels) Britain and Japan 1859-1991, 1991; Themes and Personalities, 1991; Modern Japan: a concise survey, 1993; (ed with Terry Bennett) Caught in Time: Japan, 1995; articles on Japanese themes in English and Japanese publications.

The Reform Club was established in the context of political activity and ideas, which found expression in the passing of the Great Reform Act, 1832. It was instigated by Edward Ellice, MP for Coventry and the Whig Party whip, when he and a number of others of radical political persuasion were denied entrance to Brook's Club.

The Reform Club was initially located in a house at 104 Pall Mall, adapted for the club by Decimus Burton. In 1837, a competition was held for the design of a new clubhouse, and Charles Barry was declared the winner. The new clubhouse was opened in 1841, providing a morning room, coffee room, strangers' room, audience room parliamentary library, drawing room, and private drawing room and a map room. The interior also competed in 1841, was altered between 1852-1856m under the supervision of Barry, and in 1878, underwent a general refurbishment under the direction of his son E M Barry. The Club also had a large and well equipped kitchen. The French chef, and author, Alexis Soyer, proved a significant attraction of the club, until his resignation in 1850.

The Club provided a meeting place for members with a variety of political views including Whigs, Radicals, and Chartists. It became a symbol of Liberalism, and counted among its members Joseph Hume, George Grote, Prof E S Beesly, Louis Fagan, G E Buckle, Sir Anthony Panizzi, Sir Edward Sullivan, Sir Henry Irving, Samuel Plimsoll, and Sir Charles Dilke. Initially the Club members were politically very active, and included nearly 200 MPs and more than 50 peers. By 1890, this had decreased to about 120 MPs and a few peers, and by 1942 there were only 19 MPs who were members. This decrease appears to reflect the decline of the Liberal Party itself, as much as the club's role as a centre for political discussion, some of which had now moved to the National Liberal Club. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Club membership had a more literary bent, counting as members Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Hilaire Belloc, Lawrence Weaver, Stopford Brooke, Sir Paul Vinogradoff, Arnold Bennett, A T Bolton and Philip Guedella, as well as a number of publishers. However members also included the bankers and industrialists, and businessmen. Its current membership includes men and women of varied background and nationality, the criteria for admission being character, talent and achievement.

The Westminster Club was located in Albemarle Street, London. Members were eligible without restriction as to profession or business. Members are elected by ballot. In 1879, it charged an entrance fee of 5 guineas, and subscriptions at a rate of 5 guineas for town members, and 3 guineas for country members.

The Parthenon Club was located at 16 Regent St, the former home of the architect John Nash. It charged an entrance-fee of 20 guineas, with an annual subscription, of 7 guineas, and had about 700 members in 1850.

: Herbert Alfred Vaughan was born in Gloucester on the 15th April 1832, the eldest son of Colonel John Vaughan and Eliza Vaughan, née Rolls. The Vaughans were a large landed family of English Roman Catholic recusant stock, whose estate was situated at Courtfield, near the English-Welsh border. Vaughan was educated at the Jesuit colleges of Stoneyhurst (1841-1846), and Brugelette, Belgium (1846-1848), and thence at the Benedictine Downside Abbey (1849-1951). Rather than following the his father's path as a country gentlemen, he decided to enter the priesthood, setting an example for his siblings (five of his seven brothers also became priests, and all of his five sisters became nuns). In 1852, therefore, Vaughan commenced theological studies in Rome, leading to his ordination on 28th October 1854, at Lucca in Italy, at the age of only 22. His first post after ordination was that of Vice-Rector at the seminary of St Edmund's, Ware, in Hertfordshire, the main seminary of the South of England.

Soon after, however, he determined to devote himself to missionary work. Not strong enough himself for the vigours of overseas work, he aimed to achieve this via the establishment of a missionary training college; he was encouraged in his plans by his friend Father (later Cardinal) Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) and by Cardinal Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (1802-1865).

To this end, Vaughan embarked on a fundraising tour in the Caribbean and South America, with the result that a year after his return to England in 1865, he was able to rent a house in Mill Hill in north London. Under conditions of some poverty, the house operated as the new missionary training school, that of St Joseph's Society of the Sacred Heart for Foreign Missions. Following further fundraising initiated by Archbishop Manning in 1868, the building of a new college on a freehold site nearby was completed in 1871; at the time it served a community of 34 students.

Later that year, the first missionary endeavour of St Joseph's was realised. Rome assigned the evangelization of the recently freed black population of the southern states of the USA. To this end, Vaughan himself travelled to America with his first four missionary priests. This led to the successful establishment of a mission in Baltimore, Maryland, out of which developed, by 1892, a separate society, that of the Josephite Fathers.

Upon his return to England, following the death of the Bishop of Salford, William Turner, Vaughan was appointed as Turner's successor. Although this meant that he had to relinquish his role as the local superior of St Joseph's College, he remained until his death the head of the Missionary Society. His new role in Salford brought him into contact with a group of women organized by a Lancashire woman, Alice Ingham, attached to the Franciscan monastery at Gorton. Turner had imposed a period of probation on Ingham's group which had not expired upon his death; in 1878 Vaughan therefore invited the community, by way of an alternative probation, to take over the management of St Joseph's college. Ingham's women therefore moved to London and in 1883 took vows as Sisters of St Joseph's Society of the Sacred Heart of the Third Order Regular of St Francis. As associates of Mill Hill, as St Joseph's came to be known, the Sisters not only not only provided local support for the priesthood, but established their own mission territories, for example, in Brunei and later in Kenya, thus helping to further realise Vaughan's missionary vision.

Vaughan's other endeavours included the establishment of the Rescue and Protection Society, a philanthropic organization working with Catholic children in the north of England, the purchase and editorship of the Catholic paper The Tablet, and, following his ordination as Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster in 1892, the foundation of Westminster Cathedral. However, despite these other occupations, he was still able to witness the expansion of missionary activity from Mill Hill (this included the establishment of additional training colleges in the Netherlands and the Tyrol, and, during Vaughan's own lifetime, missions including those to South India, West Pakistan, Brunei, New Zealand and Uganda). Vaughan returned to Mill Hill at the end of his life, where he died and was buried in 1903.

See also: John George Snead Cox, The life of Cardinal Vaughan (London: Herbert & Daniel, 1910); Letters of Herbert Cardinal Vaughan to Lady Herbert of Lea, 1867-1903 ed. by Shane Leslie (London: Burns & Oates, 1942); Francis M. Dreves, Remembered in blessing: the Courtfield story (Glasgow: Sands & Co, 1955); Christopher Cook, A century of charity: the story of the Mill Hill Missionaries (London: Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 1965); Arthur MacCormack, Cardinal Vaughan: the life of the third Archbishop of Westminster (London: Burns & Oates, 1966); Reverend William Mol, 'The archives of the Mill Hill Missionaries', Catholic Archives, II (1982), 20-27; Robert O'Neil, Cardinal Herbert Vaughan (Burns & Oates, 1995); Mary Vaughan, Courtfield and the Vaughans: an English Catholic inheritance (London: Quiller Press, 1989); Robert J. O'Neil, Cardinal Herbert Vaughan: Archbishop of Westminster, Bishop of Salford, founder of the Mill Hill Missionaries (Tunbridge Wells: Burns & Oates, 1995); Sister Germaine Henry, 'The archives of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of St Joseph', Catholic Archives, XVI (1996), 12-20; Reverend William Mol, 'The archives of the Mill Hill Missionaries since 1982', Catholic Archives, XVI (1996), 12-20.

The St Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society (Mill Hill Missionaries) was founded at Mill Hill in 1866 by Father Herbert Vaughan (1832-1903). It was the first catholic missionary society to be founded in England.

Ordained at the age of 22, Vaughan determined to devote himself to missionary work. Not strong enough himself for the vigours of overseas work, he aimed to achieve this via the establishment of a missionary training college; he was encouraged in his plans by his friend Father (later Cardinal) Manning (1808-1892) and by Cardinal Wiseman (1802-1865).

In 1863 Vaughan embarked on a tour of Central and South America and of California to raise funds for the new College. A year after his return to England in 1865, he was able to rent a house in Mill Hill about ten miles north of London. Under conditions of some poverty, the house operated as the new missionary training school, that of St Joseph's Society for Foreign Missions. Following further fund raising initiated by Archbishop Manning in 1868, the building of a new college on a freehold site nearby was completed in 1871; at the time it served a community of 34 students.

Later that year, the first missionary endeavour of St Joseph's was realised. Rome assigned the evangelization of the recently freed black population of the southern states of the USA. To this end, Vaughan himself travelled to America with his first four missionary priests. This led to the successful establishment of a mission in Baltimore, out of which developed, by 1892, a separate society, that of the Josephite Fathers. In 1872 Vaughan became Bishop of Salford and left Mill Hill though he remained Superior General of the Missionary Society, a cause that was always to be close to his heart.

In 1884 St Peter's School, Freshfield, near Liverpool was founded to serve as a preparatory school to the college. Later on, branch colleges were opened at Rozendaal in Holland and at Brixen and Absam in the Austrian Tyrol. Subsequently, recruits were also drawn from Ireland and North America. The domestic needs of the College at Mill Hill were met by a group of sisters, led by Mother Mary Francis Ingham, whom Vaughan persuaded to move from their native Salford. The sisters became known as the Francisan Missionaries of St Joseph and actively participated in missionary work at many of the missions established by St Joseph's Society for Foreign Missions.

The work in India of the Mill Hill missionaries commenced in 1875, first in Madras where five priests and a medical missionary journeyed in 1875 and later in North West India, in what is now Kashmir and Pakistan. In 1881 Rajah Brooke provided land for a mission at Kuching in Borneo where work was carried on among tribal peoples. Missions were also established among the Maoris, in New Zealand, in 1886 and in the Philippines in 1906.

