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Hayes Textiles Limited of Vencourt Place, 261/271 King Street, London, specialised in high quality Jacquard Fabrics and the production of Nigerian headwear. The Directors were D A Butler, S Ryman and M J Nettleton. On the death of the founder D A Butler, the company closed.

The International Wool Secretariat (IWS) was founded in 1937 and promoted the use and export of Australian wool, working with textile companies, designers and retailers. The International Wool Secretariat soon began special export promotions to the USA and South Africa, and during the 1940s and 1950s offices were established in several European countries, Canada and Japan. In 1964 the International Wool Secretariat began to use their Woolmark logo and continued to expand in size and profit, branching out into new areas such as knitwear, including menswear and womenswear, and carpets. In 1994 the activities of the International Wool Secretariat were merged with those of the Australian Wool Research and Promotion Organisation (AWRAP), and operated as one organisation under the control of AWRAP. In 1997 the International Wool Secretariat became the Woolmark Company, specialising in textile innovation and technical research, and the London office was closed as Woolmark moved its operations and headquarters to Melbourne, Australia.

The London Alliance of West End Cutters was founded in 1892 by J P Thornton, and was a professional society for tailors. Annual dinners were held and lectures given to meetings. The Alliance was wound up in 1987.

The London College of Fashion has its origins in the first women's trade schools: Shoreditch Technical Institute Girls Trade School (founded 1906), Barrett Street Trade School (founded 1915), and Clapham Trade School (founded 1927). The schools were set up by London County Council Technical Education board to train pupils for industries that required skilled craft labour. The schools ran a variety of courses that included dressmaking, ladies tailoring and embroidery. Barrett Street Trade School ran a hairdressing and beauty course and Clapham ran a millinery course. Men's tailoring and furrier courses were established later. Almost all pupils obtained employment on completion of their courses. Women were employed in the ready-to-wear trade centred on London's East End, or in the fashionable dressmaking and allied trades in the West End, based around the South Kensington and Oxford Street areas. Women working in this area were highly skilled, and the early needle-trade schools in London trained women for this high quality couture work.

After the Second World War and the 1944 Education Act, which required pupils to continue full time general education until 15, Shoreditch and Barrett Street schools were given technical college status. The junior courses were discontinued and senior courses expanded. Management courses were introduced. Barrett Street Trade School was renamed Barrett Street Technical College, and after 1950, began to take on male students. Shoreditch Girls Trade School merged with Clapham Trade School and became Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades, also including men on their courses. The colleges were amalgamated in 1967 to form the London College for the Garment Trades.

The new college was organised into four departments; Design, Clothing, Hairdressing and Beauty Culture and General Studies. In 1968 courses in beauty therapy, fashion writing and modelling were added to the curriculum. By 1970 the college catered for over 3,000 day and evening students from the age of 16 onwards taking examinations for college certificates, City and Guilds and the Institute of Trichologists. In 1974 the Governors supported the recommendation by the Academic Board that the name of the college should be changed to the London College of Fashion. In January 1986 the college bacame a constituent college of the London Institute, merging with Cordwainers College in August 2000.

The time log was a method of evaluating and paying for the work of tailors and tailoresses, and was an attempt to deal with industrial unrest at the end of the 19th century. Detailed lists of times allocated for the making of designated garments were set out, for example dress and frock coats. In some parts of the country the log created more problems than it solved, but the system was adopted in London and log books were produced for every type of garment including alterations. Machine logs, deducting times for operations when sewing machines were used, were also given. The log was agreed to by various trade unions, including the Association of London Master Tailors, the Amalgamated Society of Tailors and the London Society of Tailors. It was considered and amended by a Conciliation Board and new editions produced. The board met to consider the log and matters affecting the salaries and working conditions of tailors and tailoresses.

The log covered gentleman's coats, waistcoats, trousers, breeches and livery, uniforms, ladieswear, naval, court and diplomatic dress. The London Log continues to exist as a method of payment for piecework and is negotiated annually between the Federation of Merchant Tailors and the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers. It operates in a closely defined geographical area for all workers, and corresponds approximately with the W1 postcode area and Knightsbridge.

William Cooling Lawrence was President of the Association of London Master Tailors and Chair of the Joint Log Committee.

PROFITS, or Professional Fashion Industries Technology Service, was organised by London College of Fashion and funded by the Department of Trade and Industry as an Enterprise Initiative aimed at the clothing industry. The information packs sold to businesses were the result of 9 months research into the clothing industry in London.

Shoreditch Technical Institute founded a Girls Trade School in 1906 to train girls for the garment trades. The school offered trade courses in dressmaking, embroidery and upholstery and was set up by the London County Council Technical Education Board. During the nineteenth century both skilled men and women employed in the clothing industry earned their trade through an apprenticeship, but by the end of the century the system was not training sufficient workers and trade schools were established to provide more skilled labour.

