Formed in 1970 by the merger of Barking Regional College of Technology, Waltham Forest Technical College and West Ham College of Technology. Became University of East London in 1992.
South East Essex Technical College, later South East Essex Technical College and School of Art, opened at Longbridge Road, Dagenham in 1936 as one of the four regional technical colleges of Essex. Occupying nearly six acres of the 17 acre site, the College was originally comprised six departments: Industrial and Fine Arts, Commerce, Domestic Science, Engineering, Building and Allied Subjects and Science. A secondary technical school was also opened at the site, providing pupils with a less academic education than was usually offered in a secondary grammar school.
During the Second World War, the college was commandeered for the training of military personnel, with the school being evacuated to Somerset. Following the 1944 Education Act, the secondary school developed as a separate organisation although it still used the Longbridge Road buildings. The school eventually moved to its own premises around 1960, becoming the South East Essex County Technical High School in 1962. It would later merge with Bifrons Secondary Modern School to become Mayesbrooke Comprehensive School in 1970.
In 1938 a large block, comprising an indoor heated swimming pool, two gymnasia, a squash court and a sports pavilion was added. In October 1951 a large one storey block was opened as a building centre. In 1953 a two storey building printing block was added and in 1955 the one storey science block was extended. The site was then 22 acres.
In 1962 the College was designated a Regional College of Technology and reverted back to its original name of South East Essex College of Technology, the name being changed again in 1965 when it was called the Barking Regional College of Technology. At the same time control passed from the Essex County Council to the new London Borough of Barking. In 1966 a four storey engineering block was erected and two new departments were formed: Business and Management and Education.
In 1970 the North East London Polytechnic was formed, incorporating the College together with West Ham College of Technology and Waltham Forest Technical College and School of Art. The Longbridge buildings became the Barking Campus of the new Polytechnic, later the University of East London.
By the end of 2006, all of the departments of the University of East London were located at either the Docklands or Stratford Campus. The buildings of the Barking Campus were developed into luxury flats.
South West Essex Technical College and School of Art opened at Forest Road, Walthamstow in September 1938 as one of the four regional technical colleges of Essex. The College was formed by the merger of Technical Colleges of Walthamstow and Leyton, together with the Walthamstow Commercial School for Girls and the Leyton School of Art, all of which had been operating as separate institutions. It served the boroughs of Walthamstow, Leyton, Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford and the districts of Waltham Holy Cross, Epping and Ongar.
The College was given locally the title of 'The People's University' and the new building included: a 1200 seat assembly hall; two gymnasia; science laboratories; engineering workshops; architectural studios; art studios; refectory; demonstration rooms; and student and staff common rooms. The College was initially organised into the departments of: Engineering; Science; Industrial and Fine Arts; Architecture and Building; Commerce, Languages and Social Studies; Domestic Science; Music; Social and Recreational Classes; and secondary day schools for boys and girls.
During its first academic year (session 1938-1939) 6842 students enrolled, 5802 of whom were part-time evening students. This unexpectedly high number of evening students saw some classes being held temporarily in the nearby Sir George Monoux Grammar School. At Christmas 1938, these were moved to the buildings of the old Walthamstow Technical College (Grosvenor House) and Commercial School for Girls (Chestnuts) in Hoe Street which soon became a permanent arrangement.
During the Second World War, the boys' and girls' secondary schools were evacuated to Kettering, but classes continued for the senior students. However due to blackouts, problems with transport and workers undertaking overtime, many of the evening classes were moved to the weekend. After negotiations with the War Office, the College began to train military personnel in the various branches of engineering. In September 1940, it accepted its first 100 soldiers who were also billeted on College premises. As the number of service personnel (which later included members of the RAF and the Navy) being taught at the College grew to around 1000 students at a time, the Sir George Monoux Grammar School was commandeered as additional accommodation. Members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) were trained at the College from 1942, with courses expanding to cover commercial subjects such as typewriting and administration. Domestic Science was added in early 1945 as part of a rehabilitation scheme when 44 ATS members, all young married women, were given lessons in Cookery, Mothercraft and Dressmaking. By 1945 it was estimated that 12,000 service trainees had passed through the College.
After Grosvenor House burnt down in 1945, an annexe to the Forest Road building was constructed in prefabricated aluminium in 1949 to provide an additional 11 classrooms and an architectural studio. A further four storey building was added in September 1959 containing workshops, lecture rooms and laboratories for the Engineering, Architecture and Science departments. The secondary school separated from the College in 1957 and was relocated to Billet Road, Walthamstow, becoming the McEntee County Technical School.
In 1965, control of the College was transferred from Essex County Council to the London Borough of Waltham Forest, and in September 1966 changed its name to the Waltham Forest Technical College and School of Art. By then the College consisted of ten departments with approximately 7000 students enrolled on its courses.
Following the publication of the Government White Paper in 1966, proposals were drawn up for incorporating the advanced work together with corresponding staff, into the new North East London Polytechnic. A new Waltham Forest Technical College came into being simultaneously, taking over all the lower level work and acquiring premises in other parts of the borough whilst still retaining some accommodation temporarily at Forest Road.
Formed in 1992 from the Polytechnic of East London, previously North East London Polytechnic.
The Municipal Technical Institute was built by the Council of the Borough of West Ham and opened in October 1898 along with the West Ham Central Library - the Passmore Edwards Museum which formed part of the same block of buildings designed by J G S Gibson and S B Russell opened two years later.
Initially the College offered only senior evening and day classes for both sexes, priority given to those who lived or were employed in the Borough of West Ham. Classes were intended to give a thorough all round training for industrial life, and for those taking day classes it was promised they would learn more in two to three years than they would taking a normal seven year apprenticeship. Technology, Pure and Applied Science, Art, Commerce and Domestic Economy courses were offered to evening students, whilst day classes consisted of Art, Chemistry, Engineering, Physics and Domestic Economy. In 1902 the Institute became associated with the University of London and soon became an Institution with Recognised Teachers of the University offering degree courses as well as course leading to other qualifications.
In 1912-1913, Junior Technical Schools in Engineering and Trade Dressmaking were established. A Junior Commercial School followed in 1932, with a Junior Building School added in 1942.
In 1922 it became known as the West Ham Municipal College and in 1952 it underwent a further name change to West Ham College of Technology. After it was designated a Regional College of Technology in 1962, the institute was divided and a new College, the West Ham College of Further Education, took over the lower level work. The advanced work was retained by the West Ham College of Technology and by 1970, when it joined with two other institutions to form the North East London Polytechnic, all of its work was of degree standard.
The buildings now form part of the University of East London's Stratford Campus.
A school of art was founded in 1883 by the Walthamstow Literary Institute in Trinity schoolroom, West Avenue, which was united to the Science and Art Department, South Kensington. In 1892 it moved to Grosvenor House, Hoe Street, then on to Court House, Hoe Street, in 1900. It was taken over by Walthamstow Higher Education Committee in 1906 but was closed in 1915.
Before 1889 there were very few facilities for technical education in Britain, apart from those found in selected grammar and elementary schools. The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 empowered County Councils to aid technical or manual instruction by means of the penny rate, further funding came from the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of the following year. A 35 man Technical Instruction Committee was set up in Essex in 1891, when a further Act was passed to regulate the administration of these funds. Known, from their origins, as 'Whisky Money', they amounted to about £22,000 per annum but gradually diminished. Following the Education Act of 1902 further funds came from the levy of a Higher Education rate in the areas served, to meet the cost of higher education. In 1930 the system of differential rating was abolished and a flat higher education rate was raised over the whole administrative county.
The first grants to fund laboratory equipment and organised, evening science schools in the region were made in 1895. The two largest projects were the technical institutes at Walthamstow (1897) and Leyton (1898). The schools were so successful that by 1910 there were calls for day classes to be introduced. The Day Classes were delayed by the outbreak of the First World War, but the first was opened at Walthamstow in 1917 with 75 pupils. Leyton followed in 1918 with 100 pupils.
By 1924 the demand for technical education in the area had become so pronounced that the District Sub-Committees recommended the establishment of larger technical colleges in extra-metropolitan Essex. In 1933 the Technical Instruction Committee decided to divide the County into four regions and to provide each with a technical college, supported by a ring of junior and senior evening institutes.
The last to be built was South West Essex Technical College - formed by the merger of Technical Colleges of Walthamstow and Leyton. It served the boroughs of Walthamstow, Leyton, Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford and the districts of Waltham Holy Cross, Epping and Ongar.
The Eastern Churches Association was founded in April 1864 with the aims to inform the British public as to the state and position of the Eastern Christians, to make known the doctrines and principles of the Anglican Church to the Christians in the East, and to take advantage of all opportunities for intercommunion with the Orthodox Church and friendly intercourse with the other ancient Churches of the East, and to assist as far as possible the Bishops of the Orthodox Church in their efforts to promote the spiritual welfare and the education of their flocks. This committee issued sixteen Occasional Papers between 1864-1874. After 1874, the Association languished owing to the death of its leading members and was practically refounded in 1893 when the Committee for the Defence of Church Principles in Palestine was united with it. By 1914, the Association had only 56 members.
Anglican and Eastern [Orthodox] Churches Union (AEOCU) was founded in 1906, by Rev Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton (1875-1959), in concert with the Rev F R Borough, in order by practical effort to promote mutual sympathy, understanding and intercourse, and to promote and encourage actions furthering Reunion.
Their activities were chiefly educational, including promotion of lectures on re-union and the Eastern Churches, the hire of sets of lantern slides illustrative of the churches, rites, ornaments etc of the Orthodox Churches, and production of leaflets for distribution by members. They also published a journal titled Eirene, and established a small lending library. A branch of the Union was founded in the United States of America in 1908. By 1914 the Union had approximately 2000 members in Britain. Fynes-Clinton was General Secretary of the AEOCU (and its successor) from 1906-1920, when he was appointed Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Eastern Church Committee.
Anglican and Eastern Churches Association was formed by the amalgamation in 1914 of the Eastern Church Association with the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union. The stated purpose of this organisation was to unite members of he Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches for the object of promoting mutual knowledge, sympathy and intercourse between the Churches, praying and working for re-union, and encouraging the study of Eastern Christendom. It was funded by subscription, though has since benefited from a bequest of £17000 received in 1974.
This association consisted of members who supported the Association by subscription. Administered by a General Committee, comprising two presidents - one Anglican and one an Eastern-Orthodox, two Vice-Presidents in England, one of each denomination, Branch Presidents, Treasurer and ex-officio General Secretary with 22 other members.
One area of particular interest to the Association was the continued use of the Cathedral of St Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul) as an Islamic mosque. The St Sophia Redemption Committee was formed [1914-1919] in order to arouse the English church to assist in liberating Eastern Christians from Turkish oppression. This committee comprised representatives of a number of denominations, with Fynes-Clinton as one of the secretaries, and were involved in the circulation of literature circulated, meetings held, to no avail.
The Association also had periods of increased activity following WW1 and WW2 as it attempt to ascertain the state of the various branches of the Eastern Orthodox church effected by the fighting and in particular the whereabouts of church leaders in countries where the churches were oppressed by enemy occupation or unfriendly governments.
The association was also involved with the Serbian Church Students' Aid Council, which was formed for the support of the theological education of a number of Serbian students at Oxford around 1919.