In 1895 a group of five Mill Hill Fathers, led by Father Henry Hanlon went out to East Africa to establish the Vicariate of the Upper Nile. Uganda, where the White Fathers had arrived in 1878, had become a British Protectorate in 1894 and an English rather than a French Catholic presence was thought desirable. The first mission station was built at Nsambya. Despite deaths from fever the work grew to spread in time around Lake Victoria and into Kenya.

Fatalities among mission staff also occurred in the Congo where the Mill Hill Fathers arrived in 1905. Despite a difficult location - the mission was entirely surrounded by jungle - the mission flourished. A prefecture was established in 1927, a vicariate followed in 1948 and a diocese in 1959. In 1921 a party of Mill Hill missionaries went to the Cameroons, taking over from a mission developed by German missionaries and where the church had been kept alive by a faithful catechist, Matthias Efiem. From 1938 to 1964 when they were expelled Mill Hill missionaries also worked in the Sudan.

Missions established in the second half of the twentieth century included: a mission to the Falklands and surrounding areas, a mission to Santiago Chile and a mission to Brazil. By 1960 there were 1,200 Mill Hill missionaries serving in four continents.

For further information see:
James Dempsey, Mission on the Nile (London: Burns & Oates, 1955). H. P. Gale, Uganda and the Mill Hill Fathers (London: Macmillan and Co Ltd, 1959). Christopher Cook, A century of charity: the story of the Mill Hill Missionaries (London: Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 1965). Robert J.O'Neil, Mission to the British Cameroons (London:Mission Book Service, 1999. Robert J.O'Neil, Mission to the Upper Nile (London: Mission Book Service, 1999) John Rooney, Khabar gembira; a history of the Catholic Church in East Malaysia and Brunei, 1880-1976 (London: Burns & Oates; Kota Kinabalu: Mill Hill Missionaries, 1981).

The Royal Humane Society (RHS) originated at a meeting at the Chapter Coffee House, St Paul's Churchyard, London, on 18 April 1774, when Dr William Hawes and Dr Thomas Cogan each invited sixteen friends to join them in founding an institution. Those present at this meeting included physicians, surgeons and other prominent men. The object of the Society was to promote research into techniques of resuscitation, grant pecuniary awards for successful instances of restoration of people who had apparently drowned, and to disseminate and publish information on resuscitation in general.

Similar societies were established during the 1760s-1770s in places including Amsterdam, Milan, Venice, Hamburg, Paris and St Petersburg, to treat persons variously drowned, strangled, frozen or affected by noxious gases, as well as to award prizes and publish methods of treatment.

William Hawes had for the previous year been personally rewarding rescuers who had brought ashore bodies recovered from the Thames between Westminster and London bridges. This responsibility was taken over by the new Society. In 1775 a medal was designed as a reward for successful resuscitation of people who seemed to be dead.

The Society issued pamphlets that described and evaluated various rescue apparatus. It also kept detailed case records, containing pathological observations of drowned persons. Presentations of Bible, a prayer book and religious book were also made to individuals restored from apparent drowning by the medical assistants.

William Hawes (1736-1806) was not only the founder of the Society, but one of the most active members of the Society. He petitioned Parliament for the provision of Receiving Houses for drowned and suffocated persons in every parish in England, and to establish schools where medical students could be taught the principles of resuscitation. In 1778 he was appointed Registrar for the Society, and edited the Society's Annual Reports from 1780 until his death.

In 1835 a the Hyde Park Receiving House was custom-built on the north bank of the Serpentine, in Hyde Park, on ground given to the Society by George III and extended by William IV. Previously it had, with the agreement of consenting inn-keepers, used inns along the riverside where bodies taken from the water might be brought and an attempt made at resuscitation. A superintendent and a number of other staff were employed at the Receiving House.

By 1777, the Society had recorded 167 cases, and by 1794, 2572 cases had been investigated, of which 959 persons had been restored to life by the medical assistants, 876 lives had been preserved by the Society's apparatus, and 747 cases had been unsuccessful. By 1809, more than 15,000 cases had been reported and eight receiving houses were in operation.

King George III granted his royal patronage in 1785, and in 1787, the prefix 'Royal' was added to the Society's title. Following the death of William IV, Queen Victoria agreed to be Patron. In the nineteenth century, the Society's focus broadens to include development of life-saving. It encouraged the development and testing of life-saving appliances, and a prize essay competition instituted as a result of a bequest from Dr Anthony Fothergill, the topic of which was 'The prevention of shipwreck and the preservation of lives of shipwrecked mariners'. Their work inspired the foundation of a number of similar societies in Great Britain, the Commonwealth and other places abroad.

In 1834, the Society was located at premises in 2 Chatham Place, Blackfriars. In 1841, it moved to 3, then 4 Trafalgar Square where it remained until 1930, when it relocated to Watergate House, Adelphi. It currently occupies premises located at the north end of Waterloo Bridge.

The Stanhope Gold Medal, the highest honour that the Society can bestow, was instituted in 1873 by public subscription by the friends of Captain Chandos Scudamore Scudamore Stanhope RN. Often the occasions requiring resuscitation techniques to be employed also involved courageous rescues, and the Society began to recognise and reward bravery.

By 1900 cases numbered 31,085. In 1924, the Receiving House in Hyde Park continued to have two open wards under the care of a resident superintendent. The House was severely damaged by enemy action Sep 1940, during World War Two, and despite protracted negotiations for war damage compensation and rebuilding, was never completed and the site eventually transferred to the Ministry of Works. In 1954, rebuilding plans halted, the building was demolished, and the lifesaving equipment turned over to responsibility of borough and urban district Councils.

By 1949, the Society was also maintaining approximately 400 stations containing lifesaving apparatus such as lifebuoys, within a 30 mile radius from Hyde Park. The Society was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1959. Its current object is to collect evidence, investigate, record and in suitable cases present awards to people who have shown bravery in lifesaving in the widest possible variety of circumstances. The Society accepts nominations from members of the public as well as from the emergency services who forward cases for consideration by a Committee that meets ten times a year in order to adjudicate on the most appropriate award to be made in each case.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood was established in 1917, having formerly formed the eastern area of the Diocese of Westminster. It currently includes the County of Essex, as well as the London Boroughs of Newham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, and Havering.

After some negotiation, Brentwood was decided on as the centre of the new diocese rather than Ilford or Chelmsford, the other suggestions. Bishop Ward was appointed Administrator of the new Diocese of Essex in March 1917 and was enthroned as Bishop of Brentwood on 7 Nov 1917, and immediately faced acute shortage of funds for the Diocese, though it did benefit from the Gillow Trust. In 1917, a new Code of Canon Law had been promulgated and Brentwood became the first diocese to effect its provisions. All the missions of the Diocese were erected into canonical parishes and the Missionary Rectors being elevated to Parish Priests, Jul 1918. The Missionary Rector of Brentwood was appointed Administrator of the Cathedral and Parish Priest, a Chapter of Canons was erected with a Provost, Jul 1918, and a Vicar General appointed, Aug 1918.

The Diocese also faced a shortage of priests - some having been released to serve as military chaplains, while and others were busy working among the many troops stationed within the borders of Essex. The Catholic population was around 26,000 in 1917. By 1919, there were an estimated 35,000 Catholics in the diocese, many of Irish deccent, with 55 Secular priests, 27 Franciscans, and 3 of other orders. There were also 30 convents of nuns including Sisters of Mercy, Franciscans, Augustinians, Ursulines and others.

In the 1920s, the chief task of Bishop Doubleday, Ward's successor, was to supervise the foundation of new parishes in the rapidly developing suburbs in the east of London, where housing estates were being built and the Ford Motor Company had located a new factory. The needs of the rural Catholic population were also growing and finding priests for all these areas was a pressing task. Doubleday was also concerned for the provision of education for Catholic children, and for adequate funding to achieve this. He founded the Diocesan Schools Commission, for the purpose of planning the development of Catholic education. New schools were opened in various parts of he diocese, but especially in conjunction with the new parishes in east London.
During World War 2, the Diocese was a centre for both evacuation and reception of evacuees from urban areas. The Diocese of Brentwood was particularly effected by air raids, and many church buildings and schools sustained substantial damage and disruption.
Following the war, London and its suburbs faced a shortage of housing, and in response local government expanded and built new housing estates, as well as establishing whole new towns. This, along with the influx of Polish refugees, expanded the Catholic population. Education underwent significant reorganistion in the wake of the Education Act 1944, and Catholic schools were not exempt from this.

Under Bishop Beck, appointed Coadjutor in 1948 and who succeeded as Bishop in 1951, the administrative and financial structures of the diocese were developed. He increased the number of students for the diocesan priesthood, and reinvigorated the clergy by moving all but a few of them to new parishes within the diocese, as well as embarking on a general visitation of the diocese himself. His foremost concern was however, the provision of new schools for growing population centres. He encouraged Catholic parents to present the problems and interests of Catholic education to the parliamentary candidates for the 1951 General Election. He also chaired the Catholic Education Council, and adopted a system for levying each parish for the financing of Catholic education. New schools were opened and existing ones expanded.

As Bishop Bernard Wall took up his post in 1956, the diocese still faced a shortage of priests, and shortage of funds. The Catholic population by this time was around 107,000 and growing. New parishes were still being formed, Bishop Wall oversaw a number of diocesan celebrations during his term of office, including a pageant in 1961 to commemorate the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, a gathering in 1961 to remember John Paine, executed in Chelmsford in 1582, and a further rally in 1962 and 1964. In 1967 the Diocese celebrated its Golden Jubilee. In the area of Catholic schooling, the provisions of the Education Act 1959 for government funding for new schools stimulated growth, and the Education Act 1967 gave further impetus. The Brentwood Diocesan Commission for Education was established in 1968 to consider the content and pattern of Catholic education in the diocese and to advise the bishop on matters of education policy. Relations between the Catholic Church and Christians of other traditions began to improved in response to the Second Vatican Council's encouraging the Church to look in friendship towards other Christian communities. Catholics began to participate in inter-denominational societies and meetings, and local Councils of Churches. In 1967, the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission was formed.