Pupils were taken from the age of 12 following elementary education, and were trained for two years to work primarily in London's West End couturier houses and hair salons. Women were employed in the ready-to-wear trade centred on London's East End, or in the fashionable dressmaking and allied trades in the West End based around the South Kensington and Oxford Street areas. Women working in this area were highly skilled, and the early needle-trade schools in London, including Shoreditch, trained women for this high quality couture work. Almost all pupils obtained employment on completion of their courses. All pupils followed a curriculum that was two-thirds trade subject and one-third general education. Following the success of the full time courses the school started to run a variety of day release and evening courses for women already working in the trade. The school worked very closely with the trades and had consultative committees that were almost exclusively made up of members from the industries. These committees advised in the suitability of courses for the prevailing employment conditions in the clothing industry at the time, and courses were introduced or adapted accordingly. For example, with the developments in clothing mass production the consultative committees introduced further wholesale classes at Shoreditch

The 1944 Education Act required pupils to continue full time general education until 15 and gave Shoreditch technical college status. The junior courses were discontinued and senior courses expanded. Management courses were introduced. Shoreditch merged with Clapham Trade School and became Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades in 1955, including men on their courses. Renamed Shoreditch College for the Clothing Industry in 1966, the college amalgamated with Barrett Street Technical College (formerly Barrett Street Trade School) in 1967 to form the London College for the Garment Trades, later renamed the London College of Fashion.

Miss Winifred K Shunn was an embroidery and tambour teacher at Barrett Street Trade School from 1928 to 1962. She married in 1938 and was the first female member of staff to be allowed to continue teaching after her marriage.

The Tailors' and Outfitters' Assistants' Mutual Association was established in 1893 for the relief of poverty and distress of employees working in a department of a tailoring or outfitting establishment, qualified teachers of the trade and their dependants. In 1972 the Association became known as the General Friendly Society. The Tailors' and Outfitters' Assistants' Mutual Association Benevolent Fund was established in 1970 by trust deed. The Society was dissolved in 1978, and the benevolent fund was merged in 1993 with the Tailors' Benevolent Institute, a trust fund to 'relieve either generally or individually persons who are or have been journeyman tailors or tailoresses'.

St Mary's Training College was founded in 1850 on the initiative of Cardinal Wiseman. The Catholic Poor School Committee which was concerned with providing primary education to children of poor Roman Catholics throughout the united Kingdom, purchased a former girls school at Brook Green House, Hammersmith, and adapted it for use as a college with accommodation for 40 men students. A legal trust created on 16 Jul 1851 in connection with this property and its use as a training college for Catholic schoolmasters was confirmed in perpetuity.

The college was established on similar lines to that of the Brothers of Christian Instruction (les Freres d'Instruction Chretienne) at Ploermel, Brittany, where English students were sent between 1848-1851. A French brother, Brother Melanie, was initially placed in charge of St Mary's College, until the appointment of an English principal, Rev John Melville Glennie in 1851.

The college opened with six men students who had begun their training at the novitiate of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, Ploermel, Brittany. It was expected that students would join the teaching religious order, however in 1854, in response to a shortage of suitably qualified candidates, the decision was taken to admit lay students to the college. In 1855, additional accommodation was provided for 50 lay students. By 1860 only lay students were attending the college.

With the appointment of the fourth principal Father William Byrne CM in 1899, the association of the College with the Congregation of the Mission (usually known as the Vincentians) commenced. This inaugurated a period of change and augmentation, seen in the increase in staff and student numbers, the introduction of the office of Dean, and the extension of the College premises made possible by funding from the Catholic Education Council. At the same time the College was concerned with adjusting to the requirements of the Education Acts of 1902-3 and their effect on the development of elementary education.

In 1898 Inter-College Sports were introduced between Borough Road, St Mark's, St Johns, Westminster and St Mary's colleges. The college magazine The Simmarian began a new series in 1903-4. Originally in manuscript form, it become a printed paper in 1905.

By 1924 there were 129 resident students at the College. Recognising the limitations of facilities at Hammersmith, the Principal the Very Rev Dr J J Doyle CM along with Sir John Gilbert and Sir Francis Anderton negotiated the sale of the Hammersmith site to the neighbouring Messrs J Lyons and Co. in 1922 and in 1923 the purchase of the Walpole-Waldegrave property at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, from Lord Michelham.

The College moved to its Strawberry Hill site in 1925, despite the extensive new buildings, designed by S Pugin-Powell, being yet incomplete and it was not until June1927 that they were officially opened. The new College site provided accommodation for 150 students, with 190 students altogether.

The majority of students were from England and Wales and entered according to Board of Education regulations. There were also a number of private students from 1925 onwards, including approximately 40 coming annually from Northern Ireland, as well as students from Malta, and brothers from England and Wales. Private students lived in accommodation separate from the College.

