The Hugh Myddleton Institute succeeded evening classes begun under the School Board for London at the Bowling Green Lane School in 1884. By 1898 the roll had increased, and the Evening School was raised to the status of a 'Commercial and Science and Art Centre'. In 1913 it became a Senior Commercial Institute. Various premises were used for classes. Pupils included clerical and postal workers, civil servants, and employees of various commercial firms in the Finsbury/Holborn area. Subjects included shorthand, accounting, and law. In 1915 a French class was begun, and from this developed the Princeton Street School of Modern Languages. These were succeeded by Holborn College of Law, Languages and Commerce (1960-1970), which was itself amalgamated with Regent Street Polytechnic to form the Polytechnic of Central London in 1970.
Savile Row and its environs, behind Regent Street, were renowned for their bespoke tailoring businesses. Boulter, Hepburn and Watts was apparently succeeded by Hogg, Sons & J B Johnstone Ltd; both companies had premises on Clifford Street (nos 10 and 19 respectively). The firm started in 1820 by John Brown Johnstone of Lockerbie, Scotland, developed as a civil and military tailors and was purchased from Johnstone's descendant by John Donaldson-Hudson in the 1940s. It acquired the firm of Hogg & Sons in the 1950s, and closed in 1999. The relationship with Tautz & Co Ltd (civil and sporting tailors, established in 1807), which had premises at no 19 Grafton Street, is unclear.
Born in London, 1927; Architectural Association Diploma, London, 1954; Associate, RIBA; self-employed, working mainly for clients obtaining improvement grants for small dwellings, and a new home self-builder, 1955-1957; employed, mainly by Peruvian government agencies, on improvement and self-help housing projects, and by the British Department of Technical Co-operation, setting up a Voluntary Service Overseas project for training young electricians, 1957-1965; Research Fellow at the Harvard-MIT Joint Centre for Urban Studies and subsequently a lecturer at MIT, publishing papers and developing a course on Housing in Development, and carrying out consultancies, mainly in Latin America, 1965-1973; lecturer at the Architectural Association Graduate School and subsequently at the Development Planning Unit, University College London, developing courses on Housing in Development, and carrying out consultancies in Africa and Asia, 1974-1983; received the Sir Robert Matthew Prize for Architecture, UIA, Paris, 1977; self-employed partner of AHAS, a consultancy on housing and local development, and undertook advisory work in London and Paris, 1984-1989; directed Habitat International Coalition's project for the UN International Year of Shelter for the Homeless, culminating in a conference of community activists and enablers at the Reichstag in Berlin, 1987; received the Right Livelihood Award, Stockholm, 1988; served on the Board of Hastings (local development ) Trust, 1991-2000; received the Habitat Scroll of Honour, United Nations, New York, 1992; received the Johannes Olivegren Memorial Award, Gothenburg, 1994; advised on projects at the Max Lock Centre (a research and consultancy group) at the School of the Built Environment, University of Westminster; volunteer on the Tools for Community Regeneration (TCR) project, an information and advisory service for self-managed community development initiatives, from 1997; Turner's work was influenced by the ecological, urban sociology of Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932). Publications include: edited and co-authored Dwelling Resources in South America, a special number of Architectural Design (Aug 1963); 'Barriers and Channels for Housing Development in Modernizing Countries', Journal of the American Institute of Planners, vol xxxiii, no 3 (1967); 'Uncontrolled Urban Settlement, problems and policies', International Social Development Review, no 1 (United Nations, New York, 1968); co-edited, with Robert Fichter, Freedom to Build, dweller control of the housing process (Macmillan, New York, 1972, and translated into Italian and Spanish); Housing By People, towards autonomy in building environments (London, 1976, and translated into Dutch, German, French, Italian and Spanish); 'Tools for Building Community, an examination of 13 hypotheses', in Habitat International, vol xx, no 3 (1996); 'From housing to building community, a mirror and a directive agency', in City, analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action (London, 1996); with Renate Ruether-Greaves, 'Tools for community regeneration (TCR) - a Hastings Trust project', in Building Civil Society, current initiatives in voluntary action, ed Barry Knight et al (Charities Aid Foundation, 1998).