The League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports (LPCS) was founded by Henry B Amos and his friend Ernest Bell. During 1923 Henry B Amos had in successfully campaigned for the banning of Sunday rabbit-coursing in the district of Morden, by means of letters to the press, distribution of leaflets and gathering support amongst civic and religious leaders. At the same time, he was campaigning for a Protection of Animals Bill, designed to stop both rabbit-coursing and hunting of carted (transported) stag. In 1924, Amos decided to devote his whole time to this humane work thought the formation of a society, and Ernest Bell agreed to become the Honorary Treasurer. They had both been members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and former members of the Humanitarian League (ceased in 1919) buy felt that RSPCA was insufficiently active on the hunting issue.
The League's stated principle was That it is iniquitous to inflict suffering, either directly or indirectly, upon sentient animals for the purpose of sport.' It initially focused on the prohibition of recognised blood-sports including fox-hunting, stag-hunting, otter-hunting, hare-hunting, rabbit and hare-coursing. It also campaigned against the Rodeo, which was staged at the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley, and was attempting to establish an English headquarters at Leeds. Campaign methods ofpractical propaganda' included the printing and issuing of leaflets, monthly articles in Animals Friend, lobbying community and religious leaders, letters to the press. Membership of new society grew steadily by 1927, had 1000 members.
Internal conflict was a continual feature of the League's existence. In 1931, Bell resigned, along with the President, the Hon S Coleridge, as did his successor, Lady Cory, the same year. The disputes mainly involved policy disagreements, particularly over the hunting activities of Royalty. The League sought to achieve respectability, by acquiring as patrons or vice presidents -those with titles, churchmen, and military rank.
In 1932, the dissidents formed the National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (NSACS) split from the League, however publicity generated by the spilt attracted sufficient membership for both the LACS and the NSACS to survive. The League's tactics were mainly designed to general publicity by pamphlets and leaflets especially, as well as letter writing and articles in local and national newspapers.
Local semi-autonomous branches of the League were also established in the South-West, Oxford and Bristol started in 1927-1928. By 1939, 8 active local branches. During World War 2, membership dipped and achievements were few. The Secretary, Mr J Sharp, largely managed the Leagues affairs. He attacked hunting as an unpatriotic activity, and gained supported from several newspapers. He encouraged people to write letters to the press, which was one of the few ways of beginning the debate, and in 1942, sent 556 letters to the press, of which 110 were published. After the War, promise of legislation in 1948-9, and by the Scott Henderson inquiry of 1950-1, both served to renew interesting in the League's activities.
During the 1950s, the League also attempted to raise media interest in the issue of animal cruelty, complaining about cruelty to the horses involved in the Grand National, and objecting to the BBC programme on myxomatosis. Journalist and Chairman of the League, E Hemingway, was particularly active in this area, and managed to persuade 36 newspapers to publish reports of the League's 1956 AGM. He was successful publicist, and enthusiastic for the disrupting of hunts and annoying of hunting people. However, the society was gaining a radical image and failed to gain support in the arenas where decisions about hunting were made.
Hemingway did however introduce an alternate policy, in 1957, of buying small but strategically placed pieces of land, initially on Exmoor, and denying hunting people access to it. When a hunt crossed the land in 1959, the League responded with demands for police protection, a High Court injunction against the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, and placed armed guards around the sanctuary. This policy lead to further purchases of land, and by 1976, 24 properties amounting to over 1500 acres, with another 9 properties, and 600 acres added by 1982. In some cases the League purchased sporting rights, but not the land itself, or purchased whole farms, which they then leased them to commercial non-hunting farmers. This `sanctuary policy' was successful in protecting a number of animals, providing regular and continuous publicity for League whenever there was an invasion, and gave the organisation a way of spending its increasing legacy income.
In conjunction with this, the League began to offer free legal advice to land owners who wished to sue or get injunctions against hunts that trespassed on their property, winning 6 cases in 1974. The League also developed policy of asking landlords such as the National Trust and the Crown to ban hunting on their land, as well as lobbying urban councils to do the same. In 1982, the Cooperative Wholesale Society, owner of 50000 acres of farmland was persuaded to ban hunting on all its land.
The League was initially supported by membership subscriptions, later however War legacies made up a significant proportion of the League's income and since 1960, more income has been received from legacies than subscriptions, thus giving the League financial independence from its own members. In 1970s membership reached around 13000.
However, the League had failed in successive attempts to abolish coursing failed in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Protection of Badgers Act 1973 was a positive step, but it still authorised landowners to kill badgers. Internal disputes erupted again in May 1977, as the Annual General Meeting was adjourned in chaos. At the Extraordinary General Meeting in November that year, the arguments continued and the current Chairman, R Rowley, was challenged and withdrew from the election. Eventually Lord Houghton, persuaded to stand for post of Chairman and was elected in December 1977, and the League was able to focus once more on working to change legislation in order to effectively end hunting.
In 1978, the League joined the General Election Co-ordinating Committee for Animal protection (GECCAP), which was formed as a consultative body, in order to make direct approaches to politicians and political parties, in preparation for the 1979 general election. Its main aims were to persuade political parties to develop an animal welfare policy, create a standing Royal Commission on Animal protection , and make policy commitments on areas of concern including blood sports. In Jul 1979, GECCAP was dissolved that the National Consultative Committee or Animal Protection was formed.
It was not until 1981, that the Wildlife and Countryside Act increased the protection of badgers, and was further strengthened in 1985. The passing of the Badger Sett (Protection) Act 1991 was a major success for the League. Other successes have included the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996; and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.
The Russian Red Cross in Great Britain (founded in 1893), was revitalised around 1920, and set out to provide relief for people exiled from Russia and their children who found sanctuary in Great Britain following the Russian Revolution of 1917. Those exiles were people of all walks of life, many of whom found it difficult to adapt to a new way of life in a foreign country. Further emigration of Russians to the Great Britain occurred following World War Two, and comprised people who had suffered under both German and Russian oppression, or were escaping forced repatriation within the USSR.
In 1948, the International Red Cross rules that only the national Red Cross can function in a country and asked the Society to change its name and discontinue the use of the Red Cross emblem. The name was altered to the 'Russian Benevolent Society 1917'.
In the 1960s, the Society purchased three number of houses in the Chiswick area of London, including 56 Woodstock Rd, and 6 Arbinger Rd, and 16 The Avenue. These were run as hostels, particularly for elderly, ill or disabled people formerly from Russia, and were Russian speaking communities. The society also provided small grants to people in need or to relieve immediate distress. Its chief fundraising activities were an Annual Christmas Bazaar and two general appeals for funds each year.
The Society operates as an independent, non-political charity, registered under the War Charities Act 1940. The name was altered to the Russian Refugees Aid Society in 1978. Very few Russians were allowed to leave the USSR until its collapse in 1991. Since then the Society's focus has altered to providing immediate relief to refugees from the former Soviet republics, and assisting them in dealing with government authorities.
The North London Collegiate School for Ladies (NLCS) was opened by Frances Mary Buss (FMB) in the Buss family home in Camden St, London, on 4 April 1850, with 38 pupils. It aimed to provide an education for the daughters of the middle class community in which it was situated.
FMB was the head and the school staff consisted of a number of full-time assistant mistresses (known as governesses) and part-time masters attending when required. FMB's brothers Alfred and Septimus Buss also gave instruction. The school primarily catered for day pupils, but in 1866, the boarding house where some of the girls from more distant homes were accommodated, was taken over by Miss Buss and moved to a location closer to the school, with a second boarding house opening soon after at 15 Camden Rd.
FMB insisted that all the (women) teaching staff at the school should be trained at the Home and Colonial Schools Society, and introduced regular weekly staff meetings as a means of securing uniformity of action and exact teaching. Discipline was maintained through a system of deduction marks and memorised impositions, rather than corporal punishment. In an era when education of girls was seen as a health concern, FMB took step to pre-empt criticism of the school on these grounds. There was a constant emphasis on health at the schools, and callisthenics and gymnastics were practised regularly. In 1868 senior girls were even given a physiology course by Miss Chessar of the Home and Colonial Schools.
The opening up of external examinations to girls stimulated the academic function of the school. In 1863, NLCS submitted 25 candidates to the Cambridge University Senior Local Examinations. And in 1865, it was one of only two girls' schools to participate in the Schools Inquiry Commission. The same year, FMB devised the term Head Mistress, in order to demonstrate the parity between the sexes as heads of schools. The Schools Inquiry Commission found that very little funding was being devoted to the education of girls by charitable endowments, compared to that available to boys (12 schools for girls and 820 for boys). The report of this Commission led to the Endowed Schools Act of 1869, which required annual examinations to be held at all schools, unless pupils took approved public examinations or were being inspected. The Act was also responsible for the creation of 80 endowed schools. The Endowed Schools Commission established a curriculum along the lines already being pursued at NLCS.
In 1869, a public meeting was held to form a Trust to take over the ownership and running of the NLCS, and its name was altered to the North London Collegiate School for Girls. The trust deed was signed on 26 Jul 1870, with the trustees including Alfred and Septimus Buss, Charles Lee (vicar of Holy Trinity, Haverstock Hill), and a number of women (at the insistence of FMB). Later trustees also included two members of the 1965 Schools Inquiry Commission - Dr John Storrar M D (Chairman of the Governors, 1870-1874), and Dr A W Thorold, (vicar of St Pancras, and Chairman of the Governors, 1875-1892). Fourteen of the trustees were appointed to the governing body for both the NLCS and a new lower school established at the Camden St site under Miss Elford, when the NLCS moved to larger premises at 202 Camden Rd. By 1871, the new Camden school had 113 girl pupils.
NLCS was a self supporting school, reinvesting surplus funds in the improvement of teaching salaries. In 1870, it was the largest school of its type in the country. New buildings were necessary, and an appeal for funds was begun in 1870. A loan of £3 000 and a gift of £1000 from Miss Ewart, one of the Governors, was received, which allowed for the purchase of premises in Sandall Rd. Augmented in 1872 by the allocation of a part of the income of the Brewers' Company educational bequest, and a donation of £20 000 from the same Company, building work could begin. This however was delayed by the passage of the Endowed Schools Amendment Act, which was not signed until May 1875. Initially both schools were to be located on the Sandall Rd site, however in 1876, plans were drawn up for buildings on two separate sites, and a site in Prince of Wales Rd acquired for the Camden School, at the suggestion of the Charity Commission (formerly the Endowed Schools Commission). Further delays occurred while the Governors and the Charity Commission negotiated over concerns at the cost of building on two separate sites. Eventually, a further £8000 from the Brewers' Company, £2000 from Dame Alice Owen's charity and a loan of £6000 enabled building to proceed. A further donation from the Clothworkers' Company was used for the erection of an assembly hall at Sandall Rd. The Camden School buildings, Prince of Wales Rd, were opened in 1878, and the NLCS buildings, Sandall Rd, 1879. From then on FMB concentrated mainly on the further development of NLCS.
Recognition of the value of a proper education for girls meant that numbers of pupils rose steadily at both schools and by 1876, there were 449 at NLCS and 393 at the Camden School. In 1876, an inspection team from London University visited the School. By this time, subjects such as elementary physics, practical chemistry and botany had been introduced, enhancing the school's reputation for science teaching. More academic opportunities were opening up for women, Oxbridge colleges for women were being founded, and in 1878, the Convocation of London University, with Dr Storrar as Chair, approved the motion proposed by Septimus Buss for the admission of women to take degrees. FMB began to recruit women graduates to teach in her schools, and by1885, there were nine graduates on the teaching staff, eight of whom were her former pupils. She was also concerned that proper salaries were paid to the new and well trained graduates, introducing a savings scheme for the teaching staff and a pension schemes. Following FMB's death in 1894, the two schools came to be known collectively as the Frances Mary Buss Schools.