Prior to 1928 the Certificate of Education course and examinations were jointly controlled by the Board of Education and individual training colleges. With the introduction of a new scheme for London teacher training colleges, the Board of Education retained its inspectorship functions, but delegated its authority over the courses and examination to the University of London. Under this scheme, the four resident male teacher training college in London (St Mary's, Strawberry Hill; Borough Road, St Mark's and St John's; and Westminster) were formed into a group under the supervision of University College London (UCL). This group was jointly responsible with UCL for drawing up the syllabuses of the courses taught at the colleges, while the final examinations were designed to qualify students for the Certificate of Education awarded by the University of London. To direct the scheme, the Training College Delagacy was established, composed of representatives of the University, the Teacher training colleges, religious denominations and local authorities. Meanwhile, two representatives of the University of London joined the governing board of St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill.

In 1930, in addition to the Certificate of Education course and examination, degree courses were provided at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, leading for successful candidates to a London University degree. At the same time a one year colonial course was established at the College to train Priests and Brothers destined to join overseas missions. In 1935, responsibility for this course was transferred to the Jesuits.

The College became a Constituent College of the University of London Institute of Education, inaugurated on 19 December 1949, and the incorporation of the College into the Institute was formally approved by the Senate of the University in April 1950, the College's centenary year.

In response to the increasing demand for teachers, it was agreed in 1959 to expand the college to 500 places. By 1966, there were 1000 students 1966 also saw the admission of the first full time women students to the college. Other developments include the introduction in 1968 of an extra years study for the conversion of the Teachers Certificate to a Bachelor of Education degree, and in 1975, the first students pursuing the London University Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Humanities and Bachelor of Science.

In 1979 the University of London severed links with College. The University of Surrey agreed to take over the validation of its courses. Representatives from St Mary's College attend meetings of the University of Surrey Delegacy which was set up in 1980. In 1986 the first students of the college graduated with degrees from University of Surrey.

With the retirement of the Fr Desmond Beirne, as Principal in 1992, the College's links with the Vincentians came to an end, and Dr Arthur Naylor was appointed the first lay principal.

The Catholic Poor School Committee was founded in 1847 under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops of Great Britain to provide primary education for the children of poor Catholics in the UK. At this time there was an urgent need to address the lack of schools and teachers for Catholic children, who either attended non-Catholic schools or had no formal education at all.

The Committee consisted of 24 members comprising a clergyman and two laymen from each of the eight ecclesiastical districts into which England and Wales was then divided.

Chaired by the Hon Charles Langdale, the committee was recognized as the body nominated to act as intermediary between the Catholic body and the Committee of the Privy Council on Education, with a view to obtaining a share of the Government Grant for National Education, providing assistance for the building and support of Catholic schools and establishing training colleges for teachers.

In December 1847, the Committee of Council on Education set the conditions for aid grants to the Roman Catholic Schools

It was this Catholic Poor School Committee who purchased the Hammersmith site on which St Mary's College was established in 1850.

From 1888, this committee was known as the Catholic Schools Committee, and in 1905 its was converted into the Catholic Education Council, a much larger body with 80 members. The Catholic Education Council continued and enlarged on the work of its predecessor, fostering the building and extension of schools, promoting and establishing training colleges and secondary education to meet the needs of a growing Catholic population. It continued to by chaired by the 15th Duke of Norfolk until his death in 1916.

[The Committee of Council on Education consisting of four ministers of the Crown, was created in 1839 to superintend the application of any sums voted by Parliament for the purpose of promoting public education. The Education Committee of the Privy Council became the Board of Education and subsequently the Education Department.]

Before 1951 the Committee of Principals of Catholic Training Colleges was known as the Association of Catholic Training Colleges, and then the Association of Principals of Catholic Training Colleges.

: St Mary's Training College was founded in 1850 on the initiative of Cardinal Wiseman. The Catholic Poor School Committee which was concerned with providing primary education to children of poor Roman Catholics throughout the united Kingdom, purchased a former girls school at Brook Green House, Hammersmith, and adapted it for use as a college with accommodation for 40 men students. A legal trust created on 16 Jul 1851 in connection with this property and its use as a training college for Catholic schoolmasters was confirmed in perpetuity.

The college was established on similar lines to that of the Brothers of Christian Instruction (les Freres d'Instruction Chretienne) at Ploermel, Brittany, where English students were sent between 1848-1851. A French brother, Brother Melanie, was initially placed in charge of St Mary's College, until the appointment of an English principal, Rev John Melville Glennie in 1851.

The college opened with six men students who had begun their training at the novitiate of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, Ploermel, Brittany. It was expected that students would join the teaching religious order, however in 1854, in response to a shortage of suitably qualified candidates, the decision was taken to admit lay students to the college. In 1855, additional accommodation was provided for 50 lay students. By 1860 only lay students were attending the college.