The International Olympic Committee, formed in 1894, held its 4th Session in London between 20-22 June 1904. Three of the main organizers of this meeting were Sir Howard Vincent, the Rev Robert Stuart de Courcy Laffan and Charles Herbert, who were the British representatives on the IOC. One of the main results of the Session was the formation of the British Olympic Association (BOA) in the House of Commons on 24 May 1905. William Henry Grenfell MP, later Lord Desborough, was elected as its first chairman with de Courcy Laffan as its honorary secretary. Its remits were to spread in Great Britain the knowledge of the Olympic movement, to guarantee that the views of British sporting associations had due weight and influence in the organisation of the Olympic Games and to ensure the participation both in the Olympic Games and international athletic congresses, of representatives properly accredited by official Sporting Associations and to facilitate the attendance of such representatives. The original committee was made up of members from seven national governing bodies of sport, but today all 33 summer and winter Olympic sports are represented.

In 1906, when Rome pulled out of hosting the 1908 Olympic Games it had been awarded at the 4th IOC Session, Lord Desborough proposed that London should step in. With only two years to organize the event, the 1908 Games utilised existing venues, most notably the White City Stadium which was being constructed for the Franco-British Exhibition. When London was again awarded the Olympic Games with two years notice in 1946, this tactic of exploiting established venues was similarly employed.

One of the fundamental functions of the BOA is to provide the funding and organization to ensure that a Great Britain Team competes at the Olympic Games. Between 1936 and 1976 financial support came from nationwide public appeals for funds. However when the Government wished the British Team to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the BOA realised that the public was unlikely to be willing to support such a cause. Under the leadership of Sir Denis Follows and influenced by the spirit of Olympism which transcends all political interference, the BOA decided to send a British Team from its own funds, a move which left it virtually bankrupt. Conscious of safeguarding against relying on such inconsistent sources of income in the future, the BOA was one of the first national Olympic committees who sought additional funding from industry such as sponsorship and merchandising.

The BOA also offers elite athletes other support services, such as medical and physiological facilities to ensure that a GB Team attending each Games is as best prepared as it can be.

As the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Britain, the BOA is also involved in the selection process for candidate cities wishing to host the Olympic Games.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was founded in 1950, the successor to the earlier United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. The UNHCR is an impartial humanitarian organisation mandated by the United Nations to lead and co-ordinate international action for the world-wide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems. Based in Switzerland, UNHCR has two basic and closely related aims: to protect refugees and to seek ways to help them restart their lives in a normal environment. In the UK the UNHCR's London office offers both legal and information services.

The Northern Refugee Centre (NRC), was established 1983 and is now based in Sheffield. The NRC is a registered charity supporting the integration of refugees and asylum seekers. In addition, the NRC exists to promote the welfare of all refugees and asylum seekers within the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Eastside Community Heritage (ECH) was established in 1993 as part of the Stratford City Challenge community history project. In 1997 ECH became an independent charity. Over the years ECH has worked on numerous projects documenting the lives of 'ordinary' people from and who live in East London. In 1999 ECH established the East London Peoples Archive.

The Refugee Council is the UK's largest organisation working for refugees and asylum seekers. It offers direct support, alongside capacity-building amongst community groups, undertaking international work, and campaigning, lobbying and researching in a bid to influence public policy in the area.

The Council was formed in 1981 through the merger of the British Council for Aid to Refugees (BCAR), and the Standing Conference on Refugees (SCOR), both of which had been established in 1951, following the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. After the merger it was originally known as the British Refugee Council and was later renamed the Refugee Council due to the establishment of various other regional refugee councils. The Refugee Council became a membership organisation in 1983.

Charter 87, or Charter 87 for Refugees, was a human rights group in existence between the years 1987 and 1997. It was concerned with human rights issues pertaining to refugees and asylum seekers. Charter 87 also sought the incorporation of the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees into British Law.

The Rev Ashley Cooper had first suggested a four yearly 'English speaking' festival of sport for countries within the British Empire in an article in The Times in 1891. However it was not until 1911 that an 'Inter-Empire Championships' took place at Crystal Palace as part of the 'Festival of Empire' to mark the coronation of King George V.

It would be 1928 before any formal steps were taken to organise a British Empire Games. In that year, the Canadian Melville Marks 'Bobby' Robinson was promised support from the Hamilton civic authorities and, after meetings with the Empire representatives, it was agreed that the first British Empire Games were to be held in Hamilton, Canada in 1930.

The 'British Empire Games' was renamed the 'British Empire and Commonwealth Games' at a meeting of the Federation on 20 July 1952. A further meeting on 7 August 1966 saw it becoming the 'British Commonwealth Games' before finally changing its title to the 'Commonwealth Games' on 27 January 1974.

The British Empire Games Federation, later the Commonwealth Games Federation, was formed at a meeting held in Los Angeles, 7 August 1932. Just as the International Olympic Committee is the governing body in charge of the Olympic Games, the CGF oversees the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games.

The Girls' Commercial Secondary School for Girls opened in 1919 alongside the existing Walthamstow Technical Institute. It merged with the technical institutes of Walthamstow and Leyton and the Leyton School of Art to form the South West Essex Technical College in 1938.

The MA in Gender, Sexualities and Ethnic Studies at the University of East London aims to help students to develop a theoretical and empirical understanding of the diverse ways in which gender, sexualities and ethnic divisions are structured and interrelated.

CAST began in 1965, after founder members Roland Muldoon, Claire Burnley [later Muldoon], Raymond Levene and David Hatton were ejected from the left wing Unity Theatre as a result of a failed attempt to make its productions more politically radical. Although all four members had trained and been employed behind the scenes as technical staff, the newly formed group saw them becoming the performers.

With the addition to the group of David 'Red' Saunders who had attended Roland Muldoon's and Levene's drama classes at the Working Men's College, [1965-1966], CAST produced its first original play 'John D Muggins is Dead'(1966), a 20 minute piece inspired by the movement against US involvement in Vietnam. Their next plays, performed by a series of ever changing line ups which would become the norm, were 'Mr Oligarchy's Circus' (1967) and 'The Trials of Horatio Muggins' (1967), both of which reflected the revolutionary struggles between young idealistic socialists and the English middle class. CAST usually played in non theatrical venues, such as technical colleges, universities and political meetings, where it gained a reputation for short, fast, political comedies (usually involving a protagonist with the surname of Muggins) which always played to the audience. As well as touring Britain, the group also travelled to Holland, France and Germany.

The group split in 1972 in the middle of making the short film 'Planet of the Mugs' (after previously turning down a movie offer from Andrew Oldham, the ex manager of the Rolling Stones). Red Saunders and other members of CAST went on to found 'Rock Against Racism' and 'Kartoon Klowns'. The Muldoons, however, reformed CAST but initially found it difficult to both teach newly recruited members of the troupe CAST's particular style and to attract audiences. In 1974 CAST were awarded their first funding from the Arts Council which enabled the Muldoons to begin to perform full time and eventually tour around Britain extensively. In 1980, CAST won an OBIE award in New York for outstanding script and performance for the production 'Full Confessions of a Socialist'.

The core CAST company continued to perform political pieces but in 1982 they began to organise New Variety nights, a mixture of alternative comedy and cabaret acts. The first shows took place at the Old White Horse, Brixton Road but later, with the help of grants from the GLC, the nights expanded to at least 6 venues throughout London.

The Hackney Empire was built as a music hall in 1901, designed by the architect Frank Matcham. In 1956 the theatre was sold to ATV and it became the first commercial television studios in Britain. In 1963 MECCA purchased the theatre and converted it into a bingo hall. MECCA had made some modifications to the interior decor of the Theatre but in 1979 removed the famous turreted domes and pediment from the roof of the building. However, in 1984 the Theatre gained a Grade II* listing and MECCA were ordered to restore building's exterior to its original state. As the interior was also listed, MECCA were unable to alter the original, formal theatre seating arrangement which had become increasingly unsuitable for its bingo playing audience. MECCA then offered the theatre to CAST New Variety as a permanent London base. Assisted by the London Borough of Hackney, Hackney Empire Preservation Trust (founded by the Muldoons and others in October 1986) eventually acquired the freehold from MECCA Ltd for the price of £150,000 on the understanding that they returned the building to its former use.

The Hackney Empire opened once more as a 1000 seat theatre on 9 December 1986 as the home venue for CAST New Variety (under the name Hackney New Variety). CAST New Variety still continued to run the events in smaller locations where they encouraged new acts to perform beside more established artists. By 1986 CAST New Variety were running 250 Sunday shows a year in London.

Hackney Empire went on to establish itself as one of the leading stand-up comedy venues in Britain. In 2001, the Empire began a renovation and restoration project which was completed in January 2004.

From the mid 1990s, Roland Muldoon began to become less involved with the day to day running of Hackney Empire mostly due to the financial problems which has continually affected the Theatre. He finally retired at the end of 2005 and has since begun to organize New Variety shows outside of Hackney Empire.

Opened in September 1898, the Leyton Technical Institute offered a range of technical education for the local community. A day school for boys and girls provided classes in commercial subjects alongside the normal subjects taught in secondary schools. Boys could learn commercial geography, book-keeping, commercial correspondence and shorthand. Girls were offered the additional subjects of needlework and cooking. For students over the age of 16 years, the institute ran evening courses in art, science, commercial, technical and trade subjects.