The second Headmistress of NLCS was Sophie Bryant (1850-1822), appointed in 1895. She had joined the staff in 1875, a brilliant scholar and teacher. She believed in the broadest possible education for children, rejecting the pressure from external exams on the School's curriculum. While emphasising intellectual education, she recognised its limitations and introduced the study of home crafts and household business.
NLCS enrolments declined along with the neighbourhood in the early 20th century. Numbers dropped from 480 in 1903, to 392 in 1910, then to 343 by 1914. In October 1913, the school increased from 10 to 25% the number of free places offered. However standards remained high, with 41 of the 46 in the sixth form matriculating, in 1911, and 23 of the 29 sixth form leavers in 1914, taking up university places.
The girls also participated in various clubs and societies, including a Hockey club, a Basketball team, a Science club with branches in photography, geography and gardening, Debating Society, Botanical Society, Dorcas Society, Missionary Society, and Sunshine League.
Sophie Bryant retired in 1918, and was succeeded by Isabella Drummond, who had joined the staff of NLCS in 1908. Drummond created more freedom in the school, reducing the rules, promoting self-reliance and intellectual enterprise in pupils, and espousing career advice. She also encouraged staff to develop their own subjects within the syllabus, and in 1919 introduced a sabbatical term for members of staff with more than seven years continuous service. She was also able to persuade the Governors to pay for supply teachers in the event of staff absences.
Following World War 1 there was a surge in school numbers, rising to 510 in 1919, with 600 pupils by 1925. The Sandall Rd site was becoming inadequate for a school this size. In 1927, the Governors decided to purchase Canons in Edgware, (the former home of the Duke of Chandos) for £17,000, and pupils travelled there once a week for sports and other activities until 1938, when the whole school moved to the Edgware site, and the Camden School For Girls took up residence in the vacated buildings in Sandall Rd.
In 1926 a cow shed in Bromley-by-Bow was purchased to commemorate 100 years since Frances Mary Buss' birth and was converted with the assistance of the Old North Londoners Association, for social services and a club premises for local children, It was known as Frances Mary Buss House.
Drummond retired at the end of 1940, and Eileen Harold was appointed the new Head Mistress having been formerly second mistress at Haberdashers' Aske's. During World War 2, approximately half the students were sent to Luton, though Edgware was outside the evacuation zone, most of the rest remaining at Canons. In 1944, Harold resigned to take up the post of Head Mistress of Haberdashers' Aske's, and was succeeded by Dr Katherine (Kitty) Anderson.
During Anderson's twenty year tenure the School became a Direct Grant Grammar School in 1945, and facilities were gradually expanded with the opening of the Drummond Library in 1954, a swimming pool in 1955, and a new drawing school in 1958. Pupil numbers rose and by 1956, there were 813 girls attending the school. In 1958, the school was inspected, and received a glowing report. Anderson was particularly enthusiastic that her pupils should have the opportunity to attend university. By 1964, 61 of the 123 leavers had university places, and another 42 were undertaking further training of different kinds.
Madeline McLauchlan was appointed Headmistress, in December 1964, taking up her appointment in Sep 1965. She handled the response of the school to the Public Schools Commission, established 1966, and the abolition of the Direct Grant Scheme, which had existed since 1926. It was replaced by a combination of bursaries and the Assisted Places Scheme, and NLCS became an independent school with charitable status.
The next headmistress, Joan Clanchy was appointed in 1986. She introduced a number of changes including moving the Junior School to its own building in 1987, and lessening the class size. In 1995, the First School was opened for girls aged 4 to 7 years.
Sophia Willock was born on 15 Feb 1850, at Sandymount near Dublin, the daughter of Rev W A Willock, Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. She was educated by her father and private governesses. In 1863, the family moved to London where her father took up the post of Professor of Geometry at London University, and in 1866 Sophia became a student at Bedford College.
In 1869 she married Dr W Hicks Bryant of Plymouth. When he died in 1870, she obtained a teaching post at a school for ladies in Highgate, before joining the staff of North London Collegiate School (NLCS), Camden in 1875. In 1895 she was appointed the second Headmistress, succeeding the School's founder Frances Mary Buss.
Bryant was a brilliant scholar and teacher. She was one of three women members of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education. She was one of the first two women to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree, and the first to obtain a Doctor of Science, awarded in 1884. In 1898 Bryant was the first woman to be elected by the Convocation of London University to the University Senate. She also served on the Technical Education Board and its successor - the Education Committee of the London County Council, representing the Board on the London Polytechnic Council, and was also a member of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education. She also enthusiastically supported teacher training, and was a member of the Board of Studies of Pedagogy at London University, as well as a campaigner for the University's establishment of a chair of education, and chair of the Training College's Council. She was also involved with Goldsmiths' College following its transfer to the University, was honorary director of the Henrietta Barnett School, Hampstead Garden Suburb, and President of the Association of Head Mistresses.
She retired from NLCS in 1918, after 43 years of service. She died in 1922, aged 72 as the result of an accidental fall during a mountaineering holiday near Chamonix, Switzerland.
Cassandra Willoughby was born in 1670 at Middleton, Warwickshire, the daughter of Francis Willoughby (1619-1672) and his wife Emma Barnard (1644-1725). Following Willoughby's death, Emma married Sir Josiah Child (d.1699), and moved with him and her three children to Wanstead House, Essex. In 1681, her eldest brother Francis (1668-1888) went to live with his aunt, Lettice Wendy, at Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire, his younger brother Thomas (1672-1729) following soon after. Around 1886, Francis persuaded Cassandra to join him at Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, a family property which he occupied by then. Following Francis death in 1688, she lived for a time in London with her younger brother Thomas, before returning with him to Wallaton.
In 1713, Cassandra married James Brydges (1674-1744), MP for Hereford, and Post Master General. Brydges had resigned as PMG in 1713 having acquired a fortune of £600 000. They moved, along with the surviving children from his first marriage to Canons, a property near Edgware, Middlesex, which he had acquired through his first wife, Mary Lake (c.1666-1712), and which he rebuilt over the next three years. From 1717-1720, the composer George Frederick Handel became composer-in-residence at Canons. He wrote both The Chandos Anthems and Concerti Grossi at Canons, and his opera Acis and Galatea had its first performance in the gardens there.
In 1717, Brydges inherited the earldom of Caernarvon, and in 1717 was created the first Duke of Chandos. The family lived mainly at Canons, travelling frequently to their other residences in Albemarle Street, London and Bath. Cassandra kept up a copious correspondence, was fond of horse riding, reading, painting and embroidery, as well as being a skilful household manager. Brydges lost much of his fortune in the failure of the South Sea Company, 1720. Cassandra died unexpectedly following an apoplectic fit on14 Jul 1735.
Frances Mary Buss (FMB) was born in London, 16 August 1827, the daughter of Robert William Buss, an engraver and illustrator, and his wife Frances nee Fleetwood. Educated locally in dame schools. She began her teaching at the age of 14 in the Mrs Wyand's school, Mornington Place, Hampstead Rd.
When she was aged 18, FMB and her mother opened a preparatory school for young children in Clarence Rd, Kentish Town, using a system of education based on Pestalozzi, 'a method which renders the important duty of Instruction interesting to the teacher and attractive to the pupils'. FMB also took evening classes at the newly established Queen's College 1849-50, gaining certificates in French, German and geography. In 1849 the Clarence Rd school moved to larger premises in Holmes Terrace, where FMB's father Robert William Buss and her two brothers - Alfred J Buss and Septimus Buss assisted with the teaching until the school was given up.
The North London Collegiate School for Ladies, opened in the Buss family home in Camden St, on 4 April 1850, with 38 pupils and FMB as head. It aimed to provide education for the daughters of the middle class community in which it was situated, with other members of the family again assisting the staff with the teaching.
In 1869, a public meeting was held to form a trust to take over the ownership and running of the School. Trustees included FMB's brothers Alfred and Septimus, and at the insistence of FMB, a number of women. Fourteen of the trustees, were appointed to the governing body for both the NLCS and a new lower school established at the Camden St site, under Miss Elford, when the NLCS moved to larger premises at 202 Camden Rd. With the increasing academic opportunities that were opening up for women, FMB began to recruit women graduates to teach in her schools. There were nine graduates on the teaching staff by 1885, eight of whom were former pupils of the school.
FMB was instrumental in the formation of the Association of Head Mistresses, in 1874, together with other leading head mistresses, its first meeting being held in her home in Myra Lodge. She was the first president, and Dorothea Beale, head of Cheltenham Ladies College, the first chairman.
FMB was also active in the area of promoting employment for women. She corresponded with the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women in 1870. She attacked the Government for restricting its office clerkships to men, in 1865, and praised the Post Office for enabling girls to sit examinations for vacancies the following year. She believed that teachers should be highly educated and well trained and was also instrumental in setting up the Teachers' Guild in 1883, and inaugurated a location section at the School in Mar 1889. She was also a driving force behind events leading to the creation of the Cambridge Training College in 1885 (later the University Department of Education, Hughes Hall), and she paid the first year's rent on the cottages housing the first eleven students, four of whom were from NLCS.
FMB continued as Headmistress of the School for the rest of her life. She was absent from school for most of 1893-4, suffering from failing health, and died on 24 Dec 1894.
Alfred J Buss, (1830-1920) younger brother of Frances Mary Buss, taught arithmetic and Latin, in 1870 became a Governor of the School and in 1875, Clerk to the Governors. He was ordained as a clergyman. Alfred married Mary Caron, and they had three children, Charles Caron, Mary St Olave and Le'onie.
Septimus Buss (1836-1914) was the seventh child of Robert and Frances Buss, and younger brother of Frances Mary Buss. He left school aged 14 in order to attend lectures at University College, and afterward spent some time at work in the studio of Alfred Clint, eventually rejecting an artistic career for the study of theology. He studied theology at King's College London, receiving BA 1858, LLB 1863. He was ordained Deacon in 1860, and Priest 1861, and appointed Curate at St Peter's Regent's Square until 1862, Curate at Holy Trinity Haverstock Hill until [1863], Chaplain to St Pancras Workhouse, 1864, and evening lecturer at St Andrew's Haverstock Hill, until 1873. His next appointment was as Rector of Wapping, 1874, Shoreditch, 1881, St Anne's and St Agnes', Gresham St, London 1899.
He also taught at NLCS, giving drawing lessons during the 1850s, then teaching divinity to the upper classes, which he continued for 55years. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the temperance movement (having worked with members of his parishes suffering from the ills of excessive drinking). In 1860 he married, Maria Emma Buss (1836-1912) his cousin, and they had three children Francis Fleetwood, Arthur Clement and Ernest Wilfred. Following Maria's death he married in 1913, Kate Dyke. He died on 20 Sep 1914. Maria Emma Buss [1836]-1912, the daughter of Charles Buss (1806-1877) who was the brother of R W Buss, was one of the first pupils of NCLS. She completed her school education aged 16, in 1852 and trained at the Home and Colonial Society, before joining the teaching staff at the school. In 1860, she married her cousin Septimus Buss.
Rev Francis (Frank) Fleetwood Buss, son of Septimus Buss, and nephew of FMB.