With the appointment of the fourth principal Father William Byrne CM in 1899, the association of the College with the Congregation of the Mission (usually known as the Vincentians) commenced. This inaugurated a period of change and augmentation, seen in the increase in staff and student numbers, the introduction of the office of Dean, and the extension of the College premises made possible by funding from the Catholic Education Council. At the same time the College was concerned with adjusting to the requirements of the Education Acts of 1902-3 and their effect on the development of elementary education.

In 1898 Inter-College Sports were introduced between Borough Road, St Mark's, St Johns, Westminster and St Mary's colleges. The college magazine The Simmarian began a new series in 1903-4. Originally in manuscript form, it become a printed paper in 1905.

By 1924 there were 129 resident students at the College. Recognising the limitations of facilities at Hammersmith, the Principal the Very Rev Dr J J Doyle CM along with Sir John Gilbert and Sir Francis Anderton negotiated the sale of the Hammersmith site to the neighbouring Messrs J Lyons and Co. in 1922 and in 1923 the purchase of the Walpole-Waldegrave property at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, from Lord Michelham.

The College moved to its Strawberry Hill site in 1925, despite the extensive new buildings, designed by S Pugin-Powell, being yet incomplete and it was not until June1927 that they were officially opened. The new College site provided accommodation for 150 students, with 190 students altogether.

The majority of students were from England and Wales and entered according to Board of Education regulations. There were also a number of private students from 1925 onwards, including approximately 40 coming annually from Northern Ireland, as well as students from Malta, and brothers from England and Wales. Private students lived in accommodation separate from the College.

Prior to 1928 the Certificate of Education course and examinations were jointly controlled by the Board of Education and individual training colleges. With the introduction of a new scheme for London teacher training colleges, the Board of Education retained its inspectorship functions, but delegated its authority over the courses and examination to the University of London. Under this scheme, the four resident male teacher training college in London (St Mary's, Strawberry Hill; Borough Road, St Mark's and St John's; and Westminster) were formed into a group under the supervision of university College London (UCL). This group was jointly responsible with UCL for drawing up the syllabuses of the courses taught at the colleges, while the final examinations were designed to qualify students for the Certificate of Education awarded by the University of London. To direct the scheme, the Training College Delagacy was established, composed of representatives of the University, the Teacher training colleges, religious denominations and local authorities. Meanwhile, two representatives of the University of London joined the governing board of St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill.

In 1930, in addition to the Certificate of Education course and examination, degree courses were provided at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, leading for successful candidates to a London University degree. At the same time a one year colonial course was established at the College to train Priests and Brothers destined to join overseas missions. In 1935, responsibility for this course was transferred to the Jesuits.

The College became a Constituent College of the University of London Institute of Education, inaugurated on 19 December 1949, and the incorporation of the College into the Institute was formally approved by the Senate of the University in April 1950, the College's centenary year.

In response to the increasing demand for teachers, it was agreed in 1959 to expand the college to 500 places. By 1966, there were 1000 students 1966 also saw the admission of the first full time women students to the college. Other developments include the introduction in 1968 of an extra years study for the conversion of the Teachers Certificate to a Bachelor of Education degree, and in 1975, the first students pursuing the London University Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Humanities and Bachelor of Science.

In 1979 the University of London severed links with College. The University of Surrey agreed to take over the validation of its courses. Representatives from St Mary's College attend meetings of the University of Surrey Delegacy which was set up in 1980. In 1986 the first students of the college graduated with degrees from University of Surrey.

With the retirement of the Fr Desmond Beirne, as Principal in 1992, the College's links with the Vincentians came to an end, and Dr Arthur Naylor was appointed the first lay principal.

: St Mary's Training College was founded in 1850 on the initiative of Cardinal Wiseman. The Catholic Poor School Committee which was concerned with providing primary education to children of poor Roman Catholics throughout the united Kingdom, purchased a former girls school at Brook Green House, Hammersmith, and adapted it for use as a college with accommodation for 40 men students. A legal trust created on 16 Jul 1851 in connection with this property and its use as a training college for Catholic schoolmasters was confirmed in perpetuity.

The college was established on similar lines to that of the Brothers of Christian Instruction (les Freres d'Instruction Chretienne) at Ploermel, Brittany, where English students were sent between 1848-1851. A French brother, Brother Melanie, was initially placed in charge of St Mary's College, until the appointment of an English principal, Rev John Melville Glennie in 1851.

The college opened with six men students who had begun their training at the novitiate of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, Ploermel, Brittany. It was expected that students would join the teaching religious order, however in 1854, in response to a shortage of suitably qualified candidates, the decision was taken to admit lay students to the college. In 1855, additional accommodation was provided for 50 lay students. By 1860 only lay students were attending the college.

With the appointment of the fourth principal Father William Byrne CM in 1899, the association of the College with the Congregation of the Mission (usually known as the Vincentians) commenced. This inaugurated a period of change and augmentation, seen in the increase in staff and student numbers, the introduction of the office of Dean, and the extension of the College premises made possible by funding from the Catholic Education Council. At the same time the College was concerned with adjusting to the requirements of the Education Acts of 1902-3 and their effect on the development of elementary education.