(Cecil) Max Lock: born in Watford, 1909; attended the Architectural Association (AA) school in London from 1926; graduated, 1931; started a practice in the Watford area, 1933; its main work was housing, mostly for private clients; elected to Watford Borough Council, 1935; advocated better housing design and rent subsidies; travelled through Scandinavia for the Institute of Social Studies, 1937; commissioned to design a timber house, 1937; Unit Master at the AA, 1937-1939; a project for his students to compare residents' demands with LCC housing plans influenced his views, 1939; his timber house was featured in the RIBA Journal, 1939.
Lock influenced by Patrick Geddes's writings on town planning, began to study for town planning qualifications; served on the executive committee of the Housing Centre Trust; an active member of the Modern Architecture Research (MARS) group; his interests led him away from architecture and towards social policy and planning as a teacher, researcher, and town planner; left London for Hull and became provisional head of the School of Architecture, Hull College of Art, 1939; as a Quaker and conscientious objector, excused military service, but his views caused dispute over his permanent appointment; during evacuation to Scarborough, led a project by Hull students to design a recreation centre at nearby Scalby, 1940. In spite of the constant bombing Lock anticipated post-war reconstruction; on the School's return to Hull, a survey of Hull was started through sponsorship and grants, 1941; The Hull Regional Survey: a Civic Diagnosis was radical in its approach and novel in its presentation with visual aids, 1943; it was exhibited in London and discussed in the specialist and national press. Lock was invited by Middlesborough Corporation to draw up a master plan and moved to Middlesborough to start the survey, 1944; his Group of professionals and helpers lived communally in the suburbs, with an office in the town centre, open to all; with Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and Ruth Glass, pioneered social survey and analysis as the basis for planning; this work was carried out closely with Ministries and Departments responsible for planning, with a view to codifying the methodology of participatory social, economic and physical survey as an integral part of the emerging statutory planning process.
Lock travelled extensively, publicising the Group's work via exhibitions, the press and publications; the Middlesborough survey and plan were completed, 1945; the team was appointed to work on Hartlepool and its hinterland and, including some new members, moved to Hartlepool, with open premises in municipal buildings. This work was a test bed for the new procedures and was the first plan to go through the new statutory hurdles to receive full Ministry approval; Lock visited the Netherlands and wrote a report for the Town Planning Institute, 1946; the team was appointed to resolve conflicting interests between new county and city planning authorities in South Hampshire and moved to a house on Southampton Water, with open offices in Fareham.
Lock opposed the consequences of the Town and Country Planning Act (1947), believing it ignored social and public participation aspects essential to the planning process; the Group wound down following the completion of the Portsmouth report and co-operative working and living arrangements broke up. Lock moved to Victoria Square, London; appointed by Bedford municipality, where a locally-recruited team produced Bedford by the River, a more graphic report than previous work, for consideration by the county planning authority; formed Max Lock and Associates; the practice moved initially to Great Russell Street and finally to John Street.
Lock was elected to various Town Planning Institute committees; acted as planning consultant, including conflicts in Sevenoaks and Aberdare; undertook redevelopment plans for the centre of Salisbury - winning a public enquiry - and for Brentford's riverfront; the architectural practice flourished under his younger associates (made partners in 1954), but there was less town planning work; his reports had been well received overseas; made a lecture tour of India, Pakistan and Ceylon for the British Council, 1951. Lock met the Indian prime minister, Nehru, and wrote a report on India; visited Jordan as UN town planning advisor, 1954; spent time in the Middle East and worked on planning in Iraq, 1954-1956; visiting Professor at the Department of Town Planning and Civic Design, Harvard, 1957; appointed by the UK Overseas Development Administration to draw up a master plan for the city of Kaduna, 1964.
Lock returned to London to publish the results in a format that became an influential model, and introduced his concepts of participation and in-depth survey in the African context; instrumental in forming the Urban Development Advice Group (UDAG); UDAG drew up a report on Dunstable, 1969-1970; tried to save his team's concept for Kaduna from piecemeal aid projects in transport and drainage that disregarded the overall plan; travelled between Nigeria and the UK, where he continued work on places including Beverley and Middlesbrough. In his study of Hackney and Shoreditch he was an early advocate of rehabilitation, based on thorough social and economic survey, as against wholesale redevelopment, 1971. Lock made various trips to North and South America on planning issues; appointed by Nigeria's North Eastern State Government to draw up a master plan for Maiduguri and other provincial towns, 1972; designed an office there; with his partner, Michael Theis, formed the Max Lock Group Nigeria Ltd; influential in re-focusing planning from the edges of town, considering instead its core to its region; pioneered a multi-disciplinary approach; advocated new techniques ('Civic Diagnosis'), including surveys, public participation and graphic aids such as transparent overlays; interested in music and its relation to architecture; died, 1988.