Robert William Buss (1804-1875) artist, was born in London, 4 August 1804, son of William Buss, engraver and enameller. He was apprenticed to his father, and studied painting with George Clint. He painted many portraits of actors, later also painting historical and humorous subjects; exhibited at the Royal Academy, British Institution and Suffolk Street (1826-1859), produced book illustrations, lectured on various art subjects, edited the Fine Art Almanac, and produced etchings. He also taught science, elocution and drawing at the NLCS. He married Frances Fleetwood, in 1826, and they had five surviving children, Frances Mary (1827-1894), Alfred J (1830-1920), Septimus (1836-1914), Octavius, and Decimus (1840-1919). He died in Camden Town, 26 February 1875.
Jane Buss, wife of Henry Buss MD (1810-1900) who was a brother of Robert William Buss, and aunt of FMB.
Bank (1991-2010), a group of artists including at times Simon Bedwell, Milly Thompson,John Russell, Andrew Williamson, David Burrows and Dino Demostheous.
Curtain Road Arts was an artist-run project housed in an old furniture warehouse in Shoreditch, London, which functioned as a studio and an art project space. It was a centre for a great deal of activity in the 90s, and included artists such as Glenn Brown, Alex Landrum, Dermot O'Brien, Anya Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker, Angela Bulloch, Dan Hays and Michael Stubbs. Curtain Road Arts also housed The Agency Gallery. Curtain Road Arts ended in 1999, due to rising rents in the now very fashionable Hoxton area. A number of the artists founded a similar smaller project called Mellow Birds, which ran until 2002.
An archive of Engaged (1994-1998): an arts magazine edited by Rachel Steward, that aimed to examine and promote other relevant forms of publishing whilst remaining within the familiar and enjoyable realms of the magazine format. Radio Issue 6, features work by DJ Spooky, Tim Etchells (of Forced Entertainment), Gregory Whitehead, Kaziko Hoki of the Frank Chickens, Carsten Nicolai, and others.
The Indent publication and lecture series (1999) organised by Virginia Nimarkoh, was hosted at Camberwell School of Art. The archive features publications by BANK, Grennan and Sperandio, Inventory, Mute and Emma Rushton and Derek Tyman and was compiled by Virginia Nimarkoh.
The New Cross site which now houses the Goldsmiths' College, University of London, started life in 1843 as the Royal Naval School, a boarding school for the sons of officers in the Royal Navy and Marines. In 1889 the property was sold to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for £25,000 and was re-opened by the Prince of Wales in July 1891 as the 'Goldsmiths' Company's Technical and Recreative Institute', though it was always known simply as the 'Goldsmiths' Institute'. The intention of the Institute was the 'promotion of the individual skill, general knowledge, health and well being of young men and women belonging to the industrial, working and poorer classes', and broad subject teaching was supplemented by certificates and prizes awarded by the City and Guilds Institute, the government Science and Art Department, and the Society of Arts. Instruction was also given for London University pass degrees in Science. All this was generously funded by the Goldsmiths' Company, and by 1900 there were over 7,000 enrolled students, also attracted by thriving social, sporting and academic clubs and societies. The governing body of the Institute consisted of the Prime Warden and Wardens of the Company, 7 members of its Court and 6 co-opted members. The day-to-day running was left to a Secretary (the first being J.S. Redmayne) and 150 staff. Activities of the Institute included a School of Art and a series of evening classes and lectures.
1902 saw a new Education Act, which was followed by a London Education Act. To make certain of inclusion in any London educational scheme, and to prevent the Goldsmiths' Company from being subject to a local authority, a proposal was made to offer the Institute as a going concern to the Education Authority for London. In the end, the Institute was offered as a gift to the University of London, with the condition it was always used for educational purposes; the proposal was accepted in April 1904. Interim committees were set up to decide the future of the Institute, and in Autumn 1904 a new Goldsmiths' College Delegacy was created, which was responsible to the University of London Senate. The first Chairman of the Delegacy was Sir Edward Busk (1904-1919). The Warden was the only member of College staff in direct contact with the governing body. Much of the administrative work was undertaken by the two Vice-Principals. From this moment on, the Goldsmiths' College was divided into three functions: the Training Department, the School of Art and the Evening Department. It had already been decided that the Institute was to become a Teacher Training College, where students would take the two-year Certificate of Education course.
The Goldsmiths' College was formally opened on 29 September 1905. Constitutionally it was in an anomalous position, being owned by the University of London and having no legal or constitutional independence, whilst being funded by the Ministry of Education and the London County Council. The Delegacy maintained very little control over the various activities of the College as it did not pay for them, and the hope that the College would become a School of the University of London remained unrealised until 1988. At this point, Goldsmiths' College was the largest teacher training institution in the country, and the only one maintained by the University for teaching a two-year certificate of Education course. It was also permitted by the University to teach for University degrees (1907). Training functions were later expanded to include refresher courses for teachers, the University Postgraduate Certificate in Education and an Art teacher's Certificate course. The College also ran its own Nursery School. In 1947 the College became a Department of the London University Institute of Education; and in 1950, the decision was made that Goldsmiths' College students should no longer read for internal degrees of the University. The new Bachelor of Education degree was introduced in the early 1960s, and the Department was renamed the 'Department of Arts, Science and Education'.
The School of Art continued at Goldsmiths' College under the control of the London County Council, which decided to develop it in the direction of higher education in Art, as opposed to training for trade and crafts. The School claimed to provide advanced instruction in such subjects as drawing, painting, modelling, design, book illustration, etching and lithography. Under the headmastership of Clive Gardiner (1929-1958), the School of Art developed into a respected institution which produced a group of etchers known as the 'Goldsmiths' School'. During this period it began teaching the Art Teacher's Certificate course (1938). It began teaching painting and sculpture diploma classes in 1962, and textile and embroidery courses the following year. These courses were re-christened BA courses in 1975, and supplemented by degree courses in Fine Art and Art History. Most of the evening adult education courses offered by the Goldsmiths' Institute came to an abrupt end in 1905 after it was handed to the University of London.
The Science, Building and Engineering Departments, which all provided evening teaching for University degrees, remained outside the new teacher training remit, and struggled to survive without regular financial support from the University. From 1915 onwards, science teaching was concentrated in an Engineering and Building Department, though at a lower academic level than before. Following years of negotiations regarding technical training in east London, the Peckham and Lewisham Literary Institutes were merged on the College site in 1931, and reopened as the College's Evening Institute (known later as the Evening Department of Adult Education. The Evening Department flourished after the war, expanding its classes into a wide range of subjects, such as literature, music, drama, philosophy, science and history. The Evening Students' Association was extremely active in attracting new clients. In 1965, the Evening Department was renamed the 'Adult Studies Department', and changed its teaching emphasis to cater for the demand for more advanced work, such as part-time degree courses, Open University courses and postgraduate study. Another emphasis was put upon community education, exemplified by the creation of a Community Education Centre at Lee Green in 1973.
In 1976, an internal reorganisation led to the creation of five 'Schools', including a 'School of Education', which had to deal with a sharp reduction in the number of students, leading to its incorporation of St Gabriel's in Camberwell and the Rachel McMillan College in Deptford (1973-1977); the 'School of Adult and Community Studies'; and the School of Art. There was to be one single Academic Board for all five schools (a sixth was added 1980 when School of Adult and Social studies divided in two). Another major internal reorganisation occurred in 1986, with the six schools being compressed into three faculties and number of individual departments reduced by a series of amalgamations. The Goldsmiths' College was created a School of the University of London in 1988 (Royal Charter 1989) - though the possibility of a merger with Queen Mary College was mooted and discussed in 1984-1985 - on condition that it did not replicate teaching at other schools, but concentrate on its own specialisms. To this end Science teaching came to an end and the Science Department and the Rachel McMillan building were transferred to Thames Polytechnic.
The buildings which the Goldsmith's Company presented to the University of London had been erected to the designs of the architect John Shaw. They consisted of a rectangular building with two parallel wings surrounding a cloistered quadrangle which was closed by a building known as the 'school room'. A further quadrangle behind led onto the playing fields. Few alterations have been made to the original building: the quadrangle was roofed over in 1891 to create the Great Hall, the chapel converted into a lecture room in 1892, and the School of Art built on the second quadrangle in 1908. During World War Two, Goldsmiths' College moved to University College, Nottingham, though the School of Art remained in London and evening classes were suspended. The College buildings were severely damaged by bombing in 1940 and 1944. Full college activities were not restored until 1947. All students were housed in College hostels until well into the 1960s. Following the College's Jubilee in 1955, changes began to be made in the administration. The first Registrar was appointed in 1958. The government-led rise in student numbers led to new buildings being erected to accommodate them - these included the Education building and the Gallery (1968), the Warmington Tower (1969), a Student's Union extension (1975), a gymnasium and Craft block (1962), and the Whitehead Building (1968). The College also had the use of the Rachel McMillan building in Deptford (later given to Thames Polytechnic) and the Millard building in Camberwell (sold in 1988). A large part of the School of Art was housed in the latter until the building of a new library in the 1980s allowed it to return to the main site.
Kenneth A Gourlay (c 1920-1995) was a British ethnomusicologist who conducted work amongst the Karamojong of Uganda, in Nigeria and in Papua New Guinea. Gourlay went to Uganda in the 1960s to teach English at Makarere University and was by 1984 Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Musicology Section of the Centre for Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
Born in 1918, Richard Hoggart was educated at Leeds University. He served with the Royal Artillery during World War Two, and was demobilised as a Staff Captain. He was then appointed Staff Tutor at the University of Hull, 1946-1959, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Leicester, 1959-1962, and Professor of English at Birmingham University, 1962-1973. During his Professorship, he was also Director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1964-1973. Hoggart was a member of numerous organisations, including the Albermarle Committee on Youth Services, 1958-1960; the Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting, 1960-1962; the Arts Council, 1976-1981; and the Statesman and Nation Publishing Company Ltd, 1977-1981. He was also Chairman of the Advisory Council for Adult and Continuing Education, 1977-1983, and the Broadcasting Research Unit, 1981-1991, as well as a Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1962-1988. Hoggart has written widely on literary topics, as well as education, and the teaching of literature and broadcasting. He was Warden of Goldsmiths' College from 1976 to 1984.
Constance Howard (1910-2000) joined the staff of Goldsmiths' College as a part-time tutor. She went on to found and become Head of the Department of Embroidery (later Textiles) in the College's School of Art, 1947-1975. She is seen widely as a leading pioneer in the making and teaching of embroidery as an art form. The Resource and Research Centre is named after her and was established by her successor, Audrey Walker, in 1980. In 1996 the Friends of the Study Collection was formed to extend and enhance information about this unique resource. Pieces are purchased for and donated to the Collection on the understanding that they will be made available for hands on research and study. The Centre regularly organises lectures and exhibitions, and the many slides and textiles housed there are being digitised as an ongoing project to provide a 'virtual' resource.
For more than 20 years Terence Kelly was a broadcast specialist reporter for the UK Press Gazette - Britain's trade magazine for journalists. He amassed a unique collection of cuttings, papers, and reports during the research and writing of his weekly articles and after retirement thought they should be preserved in a reliable university archive where Media was taught as a subject. During this period significant changes to the UK broadcast industry took place. Independent radio began in 1973. Deregulation changed the map of UK independent television and radio. John Birt brought about significant changes to the BBC, and Conservative governments between 1979 and 1997 provoked substantial disputes and struggles over broadcast working practices and broadcasting policy.