The secondary school moved out in 1916, to be replaced by an engineering and trade school and by 1928 the institute, now renamed Leyton Technical College, was providing full-time three-year courses for boys over 12.

In the 1930s the college was recognized for national certificate courses in chemistry (1931), building (1931), mechanical engineering (1932), and electrical engineering (1933). Although very popular, in 1934 there were 2,134 students in the junior technical and art schools, a survey of technical education in 1929 had deemed the existing college buildings unsuitable for expansion. When no suitable new site could be found in the local area, a new building was instead constructed in Walthamstow. Leyton merged with its counterpart in Walthamstow to become the new South West Essex Technical College in 1938.

Formed in 1970 by the merger of Barking Regional College of Technology, Waltham Forest Technical College and West Ham College of Technology. Became University of East London in 1992.

South East Essex Technical College, later South East Essex Technical College and School of Art, opened at Longbridge Road, Dagenham in 1936 as one of the four regional technical colleges of Essex. Occupying nearly six acres of the 17 acre site, the College was originally comprised six departments: Industrial and Fine Arts, Commerce, Domestic Science, Engineering, Building and Allied Subjects and Science. A secondary technical school was also opened at the site, providing pupils with a less academic education than was usually offered in a secondary grammar school.

During the Second World War, the college was commandeered for the training of military personnel, with the school being evacuated to Somerset. Following the 1944 Education Act, the secondary school developed as a separate organisation although it still used the Longbridge Road buildings. The school eventually moved to its own premises around 1960, becoming the South East Essex County Technical High School in 1962. It would later merge with Bifrons Secondary Modern School to become Mayesbrooke Comprehensive School in 1970.

In 1938 a large block, comprising an indoor heated swimming pool, two gymnasia, a squash court and a sports pavilion was added. In October 1951 a large one storey block was opened as a building centre. In 1953 a two storey building printing block was added and in 1955 the one storey science block was extended. The site was then 22 acres.

In 1962 the College was designated a Regional College of Technology and reverted back to its original name of South East Essex College of Technology, the name being changed again in 1965 when it was called the Barking Regional College of Technology. At the same time control passed from the Essex County Council to the new London Borough of Barking. In 1966 a four storey engineering block was erected and two new departments were formed: Business and Management and Education.

In 1970 the North East London Polytechnic was formed, incorporating the College together with West Ham College of Technology and Waltham Forest Technical College and School of Art. The Longbridge buildings became the Barking Campus of the new Polytechnic, later the University of East London.

By the end of 2006, all of the departments of the University of East London were located at either the Docklands or Stratford Campus. The buildings of the Barking Campus were developed into luxury flats.

South West Essex Technical College and School of Art opened at Forest Road, Walthamstow in September 1938 as one of the four regional technical colleges of Essex. The College was formed by the merger of Technical Colleges of Walthamstow and Leyton, together with the Walthamstow Commercial School for Girls and the Leyton School of Art, all of which had been operating as separate institutions. It served the boroughs of Walthamstow, Leyton, Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford and the districts of Waltham Holy Cross, Epping and Ongar.

The College was given locally the title of 'The People's University' and the new building included: a 1200 seat assembly hall; two gymnasia; science laboratories; engineering workshops; architectural studios; art studios; refectory; demonstration rooms; and student and staff common rooms. The College was initially organised into the departments of: Engineering; Science; Industrial and Fine Arts; Architecture and Building; Commerce, Languages and Social Studies; Domestic Science; Music; Social and Recreational Classes; and secondary day schools for boys and girls.

During its first academic year (session 1938-1939) 6842 students enrolled, 5802 of whom were part-time evening students. This unexpectedly high number of evening students saw some classes being held temporarily in the nearby Sir George Monoux Grammar School. At Christmas 1938, these were moved to the buildings of the old Walthamstow Technical College (Grosvenor House) and Commercial School for Girls (Chestnuts) in Hoe Street which soon became a permanent arrangement.

During the Second World War, the boys' and girls' secondary schools were evacuated to Kettering, but classes continued for the senior students. However due to blackouts, problems with transport and workers undertaking overtime, many of the evening classes were moved to the weekend. After negotiations with the War Office, the College began to train military personnel in the various branches of engineering. In September 1940, it accepted its first 100 soldiers who were also billeted on College premises. As the number of service personnel (which later included members of the RAF and the Navy) being taught at the College grew to around 1000 students at a time, the Sir George Monoux Grammar School was commandeered as additional accommodation. Members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) were trained at the College from 1942, with courses expanding to cover commercial subjects such as typewriting and administration. Domestic Science was added in early 1945 as part of a rehabilitation scheme when 44 ATS members, all young married women, were given lessons in Cookery, Mothercraft and Dressmaking. By 1945 it was estimated that 12,000 service trainees had passed through the College.

After Grosvenor House burnt down in 1945, an annexe to the Forest Road building was constructed in prefabricated aluminium in 1949 to provide an additional 11 classrooms and an architectural studio. A further four storey building was added in September 1959 containing workshops, lecture rooms and laboratories for the Engineering, Architecture and Science departments. The secondary school separated from the College in 1957 and was relocated to Billet Road, Walthamstow, becoming the McEntee County Technical School.

In 1965, control of the College was transferred from Essex County Council to the London Borough of Waltham Forest, and in September 1966 changed its name to the Waltham Forest Technical College and School of Art. By then the College consisted of ten departments with approximately 7000 students enrolled on its courses.

Following the publication of the Government White Paper in 1966, proposals were drawn up for incorporating the advanced work together with corresponding staff, into the new North East London Polytechnic. A new Waltham Forest Technical College came into being simultaneously, taking over all the lower level work and acquiring premises in other parts of the borough whilst still retaining some accommodation temporarily at Forest Road.

Formed in 1992 from the Polytechnic of East London, previously North East London Polytechnic.

The Municipal Technical Institute was built by the Council of the Borough of West Ham and opened in October 1898 along with the West Ham Central Library - the Passmore Edwards Museum which formed part of the same block of buildings designed by J G S Gibson and S B Russell opened two years later.

Initially the College offered only senior evening and day classes for both sexes, priority given to those who lived or were employed in the Borough of West Ham. Classes were intended to give a thorough all round training for industrial life, and for those taking day classes it was promised they would learn more in two to three years than they would taking a normal seven year apprenticeship. Technology, Pure and Applied Science, Art, Commerce and Domestic Economy courses were offered to evening students, whilst day classes consisted of Art, Chemistry, Engineering, Physics and Domestic Economy. In 1902 the Institute became associated with the University of London and soon became an Institution with Recognised Teachers of the University offering degree courses as well as course leading to other qualifications.

In 1912-1913, Junior Technical Schools in Engineering and Trade Dressmaking were established. A Junior Commercial School followed in 1932, with a Junior Building School added in 1942.

In 1922 it became known as the West Ham Municipal College and in 1952 it underwent a further name change to West Ham College of Technology. After it was designated a Regional College of Technology in 1962, the institute was divided and a new College, the West Ham College of Further Education, took over the lower level work. The advanced work was retained by the West Ham College of Technology and by 1970, when it joined with two other institutions to form the North East London Polytechnic, all of its work was of degree standard.

The buildings now form part of the University of East London's Stratford Campus.

A school of art was founded in 1883 by the Walthamstow Literary Institute in Trinity schoolroom, West Avenue, which was united to the Science and Art Department, South Kensington. In 1892 it moved to Grosvenor House, Hoe Street, then on to Court House, Hoe Street, in 1900. It was taken over by Walthamstow Higher Education Committee in 1906 but was closed in 1915.

Before 1889 there were very few facilities for technical education in Britain, apart from those found in selected grammar and elementary schools. The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 empowered County Councils to aid technical or manual instruction by means of the penny rate, further funding came from the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of the following year. A 35 man Technical Instruction Committee was set up in Essex in 1891, when a further Act was passed to regulate the administration of these funds. Known, from their origins, as 'Whisky Money', they amounted to about £22,000 per annum but gradually diminished. Following the Education Act of 1902 further funds came from the levy of a Higher Education rate in the areas served, to meet the cost of higher education. In 1930 the system of differential rating was abolished and a flat higher education rate was raised over the whole administrative county.

The first grants to fund laboratory equipment and organised, evening science schools in the region were made in 1895. The two largest projects were the technical institutes at Walthamstow (1897) and Leyton (1898). The schools were so successful that by 1910 there were calls for day classes to be introduced. The Day Classes were delayed by the outbreak of the First World War, but the first was opened at Walthamstow in 1917 with 75 pupils. Leyton followed in 1918 with 100 pupils.

By 1924 the demand for technical education in the area had become so pronounced that the District Sub-Committees recommended the establishment of larger technical colleges in extra-metropolitan Essex. In 1933 the Technical Instruction Committee decided to divide the County into four regions and to provide each with a technical college, supported by a ring of junior and senior evening institutes.

The last to be built was South West Essex Technical College - formed by the merger of Technical Colleges of Walthamstow and Leyton. It served the boroughs of Walthamstow, Leyton, Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford and the districts of Waltham Holy Cross, Epping and Ongar.

The Eastern Churches Association was founded in April 1864 with the aims to inform the British public as to the state and position of the Eastern Christians, to make known the doctrines and principles of the Anglican Church to the Christians in the East, and to take advantage of all opportunities for intercommunion with the Orthodox Church and friendly intercourse with the other ancient Churches of the East, and to assist as far as possible the Bishops of the Orthodox Church in their efforts to promote the spiritual welfare and the education of their flocks. This committee issued sixteen Occasional Papers between 1864-1874. After 1874, the Association languished owing to the death of its leading members and was practically refounded in 1893 when the Committee for the Defence of Church Principles in Palestine was united with it. By 1914, the Association had only 56 members.