Publications include: The Survey and Replanning of Middlesbrough (Middlesborough Corporation, 1945); The County Borough of Middlesbrough: Survey and Plan (Middlesborough Corporation, 1946); The Hartlepools: a survey and plan (West Hartlepool Corporation, 1948); The Portsmouth and District Survey and Plan (1949); Bedford by the River (1952); The New Basrah (1956); Final Report to the Council of the City of New Sarum on the Redevelopment of the City Centre (London, 1963); Kaduna, 1917, 1967, 2017. A survey and plan of the capital territory for the government of Northern Nigeria (Faber and Faber, London, 1967); contributions to RIBA Journal, TPI Journal, Town Planning Review, and others.
The Max Lock Centre at the School of the Built Environment, University of Westminster, is a multi-disciplinary research and consultancy group on development planning, continuing the tradition pioneered by the Max Lock Group. For further information see its website: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/sabe/page-1148
The Polytechnic Cycling Club was founded as the Ian Bicycling Club in 1878 in the Salisbury Street, Strand, branch of the Youths' Christian Institute, and named for the infant son of the Institute's founder, Quintin Hogg. It initially comprised mainly clerks. Hogg bought some machines for the members and their activities at that period apparently consisted of recreational rides. The club was succeeded by the Hanover Bicycle Club (named from the Institute premises in Hanover Street) in 1881-1882. It organised runs and tours, and annual races were held in August each year from 1882. Following the removal of the Institute to premises in Regent Street, formerly occupied by the Royal Polytechnic Institution, in 1882, the name was changed to the Polytechnic Cycling Club in 1885.
The Polytechnic Cycling Club Gazette was started in 1891. The Club grew rapidly. Members made regular excursions on Saturday afternoons with longer trips at holiday times, and during the winter months there was a social programme in conjunction with other Polytechnic clubs. From 1893 it had a club room in no 309 Regent Street. The Club began to organise its own competitions for track and road, and a number of races and time trials were established. Members competed, individually and in teams, at home and abroad, and became successful at the highest level: Alec Watson was the first national champion in 1893, Albert Edward 'Jenny' Walters won the Bol d'Or 24-hour race in Paris in a world record time in 1899, W J ('Bill') Bayley was world champion at 1,000 metres in 1909-1913, and David Edward Ricketts (b 1920) was bronze medallist in the 4,000 metres pursuit at the Olympic Games in London in 1948. By the time the Club celebrated its 60th anniversary in 1938, members had won five world, two Olympic and 62 national and Empire championships. Several successful members went on to become professional cyclists. The Club's first president was J E K Studd, succeeded in 1944 by Lord Hailsham (grandson of the Polytechnic's founder, Lord Chancellor, and well know for cycling around London).
When Regent Street Polytechnic became the Polytechnic of Central London (PCL) in 1970, relations with the sports and social clubs - which had been an integral part of Quintin Hogg's vision for the Polytechnic - were redefined as part of the new constitutional arrangements. They became legally separate, though some links remained. Further changes were made following the Education Reform Act of 1988. The Cycling Club lost its club room in Regent Street in 1989, but continued to use the Quintin Hogg Memorial Ground at Chiswick. In the same year the Institute of Polytechnic Sports and Social Clubs was formed to support the needs of club members and to provide a link with PCL and later with the University of Westminster.
The Polytechnic of Central London (PCL) was designated on 1 May 1970 as a result of the White Paper, 'A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges' (Cmd 3006), published in 1966. This outlined the arrangements for implementing the government's policy for a dual system of higher education, divided by the binary line, first outlined by Anthony Crosland, Secretary of State for Education, in a speech at Woolwich Polytechnic in 1965. The polytechnics in the public sector would provide vocational, professional and industrially-based courses, some for degrees awarded by the Council of National Academic Awards (CNAA), some at sub-degree level, and some to provide a second chance for those who had missed the opportunity for further education on leaving school.
PCL was the result of a merger of Regent Street Polytechnic with Holborn College of Law, Languages and Commerce. The new institution was structured as a limited company, incorporated on 22 April 1970. The memorandum and articles of association (1970) defined the responsibilities and constitutional framework, including the powers of the Court of Governors and of the Academic Council. London polytechnics continued to be funded and to an extent managed by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA). Degrees were awarded by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) which both validated new courses and carried out a more general quinquennial review of institutions.