In 1898 Inter-College Sports were introduced between Borough Road, St Mark's, St Johns, Westminster and St Mary's colleges. The college magazine The Simmarian began a new series in 1903-4. Originally in manuscript form, it become a printed paper in 1905.

By 1924 there were 129 resident students at the College. Recognising the limitations of facilities at Hammersmith, the Principal the Very Rev Dr J J Doyle CM along with Sir John Gilbert and Sir Francis Anderton negotiated the sale of the Hammersmith site to the neighbouring Messrs J Lyons and Co. in 1922 and in 1923 the purchase of the Walpole-Waldegrave property at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, from Lord Michelham.

The College moved to its Strawberry Hill site in 1925, despite the extensive new buildings, designed by S Pugin-Powell, being yet incomplete and it was not until June1927 that they were officially opened. The new College site provided accommodation for 150 students, with 190 students altogether.

The majority of students were from England and Wales and entered according to Board of Education regulations. There were also a number of private students from 1925 onwards, including approximately 40 coming annually from Northern Ireland, as well as students from Malta, and brothers from England and Wales. Private students lived in accommodation separate from the College.

Prior to 1928 the Certificate of Education course and examinations were jointly controlled by the Board of Education and individual training colleges. With the introduction of a new scheme for London teacher training colleges, the Board of Education retained its inspectorship functions, but delegated its authority over the courses and examination to the University of London. Under this scheme, the four resident male teacher training college in London (St Mary's, Strawberry Hill; Borough Road, St Mark's and St John's; and Westminster) were formed into a group under the supervision of university College London (UCL). This group was jointly responsible with UCL for drawing up the syllabuses of the courses taught at the colleges, while the final examinations were designed to qualify students for the Certificate of Education awarded by the University of London. To direct the scheme, the Training College Delagacy was established, composed of representatives of the University, the Teacher training colleges, religious denominations and local authorities. Meanwhile, two representatives of the University of London joined the governing board of St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill.

In 1930, in addition to the Certificate of Education course and examination, degree courses were provided at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, leading for successful candidates to a London University degree. At the same time a one year colonial course was established at the College to train Priests and Brothers destined to join overseas missions. In 1935, responsibility for this course was transferred to the Jesuits.

The College became a Constituent College of the University of London Institute of Education, inaugurated on 19 December 1949, and the incorporation of the College into the Institute was formally approved by the Senate of the University in April 1950, the College's centenary year.

In response to the increasing demand for teachers, it was agreed in 1959 to expand the college to 500 places. By 1966, there were 1000 students 1966 also saw the admission of the first full time women students to the college. Other developments include the introduction in 1968 of an extra years study for the conversion of the Teachers Certificate to a Bachelor of Education degree, and in 1975, the first students pursuing the London University Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Humanities and Bachelor of Science.

In 1979 the University of London severed links with College. The University of Surrey agreed to take over the validation of its courses. Representatives from St Mary's College attend meetings of the University of Surrey Delegacy which was set up in 1980. In 1986 the first students of the college graduated with degrees from University of Surrey.

With the retirement of the Fr Desmond Beirne, as Principal in 1992, the College's links with the Vincentians came to an end, and Dr Arthur Naylor was appointed the first lay principal.

St Mary's Training College was founded in 1850 on the initiative of Cardinal Wiseman. The Catholic Poor School Committee which was concerned with providing primary education to children of poor Roman Catholics throughout the united Kingdom, purchased a former girls school at Brook Green House, Hammersmith, and adapted it for use as a college with accommodation for 40 men students. A legal trust created on 16 Jul 1851 in connection with this property and its use as a training college for Catholic schoolmasters was confirmed in perpetuity.
The college was established on similar lines to that of the Brothers of Christian Instruction (les Freres d'Instruction Chretienne) at Ploermel, Brittany, where English students were sent between 1848-1851. A French brother, Brother Melanie was initially placed in charge of St Mary's College, until the appointment of an English principal, Rev John Melville Glennie in 1851.

The college opened with six men students who had begun their training at the novitiate of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, Ploermel, Brittany. It was expected that students would join the teaching religious order, however in 1854, in response to a shortage of suitably qualified candidates, the decision was taken to admit lay students to the college. In 1855, additional accommodation was provided for 50 lay students. By 1860 only lay students were attending the college.

With the appointment of the fourth principal Father William Byrne CM in 1899, the association of the College with the Congregation of the Mission (usually known as the Vincentians) commenced. This inaugurated a period of change and augmentation, seen in the increase in staff and student numbers, the introduction of the office of Dean, and the extension of the College premises made possible by funding from the Catholic Education Council. At the same time the College was concerned with adjusting to the requirements of the Education Acts of 1902-3 and their effect on the development of elementary education.