Anglican and Eastern [Orthodox] Churches Union (AEOCU) was founded in 1906, by Rev Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton (1875-1959), in concert with the Rev F R Borough, in order by practical effort to promote mutual sympathy, understanding and intercourse, and to promote and encourage actions furthering Reunion.

Their activities were chiefly educational, including promotion of lectures on re-union and the Eastern Churches, the hire of sets of lantern slides illustrative of the churches, rites, ornaments etc of the Orthodox Churches, and production of leaflets for distribution by members. They also published a journal titled Eirene, and established a small lending library. A branch of the Union was founded in the United States of America in 1908. By 1914 the Union had approximately 2000 members in Britain. Fynes-Clinton was General Secretary of the AEOCU (and its successor) from 1906-1920, when he was appointed Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Eastern Church Committee.

Anglican and Eastern Churches Association was formed by the amalgamation in 1914 of the Eastern Church Association with the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union. The stated purpose of this organisation was to unite members of he Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches for the object of promoting mutual knowledge, sympathy and intercourse between the Churches, praying and working for re-union, and encouraging the study of Eastern Christendom. It was funded by subscription, though has since benefited from a bequest of £17000 received in 1974.

This association consisted of members who supported the Association by subscription. Administered by a General Committee, comprising two presidents - one Anglican and one an Eastern-Orthodox, two Vice-Presidents in England, one of each denomination, Branch Presidents, Treasurer and ex-officio General Secretary with 22 other members.

One area of particular interest to the Association was the continued use of the Cathedral of St Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul) as an Islamic mosque. The St Sophia Redemption Committee was formed [1914-1919] in order to arouse the English church to assist in liberating Eastern Christians from Turkish oppression. This committee comprised representatives of a number of denominations, with Fynes-Clinton as one of the secretaries, and were involved in the circulation of literature circulated, meetings held, to no avail.

The Association also had periods of increased activity following WW1 and WW2 as it attempt to ascertain the state of the various branches of the Eastern Orthodox church effected by the fighting and in particular the whereabouts of church leaders in countries where the churches were oppressed by enemy occupation or unfriendly governments.

The association was also involved with the Serbian Church Students' Aid Council, which was formed for the support of the theological education of a number of Serbian students at Oxford around 1919.

The League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports (LPCS) was founded by Henry B Amos and his friend Ernest Bell. During 1923 Henry B Amos had in successfully campaigned for the banning of Sunday rabbit-coursing in the district of Morden, by means of letters to the press, distribution of leaflets and gathering support amongst civic and religious leaders. At the same time, he was campaigning for a Protection of Animals Bill, designed to stop both rabbit-coursing and hunting of carted (transported) stag. In 1924, Amos decided to devote his whole time to this humane work thought the formation of a society, and Ernest Bell agreed to become the Honorary Treasurer. They had both been members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and former members of the Humanitarian League (ceased in 1919) buy felt that RSPCA was insufficiently active on the hunting issue.

The League's stated principle was That it is iniquitous to inflict suffering, either directly or indirectly, upon sentient animals for the purpose of sport.' It initially focused on the prohibition of recognised blood-sports including fox-hunting, stag-hunting, otter-hunting, hare-hunting, rabbit and hare-coursing. It also campaigned against the Rodeo, which was staged at the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley, and was attempting to establish an English headquarters at Leeds. Campaign methods ofpractical propaganda' included the printing and issuing of leaflets, monthly articles in Animals Friend, lobbying community and religious leaders, letters to the press. Membership of new society grew steadily by 1927, had 1000 members.

Internal conflict was a continual feature of the League's existence. In 1931, Bell resigned, along with the President, the Hon S Coleridge, as did his successor, Lady Cory, the same year. The disputes mainly involved policy disagreements, particularly over the hunting activities of Royalty. The League sought to achieve respectability, by acquiring as patrons or vice presidents -those with titles, churchmen, and military rank.

In 1932, the dissidents formed the National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (NSACS) split from the League, however publicity generated by the spilt attracted sufficient membership for both the LACS and the NSACS to survive. The League's tactics were mainly designed to general publicity by pamphlets and leaflets especially, as well as letter writing and articles in local and national newspapers.

Local semi-autonomous branches of the League were also established in the South-West, Oxford and Bristol started in 1927-1928. By 1939, 8 active local branches. During World War 2, membership dipped and achievements were few. The Secretary, Mr J Sharp, largely managed the Leagues affairs. He attacked hunting as an unpatriotic activity, and gained supported from several newspapers. He encouraged people to write letters to the press, which was one of the few ways of beginning the debate, and in 1942, sent 556 letters to the press, of which 110 were published. After the War, promise of legislation in 1948-9, and by the Scott Henderson inquiry of 1950-1, both served to renew interesting in the League's activities.

During the 1950s, the League also attempted to raise media interest in the issue of animal cruelty, complaining about cruelty to the horses involved in the Grand National, and objecting to the BBC programme on myxomatosis. Journalist and Chairman of the League, E Hemingway, was particularly active in this area, and managed to persuade 36 newspapers to publish reports of the League's 1956 AGM. He was successful publicist, and enthusiastic for the disrupting of hunts and annoying of hunting people. However, the society was gaining a radical image and failed to gain support in the arenas where decisions about hunting were made.

Hemingway did however introduce an alternate policy, in 1957, of buying small but strategically placed pieces of land, initially on Exmoor, and denying hunting people access to it. When a hunt crossed the land in 1959, the League responded with demands for police protection, a High Court injunction against the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, and placed armed guards around the sanctuary. This policy lead to further purchases of land, and by 1976, 24 properties amounting to over 1500 acres, with another 9 properties, and 600 acres added by 1982. In some cases the League purchased sporting rights, but not the land itself, or purchased whole farms, which they then leased them to commercial non-hunting farmers. This `sanctuary policy' was successful in protecting a number of animals, providing regular and continuous publicity for League whenever there was an invasion, and gave the organisation a way of spending its increasing legacy income.
In conjunction with this, the League began to offer free legal advice to land owners who wished to sue or get injunctions against hunts that trespassed on their property, winning 6 cases in 1974. The League also developed policy of asking landlords such as the National Trust and the Crown to ban hunting on their land, as well as lobbying urban councils to do the same. In 1982, the Cooperative Wholesale Society, owner of 50000 acres of farmland was persuaded to ban hunting on all its land.

The League was initially supported by membership subscriptions, later however War legacies made up a significant proportion of the League's income and since 1960, more income has been received from legacies than subscriptions, thus giving the League financial independence from its own members. In 1970s membership reached around 13000.

However, the League had failed in successive attempts to abolish coursing failed in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Protection of Badgers Act 1973 was a positive step, but it still authorised landowners to kill badgers. Internal disputes erupted again in May 1977, as the Annual General Meeting was adjourned in chaos. At the Extraordinary General Meeting in November that year, the arguments continued and the current Chairman, R Rowley, was challenged and withdrew from the election. Eventually Lord Houghton, persuaded to stand for post of Chairman and was elected in December 1977, and the League was able to focus once more on working to change legislation in order to effectively end hunting.

In 1978, the League joined the General Election Co-ordinating Committee for Animal protection (GECCAP), which was formed as a consultative body, in order to make direct approaches to politicians and political parties, in preparation for the 1979 general election. Its main aims were to persuade political parties to develop an animal welfare policy, create a standing Royal Commission on Animal protection , and make policy commitments on areas of concern including blood sports. In Jul 1979, GECCAP was dissolved that the National Consultative Committee or Animal Protection was formed.

It was not until 1981, that the Wildlife and Countryside Act increased the protection of badgers, and was further strengthened in 1985. The passing of the Badger Sett (Protection) Act 1991 was a major success for the League. Other successes have included the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996; and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Russian Red Cross in Great Britain (founded in 1893), was revitalised around 1920, and set out to provide relief for people exiled from Russia and their children who found sanctuary in Great Britain following the Russian Revolution of 1917. Those exiles were people of all walks of life, many of whom found it difficult to adapt to a new way of life in a foreign country. Further emigration of Russians to the Great Britain occurred following World War Two, and comprised people who had suffered under both German and Russian oppression, or were escaping forced repatriation within the USSR.

In 1948, the International Red Cross rules that only the national Red Cross can function in a country and asked the Society to change its name and discontinue the use of the Red Cross emblem. The name was altered to the 'Russian Benevolent Society 1917'.

In the 1960s, the Society purchased three number of houses in the Chiswick area of London, including 56 Woodstock Rd, and 6 Arbinger Rd, and 16 The Avenue. These were run as hostels, particularly for elderly, ill or disabled people formerly from Russia, and were Russian speaking communities. The society also provided small grants to people in need or to relieve immediate distress. Its chief fundraising activities were an Annual Christmas Bazaar and two general appeals for funds each year.

The Society operates as an independent, non-political charity, registered under the War Charities Act 1940. The name was altered to the Russian Refugees Aid Society in 1978. Very few Russians were allowed to leave the USSR until its collapse in 1991. Since then the Society's focus has altered to providing immediate relief to refugees from the former Soviet republics, and assisting them in dealing with government authorities.

The North London Collegiate School for Ladies (NLCS) was opened by Frances Mary Buss (FMB) in the Buss family home in Camden St, London, on 4 April 1850, with 38 pupils. It aimed to provide an education for the daughters of the middle class community in which it was situated.

FMB was the head and the school staff consisted of a number of full-time assistant mistresses (known as governesses) and part-time masters attending when required. FMB's brothers Alfred and Septimus Buss also gave instruction. The school primarily catered for day pupils, but in 1866, the boarding house where some of the girls from more distant homes were accommodated, was taken over by Miss Buss and moved to a location closer to the school, with a second boarding house opening soon after at 15 Camden Rd.