Originally called the London International Festival of Student Theatre, LIFT was formed in 1980 by Rose de Wend Fenton and Lucy Neal inspired by their participation in a student theatre festival in Portugal. LIFT became a registered charity in 1981 and in that year, along with another student, Simon Evans, Rose and Lucy organised the first London International Festival of Theatre which presented companies from Poland, France, Brazil, The Netherlands, Malaysia, West Germany, Japan, Peru, and the UK. Following the success of the first festival Rose and Lucy, along with a growing number of permanent and freelance employees, volunteers and placements, researched and organised another eleven festivals including one 'Out of LIFT' season especially for young people. In the early years LIFT had to overcome a number of funding problems including almost having to cease trading in 1983 and the abolition of the Greater London Council in 1986. LIFT continued to present and commission work from all over the world; in the period 1981-2001 companies from over 60 countries participated in the festivals. LIFT presented theatre for a variety of audiences, both in conventional theatres and at unusual and different sites. Over the years work has been presented at places such as Bankside Power Station, the site for the LIFT, '93 Launch, Limehouse Basin, the site for Welfare State International's ‚'The Raising of the Titanic‚' LIFT, '83, and Euston Tower, the site for Deborah Warner's ‚'The Tower Project‚' in LIFT, '99. LIFT not only presented new theatre it also re-presented old or forgotten places in London. In 1991 LIFT piloted an Education and Community Programme in order to devise a long term strategy for working in this sector in the future. An Education Officer, Tony Fegan, was employed in 1993 and produced LIFT's first Education Programme for the 1993 festival called the BT LIFT Education Programme. By LIFT '95 the Learning Programme was integrated into the main programme of festival events and has remained so ever since. Festivals presented many education and community projects including ‚'Sang Song ‚' River Crossing‚' at LIFT, '93, 'Sirk Uzay‚' Celestial Circus‚' at LIFT, '95, and ‚'Utshob‚' in LIFT, '97. From early on LIFT, realising the potential for debate and learning that existed in the coming together of different cultures and countries included workshops and discussions in the festivals. LIFT, '93 launched the first Daily Dialogues and each festival had lectures or forums in addition to the main programme of events. Other projects grew out of LIFT, 's passion for learning and participation. In 1996 Phakama, an international arts exchange project for young people, was born, the first Business Arts Forum took place in 1995 and the Teachers Forum began in 1999. After twelve festivals LIFT decided to break with the traditional biennial festival format and enter the Enquiry period, a five-year venture to investigate theatre and present year round events.
Born in London in 1908, Albert Lancaster (Bert) Lloyd was orphaned at an early age and spent his early years working on sheep stations in Australia and subsequently on Antartic whaling ships. Both these occupations were probably the catalyst for his interest in folk-song. Though Lloyd had no formal training as an ethnomusicologist, he built up a formidable personal knowledge of the world of folk-song in the British Isles and in eastern Europe. He combined a working career in journalism and broadcast with life as a folk performer, and also taught at Goldsmiths' College from 1971. Lloyd published The singing Englishman (Workers' Music Association) in 1944, and this work became the best introduction to folk-song before the later Folk song in England, written in 1967. The latter established him as the leading authority on his subject. Another strand of his work, that of work songs, is reflected in the collection of miners songs Come all ye bold miners published in 1952 and enlarged in 1978. Lloyd was also a founder member of Topic Records, and besides writing many sleeve notes also performed on many of the recordings. Bert Lloyd died in 1982.
The Women's Art Library began in 1976 when a small group of women artists began to collect slides from other women artists to establish a record of their work. The Library first opened its collection to the public in 1982 as the Women Artists Slide Library during the 'Women Festivities' held in London. The Library was then housed in Battersea Arts Centre, Battersea, London. In 1987 the Library moved to Fulham Palace at the invitation of the Women's Unit of Hammersmith and Fulham Council. In 2000 the Library relocated to the Central Saint Martin's School of Art and Design, Charing Cross Road, London. In 1993 the Library was relaunched as the Women's Art Library to reflect the broader range of materials, for example published and unpublished written documentation and photographs which the Library acquired in addition to the slides. The name of the Library was changed in May 2001 to MAKE, the organisation for women in the arts. The aim of the organisation was to enhance public knowledge of the practice, impact and achievement of women in visual culture. A serial publication was produced from 1983-2002, firstly as a newsletter 'The Women's Artists Slide Library Newsletter', becoming a bimonthly 'The Women Artists Slide Library Journal', then quarterley magazine 'The Women's Art Magazine', and finally 'MAKE, the magazine of women's art'. In addition the organisation produced numerous other publications in different formats, catalogues linked with exhibitions organised by WASI, (Women in Humour, Second Viewing), a Women's Art Diary, a calendar DATRES, a Women's Art Library Slidepack (1994) which includes teacher's notes, and two anthologies of critical writings based on group exhibitions of women's art. 'Contemporary Arab Women Artists: Dialogues of the Present', 2000 and 'Private Views: spaces in Britain and Estonia', 2001.
The National Campaign for the Arts (NCA) is the only independent lobbying organisation that represents all the arts. The campaign is funded entirely by its members to ensure its independence. It gives a voice for the arts world in all its diversity. The membership of the campaign includes nearly five hundred organisations of every size and variety. These include major theatre, opera and dance companies, national visual arts and museums organisations, writers' groups, local authorities, dance and drama schools, film and TV companies, friends' groups, unions, arts centres, local galleries and small scale companies. The National Campaign for the Arts meets, lobbies and influences decision makers, and discusses policy and proposals in detail with major arts funders. The NCA was established in 1985 when two lobbying organisations - the National Lobby for the Arts (NLA) and British Arts Voice (BRAVO) - joined forces. It was formed as a company limited by guarantee, owing to the political nature of its work, but established the charity National Campaign for the Arts Research and Education Ltd (NCARE) in 2000 to develop the organisation's education work.
The National Network for the Arts in Health NNAH (2000-2007) was a registered charity registered under Chairty Number 1084023. The organisation was an advocate for the Arts in Health field, bringing together the arts and health communities and supporting the use of the arts to improve patients’ experience. It was chaired to 2007 by Catherine McLoughlin CBE, Company Secretary was Guy Eades. The organisation was funded by the Kings Fund and the Arts Council from 2000 until 2007, when it closed. The NNAH succeeded, and shared the aims of, the organisation 'Hospital Arts', founded by J Hugh Baron (b 1931), c 1980.
The National Network for the Arts in Health NNAH (2000-2007) was a registered charity registered under Chairty Number 1084023. The organisation was an advocate for the Arts in Health field, bringing together the arts and health communities and supporting the use of the arts to improve patients' experience. It was chaired to 2007 by Catherine McLoughlin CBE, Company Secretary was Guy Eades. The organisation was funded by the Kings Fund and the Arts Council from 2000 until 2007, when it closed. The NNAH succeeded, and shared the aims of, the organisation 'Hospital Arts', founded by J. Hugh Baron (b 1931), c 1980.
During his fifty years involvement with biomedical science has also been an innovator for incorporating the arts in hospitals. In the late 1970s he arranged for a beautification committee to be set up at one hospital in which he worked, St. Charles. He recognised the need for a central initiative, to advise on the National Health Service buildings. In August 1979, he approached the DHSS and the King Edward's Hospital Fund for a scheme with the Greater London Arts Association, to commission young artists to paint murals in hospitals in London. The scheme was outstandingly successful and dozens of projects were commissioned in the hospitals of Greater London with King's Fund support. In his other hospitals he arranged for arts comittees to be set up, at St. Mary's Hospial, St. Mary's Medical School, the Royal Postgraduate Medical School/MRC/Hammersmith/Acton/Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospitals. The Hammersmith Hospitals Trust's Arts Committee also covers Charing Cross Hospital and the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. He conceived the national British Health Care Arts Centre, which opened in 1989 at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of art in Dundee. He has advocated these ideas in Britain and abroad and has served on, and Chaired many committees in this field. He has lectured and written extensively on this theme.
Deac Rossell is Lecturer in European Studies in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the former Head of Programme Planning at the National Film Theatre, London, and was National Special Projects Officer for the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, California. He has worked at the UCLA Film and Television Achive, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and at the Boston Phoenix and Boston Globe. He has taught at Tufts University, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and the European Film School in Ebeltoft, Denmark. The author of books on the invention of moving pictures, the chronophotographer Ottomar Anschütz, and the magic lantern, he is an active contributor to journals, encyclopaedias and conferences on photography, early cinema and pre-cinematic topics, with work published in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States.
Alfred Schnittke was a Russian composer. The music of Alfred Schnittke has an established place in concert repertoires around the world. It is regularly performed by major opera companies, orchestras and leading soloists at every important music festival and is studied by performance students at music schools and conservatories in many countries. His music has been recorded on hundreds of compact discs for leading labels worldwide.
The Anthroposophical Society was founded at the Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland in 1913. It had its origins in the spiritual philosophy of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). He called his philosophy anthroposophy', meaningwisdom of the human being'. Born in 1861, in what is now Croatia, Steiner studied science and philosophy in Vienna, and published his first philosophical treatise The Philosophy of freedom in 1894.
He based his work on direct knowledge and perception of spiritual dimensions. From his spiritual investigations Steiner provided suggestions for the renewal for many activities including education, agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, religion and the arts. In 1924, he founded the General Anthroposophical Society to which national Societies are linked. In Britain, H Heywood-Smith came across Steiner's work at the Theosophical Society rooms in London in 1908. He set about finding English translations of Steiner's other writings, and obtained permission to form a Group of the Theosophical Society to study Steiner's work - the Rosicrucian Group, in August 1911. That same year Heywood-Smith visited Berlin to hear Steiner lecture.
When the group outgrew the home of Heywood-Smith, they moved their meetings to the studio of Harry Collison, portrait painter. By May 1912, the group had 64 members. In 1913 Steiner visited England and lectured to the Anthroposophical groups.
In the 1920, Vera Compton-Burnett, her sister Juliet, and Dorothy Osmond (former head librarian at the Theosophical Society headquarters), visited the Goetheanum at Dornach, Switzerland, and met Rudolf Steiner. They began to take steps to form an Anthroposophical Association in Britain from the three existing study groups. Collison, meanwhile, had collected a small library, and a rented a studio in South Kensington was established as a headquarters with a central library of both English and German works. This Association increased in size when Daniel Dunlop and a number of others resigned from the Theosophical Society and joined the Anthroposophical Society. In the early 1920s, the studio was no longer adequate in size to hold their meetings, and they relocated to premises at 46 Gloucester Place.
In 1922, Steiner visited Britain again, and gave lectures at Stratford-on-Avon, Oxford, Ilkley, Torquay, and London. The following year, he visited several countries to be present at founding of their national Anthroposophical Societies, which were to be linked together in the General Anthroposophical Society (GAS). The Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain was re-founded at this time. Rudolf Steiner House, at 35 Park Rd, London was opened in 1926, with additional rooms added in 1932.
In 1930, a group of over a hundred members led by Collison seceded from the AS in Great Britain and formed the English Section of the General Anthroposophical Society. This group eventually reunited with the main organisation.
Lloyds Register began in 1760, as a Register Society taking its name from it initial sphere of operation - Lloyd's Coffee House, Tower Street, London and the New Lloyd's Coffee House, at No 5 Pope's Head Alley, to which it moved in 1769. The Society was mainly controlled by underwriters, and had a Committee of eleven members chaired by John Julius Angerstein, to manage the affairs of the Society. (In 1771, the leading underwriters and brokers joined forces to establish Lloyd's of London - not to be confused with Lloyd's Register).