In 1898 Inter-College Sports were introduced between Borough Road, St Mark's, St Johns, Westminster and St Mary's colleges. The college magazine The Simmarian began a new series in 1903-4. Originally in manuscript form, it became a printed paper in 1905.

By 1924 there were 129 resident students at the College. Recognising the limitations of facilities at Hammersmith, the Principal the Very Rev Dr J J Doyle CM along with Sir John Gilbert and Sir Francis Anderton negotiated the sale of the Hammersmith site to the neighbouring Messrs J Lyons and Co. in 1922 and in 1923 the purchase of the Walpole-Waldegrave property at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, from Lord Michelham.

The College moved to its Strawberry Hill site in 1925, despite the extensive new buildings, designed by S Pugin-Powell, being yet incomplete and it was not until June1927 that they were officially opened. The new College site provided accommodation for 150 students of its 190 students.

For further information on the College following its move to Strawberry Hill see description for St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill.

In July 1898 Mr E White Wallis, scientist, and Mrs Alice Mullins (wife of E Roscoe Mullins, sculptor) issued a circular titled 'A proposed rational school'. This led to the formation of the King Alfred School Society (KASS) which had as its object 'the furtherance, in every possible way, of true educational methods', which was a protest against contemporary education practice. The founding members of the Hampstead based Society along with Alice Mullins, were Isobel White Wallis, F W Miall, Cecil J Sharp, Hamo Thorneycroft, Gerald C Maberly and J Godfrey Hickson. A preliminary prospectus for the new school was issued in December 1897.

The stated principles which were the basis for the school were to educate boys and girls together; to cater for children of all ages; to limit class sizes to secure greater individual attention from teachers; to hold the object of teaching to develop faculty in all directions and to draw out the self-activity of the child; to award no scholarships, prizes or awards on the understanding that learning should be encouraged for its own sake; studies and occupations were to be carefully co-ordinated instead of being treated as separate subjects, the various subjects would be interlinked; closer cooperation between parents and teachers; that the home must help the school to achieve its aim though a common bond of sympathy; and that the school be free from any religious or political organisation.

These were based on the rationalist ideology and theories of education reformers such as Pestalozzi, Herbart, Herbert Spencer, and Louis Compton Miall.

The school opened on 2 May 1898, with Charles E Rice, formerly of Bedales School, Hampshire, as its first headmaster. By the time of the official opening on 24 Jun 1898, performed by Millicent Garret Fawcett, leader of the suffrage movement, the school had seven pupils, though this quickly expanded to twenty during the autumn term, organised into a senior and junior school.

Initially located at 24 Ellerdale Rd, Hampstead in a residential house. The acquisition of 22 Ellerdale Rd in 1906, increased available space for the school.

In 1901, the relationship between Rice and the School Council had deteriorated, amidst attempts by Rice and some members of the Council to limit the School to pupils aged 14 years or younger, to the point where Rice resigned, and later established his own school -West Heath School in Ferncroft Avenue, Hampstead.

The second principal, John Russell a more experienced teacher, former assistant master at University College School, was able to consolidate the effectiveness of the School. By 1911 the school was described as a demonstration school, such was the interest taken in it and in the educational reforms which it exhibited in its curriculum and practice. Enrolments had also jumped from 31 pupils in 1901 to 91 pupils in 1920. During the period, two 'garden schools' for younger children were operated in the vicinity.

Russell was succeeded by Joseph Wicksteed, and in the climate of economic collapse the school faced financial stringency just at a time when it was relocating premises at Manor Wood, North End Rd in 1921. In 1918, the School had purchased the Garden Suburb Montesorri School, however, it refused to tie its curriculum to the Montesorri philosophy. Wicksteed favoured a broader education and based his new curriculum on the Dalton plan. He also embarked on a building programme, completing a new hall in 1926 and new teaching blocks for science and the arts and a junior block prior to his retirement in 1933. The school population peaked at 170 in 1930, but dropped to 139 in 1932.

Violet Hyett, former senior mistress and Holland de Birkett, former senior master were appointed joint heads of school to succeed Wicksteed. They largely continued the educational principles of their predecessor. In 1936, the School Council approved plans to find a country base for the school for weekend and summer camps, as well as a safe haven in the event of war. Flint Hall Farm, near Royston, Hertfordshire, was purchased, and the buildings gradually transformed to accommodate the school. The school moved to Royston in early 1940, returning in September 1945, as Manor Wood buildings were vacated by the Home Guard, but facilities at Royston continued to be used, mainly by local residents, until July 1946.

In the meantime, Baron Harleigh Montgomery had been appointed the new head as Birkett and Hyett had retired. He faced an initial challenge in refurbishing the school building for habitation, as well as the need to persuade parents of the lasting value of the KAS education system on the face of competition for better discipline and examination results comparable to the new grammar schools. The post-war inspection by the Board of Education in 1949 was scathing of the Dalton philosophy. The Council and staff refused to change course, determined to maintain its progressive ethos, however the pressure to prepare pupils for examinations in a wider range of subjects, and in particular the GCE and 11+ examinations, did produce some modifications to the curriculum.