FMB insisted that all the (women) teaching staff at the school should be trained at the Home and Colonial Schools Society, and introduced regular weekly staff meetings as a means of securing uniformity of action and exact teaching. Discipline was maintained through a system of deduction marks and memorised impositions, rather than corporal punishment. In an era when education of girls was seen as a health concern, FMB took step to pre-empt criticism of the school on these grounds. There was a constant emphasis on health at the schools, and callisthenics and gymnastics were practised regularly. In 1868 senior girls were even given a physiology course by Miss Chessar of the Home and Colonial Schools.

The opening up of external examinations to girls stimulated the academic function of the school. In 1863, NLCS submitted 25 candidates to the Cambridge University Senior Local Examinations. And in 1865, it was one of only two girls' schools to participate in the Schools Inquiry Commission. The same year, FMB devised the term Head Mistress, in order to demonstrate the parity between the sexes as heads of schools. The Schools Inquiry Commission found that very little funding was being devoted to the education of girls by charitable endowments, compared to that available to boys (12 schools for girls and 820 for boys). The report of this Commission led to the Endowed Schools Act of 1869, which required annual examinations to be held at all schools, unless pupils took approved public examinations or were being inspected. The Act was also responsible for the creation of 80 endowed schools. The Endowed Schools Commission established a curriculum along the lines already being pursued at NLCS.

In 1869, a public meeting was held to form a Trust to take over the ownership and running of the NLCS, and its name was altered to the North London Collegiate School for Girls. The trust deed was signed on 26 Jul 1870, with the trustees including Alfred and Septimus Buss, Charles Lee (vicar of Holy Trinity, Haverstock Hill), and a number of women (at the insistence of FMB). Later trustees also included two members of the 1965 Schools Inquiry Commission - Dr John Storrar M D (Chairman of the Governors, 1870-1874), and Dr A W Thorold, (vicar of St Pancras, and Chairman of the Governors, 1875-1892). Fourteen of the trustees were appointed to the governing body for both the NLCS and a new lower school established at the Camden St site under Miss Elford, when the NLCS moved to larger premises at 202 Camden Rd. By 1871, the new Camden school had 113 girl pupils.

NLCS was a self supporting school, reinvesting surplus funds in the improvement of teaching salaries. In 1870, it was the largest school of its type in the country. New buildings were necessary, and an appeal for funds was begun in 1870. A loan of £3 000 and a gift of £1000 from Miss Ewart, one of the Governors, was received, which allowed for the purchase of premises in Sandall Rd. Augmented in 1872 by the allocation of a part of the income of the Brewers' Company educational bequest, and a donation of £20 000 from the same Company, building work could begin. This however was delayed by the passage of the Endowed Schools Amendment Act, which was not signed until May 1875. Initially both schools were to be located on the Sandall Rd site, however in 1876, plans were drawn up for buildings on two separate sites, and a site in Prince of Wales Rd acquired for the Camden School, at the suggestion of the Charity Commission (formerly the Endowed Schools Commission). Further delays occurred while the Governors and the Charity Commission negotiated over concerns at the cost of building on two separate sites. Eventually, a further £8000 from the Brewers' Company, £2000 from Dame Alice Owen's charity and a loan of £6000 enabled building to proceed. A further donation from the Clothworkers' Company was used for the erection of an assembly hall at Sandall Rd. The Camden School buildings, Prince of Wales Rd, were opened in 1878, and the NLCS buildings, Sandall Rd, 1879. From then on FMB concentrated mainly on the further development of NLCS.

Recognition of the value of a proper education for girls meant that numbers of pupils rose steadily at both schools and by 1876, there were 449 at NLCS and 393 at the Camden School. In 1876, an inspection team from London University visited the School. By this time, subjects such as elementary physics, practical chemistry and botany had been introduced, enhancing the school's reputation for science teaching. More academic opportunities were opening up for women, Oxbridge colleges for women were being founded, and in 1878, the Convocation of London University, with Dr Storrar as Chair, approved the motion proposed by Septimus Buss for the admission of women to take degrees. FMB began to recruit women graduates to teach in her schools, and by1885, there were nine graduates on the teaching staff, eight of whom were her former pupils. She was also concerned that proper salaries were paid to the new and well trained graduates, introducing a savings scheme for the teaching staff and a pension schemes. Following FMB's death in 1894, the two schools came to be known collectively as the Frances Mary Buss Schools.

The second Headmistress of NLCS was Sophie Bryant (1850-1822), appointed in 1895. She had joined the staff in 1875, a brilliant scholar and teacher. She believed in the broadest possible education for children, rejecting the pressure from external exams on the School's curriculum. While emphasising intellectual education, she recognised its limitations and introduced the study of home crafts and household business.
NLCS enrolments declined along with the neighbourhood in the early 20th century. Numbers dropped from 480 in 1903, to 392 in 1910, then to 343 by 1914. In October 1913, the school increased from 10 to 25% the number of free places offered. However standards remained high, with 41 of the 46 in the sixth form matriculating, in 1911, and 23 of the 29 sixth form leavers in 1914, taking up university places.

The girls also participated in various clubs and societies, including a Hockey club, a Basketball team, a Science club with branches in photography, geography and gardening, Debating Society, Botanical Society, Dorcas Society, Missionary Society, and Sunshine League.

Sophie Bryant retired in 1918, and was succeeded by Isabella Drummond, who had joined the staff of NLCS in 1908. Drummond created more freedom in the school, reducing the rules, promoting self-reliance and intellectual enterprise in pupils, and espousing career advice. She also encouraged staff to develop their own subjects within the syllabus, and in 1919 introduced a sabbatical term for members of staff with more than seven years continuous service. She was also able to persuade the Governors to pay for supply teachers in the event of staff absences.

Following World War 1 there was a surge in school numbers, rising to 510 in 1919, with 600 pupils by 1925. The Sandall Rd site was becoming inadequate for a school this size. In 1927, the Governors decided to purchase Canons in Edgware, (the former home of the Duke of Chandos) for £17,000, and pupils travelled there once a week for sports and other activities until 1938, when the whole school moved to the Edgware site, and the Camden School For Girls took up residence in the vacated buildings in Sandall Rd.

In 1926 a cow shed in Bromley-by-Bow was purchased to commemorate 100 years since Frances Mary Buss' birth and was converted with the assistance of the Old North Londoners Association, for social services and a club premises for local children, It was known as Frances Mary Buss House.

Drummond retired at the end of 1940, and Eileen Harold was appointed the new Head Mistress having been formerly second mistress at Haberdashers' Aske's. During World War 2, approximately half the students were sent to Luton, though Edgware was outside the evacuation zone, most of the rest remaining at Canons. In 1944, Harold resigned to take up the post of Head Mistress of Haberdashers' Aske's, and was succeeded by Dr Katherine (Kitty) Anderson.

During Anderson's twenty year tenure the School became a Direct Grant Grammar School in 1945, and facilities were gradually expanded with the opening of the Drummond Library in 1954, a swimming pool in 1955, and a new drawing school in 1958. Pupil numbers rose and by 1956, there were 813 girls attending the school. In 1958, the school was inspected, and received a glowing report. Anderson was particularly enthusiastic that her pupils should have the opportunity to attend university. By 1964, 61 of the 123 leavers had university places, and another 42 were undertaking further training of different kinds.

Madeline McLauchlan was appointed Headmistress, in December 1964, taking up her appointment in Sep 1965. She handled the response of the school to the Public Schools Commission, established 1966, and the abolition of the Direct Grant Scheme, which had existed since 1926. It was replaced by a combination of bursaries and the Assisted Places Scheme, and NLCS became an independent school with charitable status.

The next headmistress, Joan Clanchy was appointed in 1986. She introduced a number of changes including moving the Junior School to its own building in 1987, and lessening the class size. In 1995, the First School was opened for girls aged 4 to 7 years.

Sophia Willock was born on 15 Feb 1850, at Sandymount near Dublin, the daughter of Rev W A Willock, Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. She was educated by her father and private governesses. In 1863, the family moved to London where her father took up the post of Professor of Geometry at London University, and in 1866 Sophia became a student at Bedford College.

In 1869 she married Dr W Hicks Bryant of Plymouth. When he died in 1870, she obtained a teaching post at a school for ladies in Highgate, before joining the staff of North London Collegiate School (NLCS), Camden in 1875. In 1895 she was appointed the second Headmistress, succeeding the School's founder Frances Mary Buss.

Bryant was a brilliant scholar and teacher. She was one of three women members of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education. She was one of the first two women to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree, and the first to obtain a Doctor of Science, awarded in 1884. In 1898 Bryant was the first woman to be elected by the Convocation of London University to the University Senate. She also served on the Technical Education Board and its successor - the Education Committee of the London County Council, representing the Board on the London Polytechnic Council, and was also a member of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education. She also enthusiastically supported teacher training, and was a member of the Board of Studies of Pedagogy at London University, as well as a campaigner for the University's establishment of a chair of education, and chair of the Training College's Council. She was also involved with Goldsmiths' College following its transfer to the University, was honorary director of the Henrietta Barnett School, Hampstead Garden Suburb, and President of the Association of Head Mistresses.

She retired from NLCS in 1918, after 43 years of service. She died in 1922, aged 72 as the result of an accidental fall during a mountaineering holiday near Chamonix, Switzerland.

Cassandra Willoughby was born in 1670 at Middleton, Warwickshire, the daughter of Francis Willoughby (1619-1672) and his wife Emma Barnard (1644-1725). Following Willoughby's death, Emma married Sir Josiah Child (d.1699), and moved with him and her three children to Wanstead House, Essex. In 1681, her eldest brother Francis (1668-1888) went to live with his aunt, Lettice Wendy, at Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire, his younger brother Thomas (1672-1729) following soon after. Around 1886, Francis persuaded Cassandra to join him at Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, a family property which he occupied by then. Following Francis death in 1688, she lived for a time in London with her younger brother Thomas, before returning with him to Wallaton.