The first Register of Ships (the Green Book) was printed by the Society in 1764, in order to give underwriters and merchants an idea of the condition of vessels they insured and chartered. The Register contained details of the vessel's owner, master, tonnage, date of build, where built, and number of guns. It also gave a classification for condition of hull and equipment. The Society employed nautical men to undertake inspections of vessels. These inspectors were not necessarily experts in the field, and there were no clearly defined standards or rules for them to use. Over time practices developed whereby vessels could only hold the highest class for a limited period of time regardless of the quality of maintenance. This gradually led to the establishment of a rival register by the ship owners, in 1799 - The New Register Book of Shipping (also known as the Shipowners' Register or Red Book).
In the early 19th century, with both parties were on the verge of bankruptcy, and eventually agreed to joined forces. The Society was reconstituted in 1834 as the Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. A General Committee was formed to take responsibility for running the Society and for the standardisation of rules regarding ship construction and maintenance. Their aim was to survey and classify both British ships and any foreign vessels calling at British ports.
The Register has recorded numerous developments in the history of shipping, including the first classification of a steamer, 1818, and of an iron vessel, 1837. The Rules for Iron Ships were first published in the 1855 Register.
Lloyd's Register gradually established a number of offices throughout Britain and the world. In 1851, Captain Thomas Menzies, a ship builder from Leith, posted as their surveyor to Quebec, and the St Lawrence River, 1851. In 1856, Samuel Pretious was sent to the Netherlands and Belgium as a surveyor, but later recalled due to lack of business, and it was not until 1868, that an office was again opened there. The next year the first surveyor, Joseph Tucker, was sent to Shanghai. Other surveyors established Lloyd's offices in Austria, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Australia.
In 1890 a Technical Committee was formed under the guidance of Benjamin Martell, chief ship surveyor, 1872-1900. This Committee was responsible for recommending amendments to existing rules, and the adoption of new rules.
As the Register expanded, new premises were needed and the head office was moved to a new building in Fenchurch St in 1901, designed by Thomas Collcutt.
Lloyd's Register expanded into other fields during World War 1 when the French Government asked them to inspect steel that was to be used for armaments. This was followed by requests during the 1920s and 1930s, investigated cases of welding fractures in oil storage tanks in the Middle East. This was the beginning of what is today a large Energy and Transportation business stream. Following World War 1, the Register was approached by the Society of British Aircraft Constructors to undertake aircraft inspection. In 1930, the General Committee appointed an Aviation Committee and aviation surveyors. This work was eventually transferred to the Civil Aviation Authority.
During World War 2, the headquarters moved from London to Wokingham, with only a skeleton staff remaining in Fenchurch St. Their surveyors, which were classed as a reserved occupation, were involved in all sorts of projects, including secondment to the Admiralty, advising on construction of floating docks, and advising the army on refrigeration units for tanks to be used in the North Africa campaign. Following the end of the War, they were involved in many rebuilding projects, including the management and clearance of wrecks form harbours.
In 1986, moved into management system certification, and Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) was the first of its numerous quality and environmental systems certification programmes to gain accreditation.
In April 1963 the National Economic Development Council (NEDC) recommended the establishment of a high level business school or institute run on the lines of the Harvard Business School or the School of Industrial Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the same year, the Robbins Committee on Higher Education recommended the establishment of two post-graduate schools of business education in the UK.
Following the NEDC Report, Lord Franks was asked to study the problem of establishing a business school or schools. The Franks Report recommended the establishment of two high quality schools, as part of existing universities (London and Manchester) but enjoying considerable autonomy. The schools would offer courses for about 200 post-graduates and 70-100 post-experience students.
A committee was established under Lord Normanbrook to consider the costs and practicalities of establishing two business schools. The committee recommended that the expenditure should be shared between the Government, through the University Grants Commission (UGC), and business. As a result, the government agreed to bear half the capital and running costs of the two schools. The Foundation for Management Education, the Federation of British Industries, and the British Institute of Management sponsored an appeal for £3 million from the business world.
An Academic Planning Board was established for the new London school under the chairmanship of Lord Plowden, with representatives from the London School of Economics (LSE), Imperial College and the business world. The school was to be formally known as the London Graduate School of Business Studies, and informally as the London Business School. The Academic Planning Board first met in June 1964, and the full 21 member Governing Body in November 1964. The two sponsoring institutions, LSE and Imperial College both nominated four members and then approved the full list.
Temporary premises were acquired in Northumberland Avenue, and Dr Arthur Earle, Deputy Chairman of Hoover Ltd was appointed Principal. The first academic appointments, two professors, a senior lecturer and a lecturer were appointed from October 1965.
The School established two post-experience courses, the Executive Development Programme designed for middle managers, which would last 12 weeks and cover the application of analysis and measurement, human behaviour and the environment of business. The Senior Executive Programme would last six weeks, and cover the broad strategy of business. The postgraduate programme was to last two academic years, and lead to the degree of MSc from the University of London. The range of studies was divided into three broad categories, data for decisions, analysis for decisions, and the environment of decisions. Students would also study applied decision-making in the functional fields of marketing, finance, production, personnel and business policy. The first post-experience courses started in February and May 1966, and the first MSc course began with 39 students in October 1966
The School moved to its present home in Sussex Place, Regent's Park in August 1970. New programmes were developed; the doctoral programme began in September 1970, the International Management Programme for MBA students in 1972, the New Enterprise Programme for individuals wishing to start their own businesses in 1979, and the Extended Enterprise Programme or 'Firmstart', aimed at owner-managers of young companies in 1986. The first research institute, the Institute of Finance and Accounting was set up in 1973, the Centre for Management Development followed in 1975, and the Institute of Small Business Management in 1976.
The School is administered by a Governing Body, which discusses major questions affecting the development and work of the School, including financial planning and the appointment of the Dean. The Governors also approve the accounts and perform such other formal corporate business as may be required. The Management Board advises the Dean and Governing Body on the development and implementation of major policies affecting programmes and research activities, staffing, premises and finances. The Management Committee is responsible for taking and implementing administrative and academic decisions necessary for the management of the School. It refers all fundamental academic or constitutional decisions to the Management Board. The School has a network of seven Regional Advisory Boards, covering Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the UK. Each Regional Advisory Board has a Chair, a Faculty Advisor, and a Student Liaison Officer. The School also has an Alumni Board, which represents the views of alumni and makes recommendations on a range of issues to the Governing Body.
Mary Rogers, was born on 11 Jan 1854, near Wokingham, Berkshire, the daughter of John Rogers and his wife Elizabeth Alnut. In 1876, she married Willie Gray, a stonemason. She joined the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in 1890, and is credited with founding the first Socialist Sunday School at Battersea. Her daughter Florence Gray, was born 1879.
The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) was formed on in 1904 by a number of disaffected members who spilt from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) (founded 1881). The inaugural meeting was attended by about 140 people. The object of the Party was `the establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community'. An Executive Committee was established to manage the day-to-day affairs of the party, all binding policy decisions were to be determined at the Party's Annual Conference, and party meetings were to be open to the public. A declaration of principles was adopted which stated the working class position in a capitalist society and a guide to working class action for as long as capitalism lasted.
As an 'impossibilist' organisation it opposed social transformation by means of reform of the existing capitalist system and stressed the importance of socialist education and knowledge of Marx's economic and political writings.
Its immediate task were to arrange meetings and arranged the sale of literature to advertise their cause. The Party approved the use of a number of brochures including 'Socialism and the Worker' by F A Sorge, 'Wage labour and Capital', K Marx, 'Socialism and Radicalism', Edward Aveling, No compromise', W Liebknecht;The Socialist revolution', K Kautsky, and 'How I became a Socialist, William Morris. It also began a journal - The Socialist Standard, in 1904. The SPGB opposed the outbreak of World War 1, and was hostile to what it perceived as a capitalist quarrel for which governments were sending workers to their deaths in battle. It opposed conscription, but made allowances for men with families who could not accept the consequences of resisting conscription (and its economic compulsion). Its members who did appear before conscription tribunals generally had their applications dismissed.
They were also opposed to World War 2, when they again opposed conscription. This time however they were more successful at tribunal hearings, often winning their case on humanitarian grounds, though some members did receive prison sentences. An SPGB parliamentary candidate ran for the first time in the 1945 General Election. Clifford Groves stood for the seat of Paddington North. He was unsuccessful, but did receive 472 votes, and despite the cost of the campaign - £900 - the party was not discouraged. It has continued to field candidates in successive General Elections. Its membership peaked in 1949 with 1100 members, then declined to about 600 by 1955.
The Party met initially at private homes, with the first meetings of the Executive being held at the Communist Club, Charlotte St. It had no permanent home until 1909 when it rented premises at 10 Sandland St, Bedford Row. In 1912, it moved to 193 Grays Inn Rd, then to 28 Union St in 1918, it occupied various premises until 1951 when it made its final move from Rugby Chambers to Clapham High St, where it remains today.
Throughout its history, the party has been characterised by various controversies and debates about socialist theory. In 1991, two branches were expelled - they are also known as The Socialist Party of Great Britain.
The Party maintains links with overseas organisations of the World Socialist Movement, located in Canada, New Zealand and the USA.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for children was founded in 1852 by Charles West on its current site in Bloomsbury. It was the first children's hospital in Great Britain. The press cuttings were collected by the hospital management from 1857.
From the inception of the British Paediatric association in 1928 up until 1958, Annual scientific meetings were held at the Old England Hotel in Windermere. These meetings were a focal point of activity for the association, and it was both an opportunity for paediatricians to present scientific papers as well as a social occasion with an annual dinner, an annual golf tournament and a showing of a film. As membership numbers increased, the annual general meeting moved to the Royal Hotel Scarborough in 1959. Meetings were held in Cambridge in 1961 and in Dublin in 1968, but remained at Scarborough until 1971. Meetings were subsequently held in Glasgow, Lancaster and Harrogate until York University was set as a location in 1975, where meetings continued until 2009. The location of the annual conference has since varied from York to include the University of Warwick, and remains a mix of social activities and scientific presentations. Other activities include the issue of numerous awards and prizes, and the occasion of the College’s Annual General Meeting. When the College originally received it's charter in 1996, the name of the Annual Meeting was changed to that of the Spring meeting, with the view that meetings would take place each season. As of 2010, the name of the meeting was changed to that of the Annual Conference. In accordance with the College By Laws, the standing order of the annual general meeting is as follows: Chairing, Minutes, Composition of Agenda, Motions, Rules of debate, Voting, Points of order, Suspension of standing orders, Chairs decision, Quorum.
Over the years, the British Paediatric Association and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have developed links with various individuals who have provided funds to enable them to Award fellowships, medals and other prizes.
Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design was formed in 1989 by the merger of the Central School of Art and Design and St Martin's School of Art. Both were constituent colleges of the London Institute which had been formed in 1986 by the Inner London Education Authority associating its art schools and specialist colleges of printing, fashion and distributive trades into a collegiate structure. In 1999 the Drama Centre London, founded in 1962, merged with Central Saint Martins, adding performing arts to the range of courses offered by the College.
Central Saint Martins comprises three Schools; Art, Fashion and Textiles and Graphic and Industrial Design, with approximately 450 to 700 students within each school. The College operates on two major sites, on Charing Cross Road, Soho and Southampton Row, Holborn.