In [1959], it was decided to appoint a woman joint head from outside the school, and the post was filled by Mrs Nikki Paul Jones (later Nikki Archer). She joined the staff in April 1959, and in Oct 1962, Alan Humphries, took up the post of co-head on Montgomery's retirement, but left in 1970 to found the British School in Brussels, leaving full responsibility of headship to Archer. Pupil numbers increased from 298 in 1962 to 410 in 1982 when Archer retired. She was replaced by Francis Moran, head from 1983-1999. He was succeeded by a number of short headships - Lizzie Marsden, 1999-2001 and Sue Boulton, 2001-2003. In 2003, Dawn Moore was appointed head.

The New College of Speech and Drama was established in 1962 by the senior staff of the former Speech and Drama Department of the Royal Academy of Music. Owing to the lack of space at the academy, a company limited by guarantee was formed to found this independent college which was transferred to Ivy House, Hampstead, (the former home of ballerina, Anna Pavlova from 1912-1931) a property specially acquired for this purpose. As a non-profit making educational institution, the College was governed by a Board of Trustees.

The College provided a three year course for teachers in speech and drama. Students could work towards a University of London Diploma in Dramatic Art, the LRAM (Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music) in Speech and Drama, the LRAM in Mime, or the certificate of the International Phonetic Association. They also receive the Diploma of the New College of Speech and Drama, which was recognised by the Ministry of Education as conferring Qualified Teacher status.

In 1974 the College joined with Middlesex Polytechnic, (now part of Middlesex University), and was eventually relocated to Trent Park. The freehold of the Ivy House property was purchased by King Alfred School in July 2002.

John Russell was born at Wyke, in 1855, the son of a bookkeeper. He was educated at St John's College Cambridge, 1878-1882. He graduated with a second class degree in Theology, and chose a career in teaching.

He was a master at Islington High School 1882-1883 where he taught modern languages - French and German, as well as various elementary subjects, athletics and cricket. He resigned in 1883 in order ostensibly to pursue studies in modern philology in Germany, but in fact to seek out alternative educational models on the Continent, such as those that Jules Ferry, Minister of Education in the Third French Republic, was introducing in France. This model included an emphasis on modern languages, and pedagogy based on the Pestalozzian principle of observation. These reforms had distinctly secular and political goals, and were to be a significant influence in Russell's subsequent teaching career.

Returning to England in 1886, he took up a post as assistant master at the University College School, located at this time in Gower St, London. In 1901 he was appointed the second headmaster of the King Alfred School, London to whom he was recommended by a former pupil at UCS. He was appointed followed the complete deterioration of the relationship between the King Alfred School Council and its first Headmaster. A popular and successful head, he oversaw the Schools acquisition of the property at number 22 Ellerdale Rd in 1906. He was also responsible for introducing to the school a Parliament of Pupils, 1904, and the introduction of examinations as a regular part of the curriculum, 1908. He retired from teaching in 1920.

Outside school life, Russell was Warden of the Passmore Edwards settlement in Bloomsbury [1895], an active member of the Teacher's Guild and an acknowledged expert on Pestalozzi. He translated Baron Roger de Guimp's Life and works of Pestalozzi [1886], and wrote articles on modern teaching techniques and for the Guild's Journal of Education.

He was married to Elizabeth (Bess) Collins, who died in 1923. In 1925, he married Estelle Basden, who was the sister was Violet Horton, wife of Dr Horton.

The Children's Society was founded in 1881 by Edward De Mountjoie Rudolf, a young Sunday school teacher and civil servant. Two of his Sunday School pupils were found begging on the streets after their father had died. Their plight highlighted the fact that there were no Church of England Homes capable of taking children at short notice and without payment.

Rudolf gained support from within the Church of England (including the Archbishop of Canterbury) and the Church of England Central Home for Waifs and Strays was founded in 1881. The original intention was to provide Receiving Homes for boys and girls in each diocese, prior to finding them suitable permanent homes. The Society intended to board out (foster) the children "under guarantees for their proper maintenance and education in the principles of the Church of England." However, this quickly evolved into providing longer term Homes and in November 1883 the new name was adopted: Church of England Central Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays.

The Society underwent two further name changes. In 1893, it became the Church of England Incorporated Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays (commonly known as the Waifs and Strays Society). Then, in 1946, the name was changed to The Church of England Children's Society (commonly known as The Children's Society). In 1982, while its legal title remained the same, the name The Children's Society was formally adopted by the organisation.

By the last quarter of the twentieth century social attitudes had changed considerably from those which were prevalent when Edward Rudolf set up The Children's Society. Because of this, The Children's Society made major changes to the way it worked: it closed many children's homes, moving away from adoption and fostering and instead focusing on helping young people solve their own problems.