In 1713, Cassandra married James Brydges (1674-1744), MP for Hereford, and Post Master General. Brydges had resigned as PMG in 1713 having acquired a fortune of £600 000. They moved, along with the surviving children from his first marriage to Canons, a property near Edgware, Middlesex, which he had acquired through his first wife, Mary Lake (c.1666-1712), and which he rebuilt over the next three years. From 1717-1720, the composer George Frederick Handel became composer-in-residence at Canons. He wrote both The Chandos Anthems and Concerti Grossi at Canons, and his opera Acis and Galatea had its first performance in the gardens there.

In 1717, Brydges inherited the earldom of Caernarvon, and in 1717 was created the first Duke of Chandos. The family lived mainly at Canons, travelling frequently to their other residences in Albemarle Street, London and Bath. Cassandra kept up a copious correspondence, was fond of horse riding, reading, painting and embroidery, as well as being a skilful household manager. Brydges lost much of his fortune in the failure of the South Sea Company, 1720. Cassandra died unexpectedly following an apoplectic fit on14 Jul 1735.

Frances Mary Buss (FMB) was born in London, 16 August 1827, the daughter of Robert William Buss, an engraver and illustrator, and his wife Frances nee Fleetwood. Educated locally in dame schools. She began her teaching at the age of 14 in the Mrs Wyand's school, Mornington Place, Hampstead Rd.

When she was aged 18, FMB and her mother opened a preparatory school for young children in Clarence Rd, Kentish Town, using a system of education based on Pestalozzi, 'a method which renders the important duty of Instruction interesting to the teacher and attractive to the pupils'. FMB also took evening classes at the newly established Queen's College 1849-50, gaining certificates in French, German and geography. In 1849 the Clarence Rd school moved to larger premises in Holmes Terrace, where FMB's father Robert William Buss and her two brothers - Alfred J Buss and Septimus Buss assisted with the teaching until the school was given up.

The North London Collegiate School for Ladies, opened in the Buss family home in Camden St, on 4 April 1850, with 38 pupils and FMB as head. It aimed to provide education for the daughters of the middle class community in which it was situated, with other members of the family again assisting the staff with the teaching.

In 1869, a public meeting was held to form a trust to take over the ownership and running of the School. Trustees included FMB's brothers Alfred and Septimus, and at the insistence of FMB, a number of women. Fourteen of the trustees, were appointed to the governing body for both the NLCS and a new lower school established at the Camden St site, under Miss Elford, when the NLCS moved to larger premises at 202 Camden Rd. With the increasing academic opportunities that were opening up for women, FMB began to recruit women graduates to teach in her schools. There were nine graduates on the teaching staff by 1885, eight of whom were former pupils of the school.

FMB was instrumental in the formation of the Association of Head Mistresses, in 1874, together with other leading head mistresses, its first meeting being held in her home in Myra Lodge. She was the first president, and Dorothea Beale, head of Cheltenham Ladies College, the first chairman.

FMB was also active in the area of promoting employment for women. She corresponded with the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women in 1870. She attacked the Government for restricting its office clerkships to men, in 1865, and praised the Post Office for enabling girls to sit examinations for vacancies the following year. She believed that teachers should be highly educated and well trained and was also instrumental in setting up the Teachers' Guild in 1883, and inaugurated a location section at the School in Mar 1889. She was also a driving force behind events leading to the creation of the Cambridge Training College in 1885 (later the University Department of Education, Hughes Hall), and she paid the first year's rent on the cottages housing the first eleven students, four of whom were from NLCS.

FMB continued as Headmistress of the School for the rest of her life. She was absent from school for most of 1893-4, suffering from failing health, and died on 24 Dec 1894.

Alfred J Buss, (1830-1920) younger brother of Frances Mary Buss, taught arithmetic and Latin, in 1870 became a Governor of the School and in 1875, Clerk to the Governors. He was ordained as a clergyman. Alfred married Mary Caron, and they had three children, Charles Caron, Mary St Olave and Le'onie.

Septimus Buss (1836-1914) was the seventh child of Robert and Frances Buss, and younger brother of Frances Mary Buss. He left school aged 14 in order to attend lectures at University College, and afterward spent some time at work in the studio of Alfred Clint, eventually rejecting an artistic career for the study of theology. He studied theology at King's College London, receiving BA 1858, LLB 1863. He was ordained Deacon in 1860, and Priest 1861, and appointed Curate at St Peter's Regent's Square until 1862, Curate at Holy Trinity Haverstock Hill until [1863], Chaplain to St Pancras Workhouse, 1864, and evening lecturer at St Andrew's Haverstock Hill, until 1873. His next appointment was as Rector of Wapping, 1874, Shoreditch, 1881, St Anne's and St Agnes', Gresham St, London 1899.

He also taught at NLCS, giving drawing lessons during the 1850s, then teaching divinity to the upper classes, which he continued for 55years. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the temperance movement (having worked with members of his parishes suffering from the ills of excessive drinking). In 1860 he married, Maria Emma Buss (1836-1912) his cousin, and they had three children Francis Fleetwood, Arthur Clement and Ernest Wilfred. Following Maria's death he married in 1913, Kate Dyke. He died on 20 Sep 1914. Maria Emma Buss [1836]-1912, the daughter of Charles Buss (1806-1877) who was the brother of R W Buss, was one of the first pupils of NCLS. She completed her school education aged 16, in 1852 and trained at the Home and Colonial Society, before joining the teaching staff at the school. In 1860, she married her cousin Septimus Buss.

Rev Francis (Frank) Fleetwood Buss, son of Septimus Buss, and nephew of FMB.

Robert William Buss (1804-1875) artist, was born in London, 4 August 1804, son of William Buss, engraver and enameller. He was apprenticed to his father, and studied painting with George Clint. He painted many portraits of actors, later also painting historical and humorous subjects; exhibited at the Royal Academy, British Institution and Suffolk Street (1826-1859), produced book illustrations, lectured on various art subjects, edited the Fine Art Almanac, and produced etchings. He also taught science, elocution and drawing at the NLCS. He married Frances Fleetwood, in 1826, and they had five surviving children, Frances Mary (1827-1894), Alfred J (1830-1920), Septimus (1836-1914), Octavius, and Decimus (1840-1919). He died in Camden Town, 26 February 1875.

Jane Buss, wife of Henry Buss MD (1810-1900) who was a brother of Robert William Buss, and aunt of FMB.

Bank (1991-2010), a group of artists including at times Simon Bedwell, Milly Thompson,John Russell, Andrew Williamson, David Burrows and Dino Demostheous.

Curtain Road Arts was an artist-run project housed in an old furniture warehouse in Shoreditch, London, which functioned as a studio and an art project space. It was a centre for a great deal of activity in the 90s, and included artists such as Glenn Brown, Alex Landrum, Dermot O'Brien, Anya Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker, Angela Bulloch, Dan Hays and Michael Stubbs. Curtain Road Arts also housed The Agency Gallery. Curtain Road Arts ended in 1999, due to rising rents in the now very fashionable Hoxton area. A number of the artists founded a similar smaller project called Mellow Birds, which ran until 2002.

An archive of Engaged (1994-1998): an arts magazine edited by Rachel Steward, that aimed to examine and promote other relevant forms of publishing whilst remaining within the familiar and enjoyable realms of the magazine format. Radio Issue 6, features work by DJ Spooky, Tim Etchells (of Forced Entertainment), Gregory Whitehead, Kaziko Hoki of the Frank Chickens, Carsten Nicolai, and others.

The Indent publication and lecture series (1999) organised by Virginia Nimarkoh, was hosted at Camberwell School of Art. The archive features publications by BANK, Grennan and Sperandio, Inventory, Mute and Emma Rushton and Derek Tyman and was compiled by Virginia Nimarkoh.

The New Cross site which now houses the Goldsmiths' College, University of London, started life in 1843 as the Royal Naval School, a boarding school for the sons of officers in the Royal Navy and Marines. In 1889 the property was sold to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for £25,000 and was re-opened by the Prince of Wales in July 1891 as the 'Goldsmiths' Company's Technical and Recreative Institute', though it was always known simply as the 'Goldsmiths' Institute'. The intention of the Institute was the 'promotion of the individual skill, general knowledge, health and well being of young men and women belonging to the industrial, working and poorer classes', and broad subject teaching was supplemented by certificates and prizes awarded by the City and Guilds Institute, the government Science and Art Department, and the Society of Arts. Instruction was also given for London University pass degrees in Science. All this was generously funded by the Goldsmiths' Company, and by 1900 there were over 7,000 enrolled students, also attracted by thriving social, sporting and academic clubs and societies. The governing body of the Institute consisted of the Prime Warden and Wardens of the Company, 7 members of its Court and 6 co-opted members. The day-to-day running was left to a Secretary (the first being J.S. Redmayne) and 150 staff. Activities of the Institute included a School of Art and a series of evening classes and lectures.

1902 saw a new Education Act, which was followed by a London Education Act. To make certain of inclusion in any London educational scheme, and to prevent the Goldsmiths' Company from being subject to a local authority, a proposal was made to offer the Institute as a going concern to the Education Authority for London. In the end, the Institute was offered as a gift to the University of London, with the condition it was always used for educational purposes; the proposal was accepted in April 1904. Interim committees were set up to decide the future of the Institute, and in Autumn 1904 a new Goldsmiths' College Delegacy was created, which was responsible to the University of London Senate. The first Chairman of the Delegacy was Sir Edward Busk (1904-1919). The Warden was the only member of College staff in direct contact with the governing body. Much of the administrative work was undertaken by the two Vice-Principals. From this moment on, the Goldsmiths' College was divided into three functions: the Training Department, the School of Art and the Evening Department. It had already been decided that the Institute was to become a Teacher Training College, where students would take the two-year Certificate of Education course.