The Central School of Arts and Crafts was established in 1896 by London County Council to provide specialist art teaching for workers in craft industries. The school was intended to be a centre at which art scholars and students from local schools could be brought under the influence of established artists in close relation with employers, and was a direct outcome of the Arts and Crafts movement sponsored by William Morris and John Ruskin. The architect, educationalist and conservationist William Richard Lethaby was a key figure in the foundation and joint principal of the school with George Frampton from 1896 to 1911. It was decided that teaching should be limited to definite crafts and so cover different ground to existing schools rather than compete with them. London County Council rented Morley Hall from the governors of the Regent Street Polytechnic and in 1896 part-time classes in architecture, drawing and design, modelling, stained glass, cabinet design, silversmithing, lead work, enamelling, structural mechanics and masonry for people engaged in trade began. The curriculum was soon extended and additional accommodation in the adjacent house and in Union Street taken. Under Lethaby the Central School was innovatory in both its educational objectives and teaching methods. The majority of teachers were part time and successful practitioners of their crafts, and provided the school with a variety of practical skills and valuable contacts with the professional world of the designer and craftsman.
In 1903 it was decided to purchase a site for the school in Southampton Row, Holborn, and at the same time classes were organised into schools in preparation for the move to the new building. The schools comprised architecture and building crafts, silversmiths' work and allied crafts, book production, cabinet work and furniture, drawing design and modelling, needlework and stained glass. The work of the Drawing, Designing and Modelling school, which included life drawing and modelling, was regarded as ancillary to the work of the other sections. Emphasis was always firmly on the craft basis of subjects taught, with mural painting or sculptural decoration preferred to painting or sculpture. It was not until 1941 that a School of Painting and Sculpture was formed. In 1908 the school moved to the new building in Southampton Row, which was designed and built to be shared with the London Day Training College. Most classes were held in the evening, with students working by day in their professions. Workshops were open during the day to those who could use them. Day art and crafts classes were held and day technical schools established for silversmiths' and jewellers' work and book production. The Royal Female School of Art (established 1842) was transferred to the London County Council and incorporated into the Central School in 1908. In 1912 the London Day Training College moved from the premises, and day classes were reorganised on lines suitable for building a scheme of advanced and specialised work.
Teachers at the Central School included the architect Halsey Ricardo and Eric Gill, a former student at the Central School who taught stone carving. Douglas Cockerell, J H Mason, Edward Johnston and Noel Rooke, innovators of the private press movement, were employed for book production training, which encompassed bookbinding, typography, calligraphy, letterform and illustration. Embroidery and Needlework were taught and, also in this area of study, costume design. In 1919 ceramic design became part of the syllabus under Dora Billington. By 1920 students ranged from trade apprentices to professional artists and advanced students of design, with nearly 1800 students in eight departments comprising silversmiths' work and allied crafts, textiles (including tapestry, stained glass and mosaic), painted, sculptural and architectural decoration, book production, furniture, dress design, engraving and ancillary study in drawing, and painting, design, modelling and architecture. In 1926-7 the Central School encompassed the School of Arts and Crafts with 1791 'ordinary' students and 31 University of London students, a Junior Day Technical School of Silversmithing and Book Production with 128 students, and Art classes at Upper Hornsey Road with 96 students. In 1930 the School of Textiles and Costume, which had grown out of the Embroidery and Needlework section, was divided. The design of theatrical settings became as important as costume, whilst printed and woven fabric were developed in the Textile section. Subjects previously taught in the school of Architecture and Building Crafts were absorbed by other sections. A course of Design for Light Industry, the forerunner to the Department of Industrial Design, was established in 1938. A post-war reorganisation of the Central School took place under the innovative principal William Johnston, who introduced the concept of basic design taught by Fine Artists to all students and developed the design elements in subjects such as ceramics, textiles, theatre and industrial design.
The school continued to develop and expand during the 1960s, with a programme of reorganisation begun in 1960 prior to the school receiving recognition as a centre for the new Diploma in Art and Design by the National Council for Diplomas in Art and Design (NCDAD). The reorganisation led to the transfer of some purely craft courses to other colleges in order to make way for a greater concentration on approaches more in line with modern industrial methods. On May 1 1966 the school was renamed the Central School of Art and Design. In 1967 the National Council for Diplomas in Art and Design designated a joint centre for postgraduate studies composed of Chelsea School of Art, for Fine Art, and the Central School, for design subjects. The school continued to expand, with the move of the Textile and Ceramic Design Departments into new premises in Red Lion Square in 1962 and the opening of the Jeanetta Cochrane theatre, named after the founder of the Theatre Design course. In 1973 the library and Department of Liberal Studies were re-housed in a bridge in the school's main complex which was built to link the Southampton Row and Red Lion Square buildings. In 1974 the Weaving and Knitting sections of the Textile Department moved into an annexe in Proctor Street. Responsibility for the validation of diplomas was passed to the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) in 1974. In January 1986 the school became a constituent college of the London Institute, formed by the Inner London Education Authority associating its art schools and specialist colleges of printing, fashion and distributive trades into a collegiate structure. St Martin's School of Art, another constituent college of the London Institute, merged with the Central School of Art and Design in 1989 to form Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.
St Martin's School of Art was established in 1854 and was founded by the parochial authorities of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The vicar, Reverend M McKenzie, and others were concerned that industrial education should be developed and allied to the religious and general education already provided by Church schools. Art education was intended to form part of this industrial instruction for apprentices. The new school was situated on the top floor of St Martin's Northern School in Castle Street (now Shelton Street), north of Long Acre. It is likely that boys from the ages of thirteen onwards were taken, and most classes involved the teaching of design skills. The school became independent of the parish in 1859. By 1884 the number of male and female students was about 100, with courses including drawing, painting and sculpture.
The school was recognised by the Technical Education Board of London County Council in 1894, received a grant of £100 a year and became part of the development of technical education taking place in London and Britain. With the grants St Martin's increased in size from 68 students and 6 teachers in 1891 to 154 students and 21 teachers in 1901. By 1901 the curriculum had been extended by the introduction of technical subjects, and the proportion of artisan to art students was equal. Fine art students had probably been part of the school for some time. In 1902-1903 most students were part-time, and a course in carriage building and decoration was introduced. By 1913 the number of students had risen to over 300 a year. Evening classes were largely attended by apprentices of trades allied to art, whilst during the day 'many leisured young ladies' attended classes. New premises were needed as student numbers rose, and in 1913-14 buildings on the site of St Mary's Church and schools, Charing Cross Road, were leased from London County Council for St Martin's. St Martin's shared its premises with the Technical Institute for the Distributive Trades which also needed new buildings. St Martin's at first occupied buildings to the right of the site, but by the end of the 1920s it became necessary to extend the school further, and the former Domestic Economy school was taken over. Numbers of students continued to increase, until by the 1937-38 session over 700 students were enrolled for courses which ranged from advanced fine art courses to specialised Junior technical courses for boys and girls from 13-16. A new building was built on the site and opened in 1939 and the church and associated buildings demolished.
Younger students were evacuated during the Second World War. The school became firmly established as one of the major fine art and commercial art schools, producing many well-known artists. By 1961 there were over 500 full-time students, studying for either a National Diploma or a Diploma in Art and Design. As student numbers rose, other premises were leased for the school at Archer Street, Greek Street and 145 Charing Cross Road. Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) courses were introduced in the 1975-1976 session. Lack of space continued to be a problem for St Martins, and in 1979 a building at Long Acre was leased and converted by the school and housed the Graphics Department, Film and Video Unit and some of the Painting Department. The building was closed in 1998 when a site at Red Lion Square, Holborn was acquired.
In January 1986 the school became a constituent college of the London Institute, formed by the Inner London Education Authority associating its art schools and specialist colleges of printing, fashion and distributive trades into a collegiate structure. The Central School of Art and Design, another constituent college of the London Institute, merged with St Martin's School of Art in 1989 to form Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.
The Surrey Association for the General Welfare of the Blind was founded in 1857 to teach blind people to read their bibles at their own homes, supply them with books, teach trades free of cost and to give them remunerative employment.
In 1885, twenty-nine men and seven women were employed at the institution based at a workshop in Peckham Rd, London, with eight more women employed at home. They worked at making and repairing baskets, making and redressing mattresses, re-caning chairs, domestic woodwork, producing fish and poultry baskets, totalling over 6,800 items, as well as chopping 126,000 bundles of firewood.
In 1890 a Building Trust Fund and a Ladies Relief Committee were established by the Association. Around this time, the aims of the society were broadened to include general education and circulation of available literature and promotion of industry for blind peoples, as well as providing of social and physical support to ill and elderly blind people.
By 1912 the factory had also established a knitting department, which was expanded during World War 1 as a result of large orders from the Army and Navy. In 1915, new workshops were established in Westbourne Terrace, Toynbee Hall, and Rochester Row. By 1917, workers wages averaged £1 per week, and pensions were paid on retirement. However following the war, trade slumped, cost of raw materials increased dramatically and the Association struggled to pay high enough wages. However another new workshop was opened in Churton St, Westminster, and following the end of the war a number of blind soldiers were given apprenticeships.
The Association also operated a number of hostels and residences, frequently located on the same premises at their workshops. The first hostel for women was opened in 1919 in Bessborough St, Victoria.
In the early 1920s, the Association made clear that it was concerned not only for blind people who were 'productive' - able to produce wares at a rate that enabled them to live - but also those with mental and physical disabilities who would never be able to be self supporting. By this time, there were 104 workers, from all parts of England, and a number of deaf/blind people as well.
The factory operation continued to develop and in 1924 power machinery was installed at the factory for the manufacture of knitting needles. As the need for extra space increased, Cooper Lodge, Blickly was acquired in 1925 as accommodation as well as a workshop for women workers. Button making was introduced in the 1930s, and in the early 1940s, moulded plastic production was developed, producing items such as army cap badges and combs, as well as knitting needles.
The knitting factory itself was destroyed by a bomb in 1941, and the workshop was moved to the premises of the Barclay workshop which had recently amalgamated with the Association. The knitting and weaving workshops had large orders from the Army and the RAF. The machine knitting deparment merged with the Royal London Society for the Blind, under the name of Crawford-Salusbury Partnership in the mid 1950s, but eventually closed about 1968. The weaving department closed in 1957.
The Institution operated shops in different places, one in Kensington, between 1928 and 1944; one in Bognor Regis opened briefly during World War 2. The provision of holiday accommodation was also one of the Association's concerns, and in 1945, Canford Cliffs, Dorset, was purchased. Further guesthouses were developed over time, including The Lauriston, Weston -super-Mare, opened in 1964, and The Russell, Bognor Regis, 1968.
The Peckham factory was gradually expanded and in 1936 was rebuilt. In 1952 and new office was completed - Pelican House Peckham.
By the 1960s the Peckham factory employed blind men in the production of handmade baskets, the manufacture of casein and metal knitting needles, and injection moulded plastics. And the Association has residential homes for women at Crawford Street, London, as well as Cooper Lodge, Horley, and Croham Hurst Place, Sanderstead, both in Surrey; accommodation for men working in the factory at Adams House, Camberwell, and a hostel Dulwich; an estate of 57 self-contained flats - Swail House, Epsom, Surrey. There was also holiday accommodation for blind people at Weston-Super-Mare and Bognor Regis. The Association's welfare programme was responsible for the use of the Benevolent and Pensions Funds to assist blind and partially sighted people throughout the UK.
In 1972, the Greenwich Workshops for the Blind, (founded 1929) joined the Association's basket department. The factory moved from Peckham to Verney Rd in 1974, its main work then being production now consists of Injection mouldings, PVC welding and basket making. The offices also moved to Verney Rd, and Pelican House, Peckham was sold in 1976.
Factory production continued to change with the basket making department closing in 1978, and the injection moulding operation in 1985. Leaving only the plastic industry in operation.
In the 1990s the renamed Association for Blind People opened an Information and advice centre, and new training facilities in London and in Liverpool. The Association, while trading under the new name was still formally registered as London Association for the Blind until 1999.