In 1969 The Children's Society opened its first day-care centre, Foulkes House in south London. The centre was successful and The Children's Society opened more across the country, often on the sites of its former residential nurseries.

In the 1990s, The Children's Society also began focusing working for social justice. This included new projects, lobbying to change legislation and welfare provision, and allowing young people to speak and act for themselves so they could shape their own lives.

The Children's Society maintained a case file for each child who was admitted to its care between 1882 and the 1970s.

The Waifs and Strays Society (later The Children's Society) opened its first two homes in 1882: Clapton Home for Boys in East London and Dulwich Home for Girls in South London. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, children were received into the Homes via three routes:
voluntary cases, where a family member or other concerned adult (often a member of the clergy or social worker) would apply for a place for the child; via the Guardians of the Poor Law, who could choose to house children with voluntary agencies rather than in their own workhouses. The Guardians would pay a fixed amount for each child (equivalent to the cost of maintaining the child in the workhouse.) Some Waifs and Strays Society Homes were certified for the reception of such children; and thirdly as industrial schools, where children would be sent by the magistrates for a range of reasons including truancy, petty crime and living in immoral surroundings. The children were paid for out of central government funds. The successor to these was approved schools.

With the disbanding of the Guardians of the Poor Law in 1930 and the increasing responsibility of local authorities for children's services, more children were placed in the care of the organisation by local authorities. The 1969 Children's Act set up the Assisted Community Homes system and some Children's Society Homes became part of that. Different types of home and resident: receiving homes: homes to which children were sent prior to a longer term place being found in another Home; training homes/ industrial homes: these Homes were specifically for older children in order to train them to earn their own living. Amongst others, St Chad's in Far Headingly in Leeds trained "delicate girls" in machine knitting and also provided laundry training, whilst the Islington Home for Boys provided training in shoemaking; carpentry; and tailoring; convalescent homes: usually on the south coast. "family homes": up to World War Two the Homes were generally single sex, apart from those for children with disabilities and for very young children. After 1946 more Homes became "mixed units", allowing brothers and sisters to remain together. Alice Brooke Home in Scarborough was the last of The Children's Society's Homes solely for girls, with boys only arriving in 1969; children with physical disabilities: from 1887 to the 1980s The Children's Society operated residential homes for children with physical disabilities. During the 1970s and 1980s, The Children's Society continued to provide support for children with physical disabilities in what were then termed "mixed units" which also housed non-disabled children; diabetic children: from 1949 to 1971 The Children's Society provided residential care for diabetic children at St Monica's in Kingsdown in Kent, Carruthers Corfield House in Rustington, Sussex and St George's in Kersal near Manchester; nurseries: these became more prolific after World War Two when there was an increase in the number of babies and toddlers needing places; children with learning difficulties: the Edward Rudolf Memorial Homes opened in south London in the 1930s to provide places for children with what were then termed "behaviourial problems."

The St Nicholas' Home for Crippled Children was opened at Upper Tooting, Surrey in 1888. In 1893, the home was moved to West Byfleet, Surrey, and in 1908, the home was moved once again, this time to Pyrford, Surrey. The St Martin's Home For Crippled Boys was opened at Surbiton, Surrey in 1898. In 1916, the home was moved to Pyrford, Surrey. The St Nicholas' and St Martin's homes in Pyrford were located next door to each other. In 1923, the two Pyrford homes were amalgamated to become St Nicholas' and St Martin's Orthopaedic Hospital and Special School. In 1948, St Nicholas' and St Martin's was taken over by the National Health Service and was renamed the Rowley Bristow Orthopaedic Hospital. More information about the homes can be found on the Hidden Lives Revealed website: St Nicholas' Home, Tooting - http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/TOOTI01.html; St Nicholas' Home, Byfleet - http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/BYFLE02.html; St Nicholas' Home, Pyrford - http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/PYRFO01.html; St Martin's Home, Surbiton - http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/SURBI01.html; St Martin's Home, Pyrford - http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/PYRFO02.html; St Nicholas' and St Martin's Home, Pyrford - http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/PYRFO03.html.

The home was opened in 1938 as a replacement for St Agnes' Hostel For Girls, Croydon, London. It was closed in 1972 and the residents were moved to Harvey Goodwin House Home, Cambridge. In 1974 the building was reopened in as a holiday home for small groups of children in the care of The Children's Society. It was sold the following year.More information about St Agnes' Home, Pevensey Bay, Sussex, can be found on the Hidden Lives Revealed website: http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/PEVEN01.html

Corfield House Home, Rustington, Sussex, was opened in 1951. In 1971, Fairlight Home (The Blanche Wimbridge Trust), which was also based in Rustington, closed down, and the residents and some of the staff from the Fairlight Home were moved into Corfield House Home.
Corfield House Home closed in 1981. More information about Corfield House Home can be found on the Hidden Lives Revealed website: http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/homes/RUSTI01.html

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.