The Goldsmiths' College was formally opened on 29 September 1905. Constitutionally it was in an anomalous position, being owned by the University of London and having no legal or constitutional independence, whilst being funded by the Ministry of Education and the London County Council. The Delegacy maintained very little control over the various activities of the College as it did not pay for them, and the hope that the College would become a School of the University of London remained unrealised until 1988. At this point, Goldsmiths' College was the largest teacher training institution in the country, and the only one maintained by the University for teaching a two-year certificate of Education course. It was also permitted by the University to teach for University degrees (1907). Training functions were later expanded to include refresher courses for teachers, the University Postgraduate Certificate in Education and an Art teacher's Certificate course. The College also ran its own Nursery School. In 1947 the College became a Department of the London University Institute of Education; and in 1950, the decision was made that Goldsmiths' College students should no longer read for internal degrees of the University. The new Bachelor of Education degree was introduced in the early 1960s, and the Department was renamed the 'Department of Arts, Science and Education'.

The School of Art continued at Goldsmiths' College under the control of the London County Council, which decided to develop it in the direction of higher education in Art, as opposed to training for trade and crafts. The School claimed to provide advanced instruction in such subjects as drawing, painting, modelling, design, book illustration, etching and lithography. Under the headmastership of Clive Gardiner (1929-1958), the School of Art developed into a respected institution which produced a group of etchers known as the 'Goldsmiths' School'. During this period it began teaching the Art Teacher's Certificate course (1938). It began teaching painting and sculpture diploma classes in 1962, and textile and embroidery courses the following year. These courses were re-christened BA courses in 1975, and supplemented by degree courses in Fine Art and Art History. Most of the evening adult education courses offered by the Goldsmiths' Institute came to an abrupt end in 1905 after it was handed to the University of London.

The Science, Building and Engineering Departments, which all provided evening teaching for University degrees, remained outside the new teacher training remit, and struggled to survive without regular financial support from the University. From 1915 onwards, science teaching was concentrated in an Engineering and Building Department, though at a lower academic level than before. Following years of negotiations regarding technical training in east London, the Peckham and Lewisham Literary Institutes were merged on the College site in 1931, and reopened as the College's Evening Institute (known later as the Evening Department of Adult Education. The Evening Department flourished after the war, expanding its classes into a wide range of subjects, such as literature, music, drama, philosophy, science and history. The Evening Students' Association was extremely active in attracting new clients. In 1965, the Evening Department was renamed the 'Adult Studies Department', and changed its teaching emphasis to cater for the demand for more advanced work, such as part-time degree courses, Open University courses and postgraduate study. Another emphasis was put upon community education, exemplified by the creation of a Community Education Centre at Lee Green in 1973.

In 1976, an internal reorganisation led to the creation of five 'Schools', including a 'School of Education', which had to deal with a sharp reduction in the number of students, leading to its incorporation of St Gabriel's in Camberwell and the Rachel McMillan College in Deptford (1973-1977); the 'School of Adult and Community Studies'; and the School of Art. There was to be one single Academic Board for all five schools (a sixth was added 1980 when School of Adult and Social studies divided in two). Another major internal reorganisation occurred in 1986, with the six schools being compressed into three faculties and number of individual departments reduced by a series of amalgamations. The Goldsmiths' College was created a School of the University of London in 1988 (Royal Charter 1989) - though the possibility of a merger with Queen Mary College was mooted and discussed in 1984-1985 - on condition that it did not replicate teaching at other schools, but concentrate on its own specialisms. To this end Science teaching came to an end and the Science Department and the Rachel McMillan building were transferred to Thames Polytechnic.

The buildings which the Goldsmith's Company presented to the University of London had been erected to the designs of the architect John Shaw. They consisted of a rectangular building with two parallel wings surrounding a cloistered quadrangle which was closed by a building known as the 'school room'. A further quadrangle behind led onto the playing fields. Few alterations have been made to the original building: the quadrangle was roofed over in 1891 to create the Great Hall, the chapel converted into a lecture room in 1892, and the School of Art built on the second quadrangle in 1908. During World War Two, Goldsmiths' College moved to University College, Nottingham, though the School of Art remained in London and evening classes were suspended. The College buildings were severely damaged by bombing in 1940 and 1944. Full college activities were not restored until 1947. All students were housed in College hostels until well into the 1960s. Following the College's Jubilee in 1955, changes began to be made in the administration. The first Registrar was appointed in 1958. The government-led rise in student numbers led to new buildings being erected to accommodate them - these included the Education building and the Gallery (1968), the Warmington Tower (1969), a Student's Union extension (1975), a gymnasium and Craft block (1962), and the Whitehead Building (1968). The College also had the use of the Rachel McMillan building in Deptford (later given to Thames Polytechnic) and the Millard building in Camberwell (sold in 1988). A large part of the School of Art was housed in the latter until the building of a new library in the 1980s allowed it to return to the main site.

Kenneth A Gourlay (c 1920-1995) was a British ethnomusicologist who conducted work amongst the Karamojong of Uganda, in Nigeria and in Papua New Guinea. Gourlay went to Uganda in the 1960s to teach English at Makarere University and was by 1984 Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Musicology Section of the Centre for Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

Born in 1918, Richard Hoggart was educated at Leeds University. He served with the Royal Artillery during World War Two, and was demobilised as a Staff Captain. He was then appointed Staff Tutor at the University of Hull, 1946-1959, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Leicester, 1959-1962, and Professor of English at Birmingham University, 1962-1973. During his Professorship, he was also Director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1964-1973. Hoggart was a member of numerous organisations, including the Albermarle Committee on Youth Services, 1958-1960; the Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting, 1960-1962; the Arts Council, 1976-1981; and the Statesman and Nation Publishing Company Ltd, 1977-1981. He was also Chairman of the Advisory Council for Adult and Continuing Education, 1977-1983, and the Broadcasting Research Unit, 1981-1991, as well as a Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1962-1988. Hoggart has written widely on literary topics, as well as education, and the teaching of literature and broadcasting. He was Warden of Goldsmiths' College from 1976 to 1984.

Constance Howard (1910-2000) joined the staff of Goldsmiths' College as a part-time tutor. She went on to found and become Head of the Department of Embroidery (later Textiles) in the College's School of Art, 1947-1975. She is seen widely as a leading pioneer in the making and teaching of embroidery as an art form. The Resource and Research Centre is named after her and was established by her successor, Audrey Walker, in 1980. In 1996 the Friends of the Study Collection was formed to extend and enhance information about this unique resource. Pieces are purchased for and donated to the Collection on the understanding that they will be made available for hands on research and study. The Centre regularly organises lectures and exhibitions, and the many slides and textiles housed there are being digitised as an ongoing project to provide a 'virtual' resource.

For more than 20 years Terence Kelly was a broadcast specialist reporter for the UK Press Gazette - Britain's trade magazine for journalists. He amassed a unique collection of cuttings, papers, and reports during the research and writing of his weekly articles and after retirement thought they should be preserved in a reliable university archive where Media was taught as a subject. During this period significant changes to the UK broadcast industry took place. Independent radio began in 1973. Deregulation changed the map of UK independent television and radio. John Birt brought about significant changes to the BBC, and Conservative governments between 1979 and 1997 provoked substantial disputes and struggles over broadcast working practices and broadcasting policy.

Originally called the London International Festival of Student Theatre, LIFT was formed in 1980 by Rose de Wend Fenton and Lucy Neal inspired by their participation in a student theatre festival in Portugal. LIFT became a registered charity in 1981 and in that year, along with another student, Simon Evans, Rose and Lucy organised the first London International Festival of Theatre which presented companies from Poland, France, Brazil, The Netherlands, Malaysia, West Germany, Japan, Peru, and the UK. Following the success of the first festival Rose and Lucy, along with a growing number of permanent and freelance employees, volunteers and placements, researched and organised another eleven festivals including one 'Out of LIFT' season especially for young people. In the early years LIFT had to overcome a number of funding problems including almost having to cease trading in 1983 and the abolition of the Greater London Council in 1986. LIFT continued to present and commission work from all over the world; in the period 1981-2001 companies from over 60 countries participated in the festivals. LIFT presented theatre for a variety of audiences, both in conventional theatres and at unusual and different sites. Over the years work has been presented at places such as Bankside Power Station, the site for the LIFT, '93 Launch, Limehouse Basin, the site for Welfare State International's ‚'The Raising of the Titanic‚' LIFT, '83, and Euston Tower, the site for Deborah Warner's ‚'The Tower Project‚' in LIFT, '99. LIFT not only presented new theatre it also re-presented old or forgotten places in London. In 1991 LIFT piloted an Education and Community Programme in order to devise a long term strategy for working in this sector in the future. An Education Officer, Tony Fegan, was employed in 1993 and produced LIFT's first Education Programme for the 1993 festival called the BT LIFT Education Programme. By LIFT '95 the Learning Programme was integrated into the main programme of festival events and has remained so ever since. Festivals presented many education and community projects including ‚'Sang Song ‚' River Crossing‚' at LIFT, '93, 'Sirk Uzay‚' Celestial Circus‚' at LIFT, '95, and ‚'Utshob‚' in LIFT, '97. From early on LIFT, realising the potential for debate and learning that existed in the coming together of different cultures and countries included workshops and discussions in the festivals. LIFT, '93 launched the first Daily Dialogues and each festival had lectures or forums in addition to the main programme of events. Other projects grew out of LIFT, 's passion for learning and participation. In 1996 Phakama, an international arts exchange project for young people, was born, the first Business Arts Forum took place in 1995 and the Teachers Forum began in 1999. After twelve festivals LIFT decided to break with the traditional biennial festival format and enter the Enquiry period, a five-year venture to investigate theatre and present year round events.