The Barclay Home and School for Blind and Partially Girls was founded in Brighton in 1893, by Gertrude Campion, to provide industrial training for blind women. By 1905, there were nearly 40 residents.
The Barclay Workshops for Blind Women, a weaving industry began in 1905, in premises in Praed St London, in order to give employment to women trained in the Barclay Home, Brighton, who wished to live in London. The Workshops occupied a number of premises before moving to 19-21 Crawford St in 1919. In 1921, a Technical Training Department was established. Eyes to the Blind merged with the workshops in 1922. By 1930, the workshop had a staff of 62 women.
A joint committee was formed of members of the Barclay Home (Brighton) Committee, and the Barclay Workshops (London) Committee for dealing with matters of general policy. Mr. Godfrey F Mowatt, elected Chairman of this Committee.
The Barclay Workshop was taken over by the London Association for the Blind in 1941.
The Carpenters' Company is one of the ancient guilds of the City of London. A Master Carpenter is mentioned in the City records in 1271, suggesting that the Company has been in existence since at least this time. The first recorded date of the Company's existence is its 'Boke of Ordinances' of 1333 (held at the National Archives), which show the principal objects of the Brotherhood and Sisterhood to be charitable and religious. Members were required to pay 12 pence a year to help those who became ill or were injured at work, and were to employ fellow members who had no work, in preference to other carpenters. They were also to attend masses twice a year and the funerals of brothers and sisters.
During the medieval period the Company had considerable powers to control building in the City. The Company ordinances of 1455 contained regulations giving power to the Master and Wardens to search carpenters' workshops to ensure that all timbers were to the standards set down by the City. They also confirmed that the Company was to be governed by a Master and three Wardens elected annually. They were to be helped in regulating the carpentry trade by a Court of Assistants of 'six or eight of such men as have already held office or are of the same weight in their craft'.
By 1429 the Company built its first hall, on land rented for twenty shillings a year from the Hospital of St Mary without Bishopsgate. Five cottages were demolished and a 'Great Hall', together with three houses in the east side and one house on the west, was built. Thomas Smart later purchased the land and left it to the Company in his will dated 1519. A Hall has stood on this site ever since.
The Company received its Grant of Arms in 1466, and its first charter in 1477 from King Edward IV. By this charter, and confirmed by subsequent charters, the Carpenters' Company is 'a body Corporate and Politic by the name of the Master Wardens and Commonalty of the Mistery of Freemen of the Carpentry of the City of London', with power to receive bequests and gifts of property, to plead in any courts, and to have a Common Seal. In 1607, a further charter of James I extended the jurisdiction of the Company from the City to two miles beyond the City Walls, and a new charter of 1640 extended the Companies' powers to four miles.
. The Company's income fluctuated enormously during this period. Legal disputes over property and demarcation disputes with other companies were a drain on Company resources, along with contributions to loans and subsidies demanded by the monarchy, including £300 towards a scheme for the plantation of Ulster in 1610. The Company was on occasion forced to pawn or sell its plate to settle debts. However, the rise in property values during the seventeenth century increased the Company's income sufficiently to afford almost continuous repairs and work on the Hall, including the building of a new wing in 1664. Additional properties were purchased when possible and the Company was bequeathed various properties in the wills of its more affluent members.
The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed most of the timber buildings in the City, although Carpenters' Hall survived the fire, thanks to its gardens and those of the neighbouring Drapers' Hall acting as a firebreak. The Company gave hospitality to other Livery Companies who had not been so fortunate, including the Drapers' Company and to four successive Lord Mayors. The 1667 Act for Rebuilding the City of London required that brick and stone were to be used to rebuild the City. As a result, the work, income and prestige of carpenters declined and the control exercised by the Company over the building trade in the City of London was reduced.
During the eighteenth century the Company continued to look to property leasing and investments to maintain income. A notable purchase was a farm of 63 acres in the parish of West Ham, near Stratford. The Hall continued to be rented out, and in 1717 the Company decided to enlarge the Hall by building an extra storey at the top of a new wing erected in 1664. In 1736 Carpenters Buildings were erected near the Hall, and were leased out to tenants for the sum £110 per year, more than the rent for the Hall. Careful management of both property and investments continued into the nineteenth century, and the Company's prosperity grew considerably as property values and rents in the City increased. It was a time of general economic growth, and the sale of land to the Great Eastern Railway and other railway companies from the 1830s to the 1870s brought considerable capital for the Company.
The Company's increased wealth funded the redevelopment of the Hall site in the 1870s. William Wilmer Pocock, Master of the Company, prepared the plans, which comprised the construction of Throgmorton Avenue and a new Carpenters' Hall. Work began in 1876 on the demolition of the old Hall and Carpenters' Buildings, both of which were in a poor state of repair. The second Hall was opened in 1880.
The increased income of the Company also allowed the undertaking of more charitable and educational work. An evening institute was opened in 1886 on the Company's estate at Stratford, offering classes in carpentry, joinery, plumbing, geometry, mechanical drawing and cooking. In 1891 the institute became a day school for boys, and was closed in 1905 when the local Borough Council opened its own school. The Company also founded its own craft training school in 1893, the Building Crafts College in Great Titchfield Street in the West End of London. The College provided instruction in a range of building related disciplines, and relocated to purpose-built accommodation in Stratford, East London in 2001. In 1890 the Company helped create a body for woodwork instructors and other craftsmen, the Incorporated British Institute of Certified (now the Institute of Carpenters).
An air raid on 10th May 1941 set a gas main on fire in London Wall and burnt out Carpenters' Hall, although many of the Company's treasures survived. Committee meetings and Court functions were held at Drapers' Hall until the opening of the present Hall in 1960. A permit was granted in 1956 to rebuild the Hall, which was designed by Austen Hall and built by Dove Brothers within the surviving Victorian Walls. The widening of London Wall was overcome by putting the pavement in an arcade and building the banqueting hall on a bridge across Throgmorton Avenue. The new Hall was opened in 1960 by Sir Edmund Stockdale, Lord Mayor of London and Junior Warden of the Company.
For further information see A History of the Carpenters' Company Jasper Ridley (Carpenters' Company & Unicorn Press Ltd, 1995); A History of the Carpenters' Company B W E Alford and T C Barker (Allen & Unwin, 1968); An historical account of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters of the City of London. Compiled chiefly from Records in their possession Edward Basil Jupp and W W Pocock Second edition (Pickering & Chatto, 1887).
The Carpenters' Company is one of the ancient guilds of the City of London. The first recorded date of the Company's existence is its 'Boke of Ordinances' of 1333 (held at the National Archives), which show the principal objects of the Brotherhood and Sisterhood to be charitable and religious.
During the medieval period the Company had considerable powers to control building in the City. The Company ordinances of 1455 contained regulations giving power to the Master and Wardens to search carpenters' workshops to ensure that all timbers were to the standards set down by the City. They also confirmed that the Company was to be governed by a Master and three Wardens elected annually. They were to be helped in regulating the carpentry trade by a Court of Assistants of 'six or eight of such men as have already held office or are of the same weight in their craft'.
The Company received its Grant of Arms in 1466, and its first charter in 1477 from King Edward IV. By this charter, and confirmed by subsequent charters, the Carpenters' Company is 'a body Corporate and Politic by the name of the Master, Wardens and Commonalty of the Mistery of Freemen of the Carpentry of the City of London', with power to receive bequests and gifts of property, to plead in any courts, and to have a Common Seal. In 1607, a further charter of James I extended the jurisdiction of the Company from the City to two miles beyond the City Walls, and a new charter of 1640 extended the Company's powers to four miles.
The governing body of the Carpenters' Company is the Court of Assistants, with the Master, who holds office for one year, being the head of the Company. The Company's earliest ordinances of 1333 stated that the Brotherhood was to be governed by four wardens elected annually. The ordinances of 1455 were more specific: the Company was to be governed by a Master and three Wardens who were to be elected annually on the Feast of St Lawrence (10 August) and hold office for one year. In order to help them manage the Company's business, which had increased, particularly in attempting to control the carpentry trade, the Master and Wardens were permitted to appoint eight Assistants who formed the Court of Assistants. They were to be former Master or Wardens of the Company, or 'most honest persons', and the Court was to meet once a week on Fridays. The ordinances of 1455 and the election of Master and Wardens were confirmed by the Company's charter of 1477. The work of the Court covered two areas, as a committee of management dealing with ordinary Company business, managing property and organising regulations for its conduct, and as a judicial court dealing with breaches of regulations, overseeing differences between freemen of the Company, and settling trade disputes between freemen and their employers outside the Company. As the Company's control over the trade declined, the Court's role as a judicial court was also diminished, and the Court's principal role became that of the governing body of the Company. The Court now meets once a month. A number of Standing Committees comprising members of the Court and Liverymen report to the Court on a regular basis.
The membership or freedom of the Company could be obtained in one of three ways: by apprenticeship (also called service or servitude) on completion of a term of apprenticeship to a freeman of the company, by patrimony, by being the legitimate child of a male freeman born after his admission to the freedom, or by redemption, which entailed the payment of a fee. The consent of the Masters and Wardens of the Company was required to become an apprentice carpenter, and the 1455 Ordinances stated the cost of becoming bound was to be 1 shilling. In 1508 this was increased to 3 shillings. If a carpenter had been apprenticed to a master carpenter of the City of London he could join the Carpenters' Company by servitude. Some apprentices did join the Company, but many did not. Once a member of the Company, freemen could be promoted to the livery, the next level of Company membership, which in turn could lead to membership of the Court of Assistants and the offices of wardens and Master. During the sixteenth century, the freemen of the Company not promoted to the livery were termed 'yeomen', being the less prosperous journeymen who worked for wealthier craftsmen (or members of the livery) for wages, but the term had fallen into disuse by the eighteenth century. Members of the livery were required to pay quarterly membership dues, known as 'quarterage', to the Company. Membership of the Company through patrimony no longer exists, having been removed as a method of admission in 2003.
The 1333 ordinances of the Carpenters' Company throw some light on the early financial matters of the Fraternity. The four wardens who governed the Fraternity looked after the 'common' box, money from which was used to assist members in time of need, and they would have overseen the payments of quarterage (quarterly subscriptions) by members, and any fines imposed, such as the pound of wax payable on absence from certain masses. The Company's earliest accounts date from 1438 and form an almost unbroken series to the present day. Regularly appearing in the accounts were quarterage paid by the members, sums paid on admittance to the freedom of the Company, rents from Company properties, fines imposed on members for misbehaviour and breaking the Company ordinances, payments for entertainments and the washing of linen.
The establishment of a Court of Assistants by the Company's ordinances of 1455 transferred the responsibility for important financial decisions to the Court, with the Master and Wardens acting as agents. On leaving office, the Master and Wardens presented their accounts to the Court who acted as auditors. The Company's income came from five main sources: quarterages, rents, fees for presenting apprentices to be bound to masters, fines and other fees payable under the ordinances, and other variable sources, such as bequests, donations and any special subscriptions raised, such as for the payment of Company charters. Expenses comprised ordinary payments made on a regular basis, such as pensions to alms-folk living at the Hall, the Beadle's, and later the Clerk's wages, housekeeping expenses for the Hall, hospitality and festivals and maintenance of properties. Occasional extraordinary payments were also a feature of the Company accounts, such as charges by the Crown for equipping soldiers or ships, the Lord Mayor's assessments for the relief of hardship in the City, and for legal expenses the Company incurred in disputes with other livery companies over craft control in the 17th century.