By 1970 the plan to turn Regent Street into a tri-partite federal college, first announced by the LCC in 1960, was finally implemented when the buildings on the two new sites at Marylebone Road and New Cavendish Street were finished. At a ceremony on 21 May 1971, Lord Hailsham, Lord Chancellor and grandson and namesake of the founder Quintin Hogg, combined opening the new buildings with the formal presentation of the Instrument of designation to PCL. Marylebone Road housed architecture, building, civil engineering, surveying and town planning, together with a separate block for management studies; electrical and electronic engineering, life sciences, mathematics and physics, and mechanical engineering moved to New Cavendish Street. In the early 1970s the extension building between Riding House Street and Little Titchfield Street was refurbished for the School of Communication, and Languages moved to a newly acquired building in Euston Centre in 1978. The Sidney Webb College of Education was amalgamated with PCL in 1975 and closed in 1980. In 1990 Harrow College of Higher Education merged with PCL.
Between 1970 and 1988 PCL expanded and developed to provide industrial, commercial, professional and scientific education, training and research for students at all levels of higher and technical education. By 1988 there were roughly 5,000 students on full-time and sandwich courses, the majority of whom were following CNAA degree and post-graduate courses; 6,000 students followed part-time and evening courses. PCL ran Europe's largest programme of short courses, with 17,000 people every year engaged in mid-career and personal development. Among a number of innovations was the development of one-year foundation programmes leading to degrees in engineering and science, which were subsequently adopted nationwide as a way of widening participation. Research activity increased. In 1988, PCL was awarded a total value of £3.2 million in external research awards (compared with £30,000 in 1970), although it was excluded from applying for the public research funding available to universities.
The Education Reform Act of 1988 removed polytechnics from the control of local authorities and transferred their funding to a new body, the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC), which was itself replaced in 1992 when the Higher and Further Education Act created a single Higher Education Funding Council, abolishing the binary line by removing any remaining distinctions between polytechnics and universities. PCL became the University of Westminster in 1992.
In 1988 PCL celebrated the 150th anniversary of its predecessor, the Royal Polytechnic Institution, with a programme of special events. The Polytechnic Institute, representing the sports and social clubs characteristic of Regent Street Polytechnic, continued to function during this period, though its activities declined considerably as pressure for educational use in the buildings increased.
The philanthropist Quintin Hogg (1845-1903) was convinced of the health-giving and character-building qualities derived from organised sport, and was himself a keen footballer. He saw sport as an integral part of the work of his foundation, the Youths' Christian Institute, and its successors the Young Men's Christian Institute and Polytechnic Institute, later Regent Street Polytechnic. Hogg's friend Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird (1847-1923, 11th Baron Kinnaird) was a famous gentleman footballer and President of the Football Association, who with Hogg organised the first unofficial England-Scotland international matches. The two had played together at Eton at a period when the game, until then limited to public schools playing to their own rules, was first being organised. On leaving school, both continued to play for the Wanderers, a team of public school old boys which won five of the first seven FA cup finals. Kinnaird was involved with Hogg's charitable foundations and retained his connection with their football teams. Hogg's Institute encompassed members who were not students, but were involved in its other activities.
The first Institute football club was formed in 1875 as the Hanover Football Club, for which Hogg and Kinnaird both played. Following the removal of Hogg's foundation to premises in Regent Street, formerly home of the Royal Polytechnic Institution, in 1882, the club became the Polytechnic Football Club. It had grounds in Barnes and Wimbledon but in 1906 moved to the Polytechnic's Quintin Hogg Memorial Ground at Chiswick. The club continues to play there as a member of the Southern Amateur League.
The philanthropist Quintin Hogg (1845-1903) was convinced of the health-giving and character-building qualities derived from organised sport, and saw it as an integral part of the work of his foundation, the Youths' Christian Institute, and its successors the Young Men's Christian Institute and Polytechnic Institute, later Regent Street Polytechnic. Hanover United Athletic Club - for cricket, football, rowing and swimming - originated when the Institute had premises in Hanover Street. After the Institute moved in 1882 to Regent Street, formerly home of the Royal Polytechnic Institution, a harriers (running) club had its inaugural meeting in 1883. The club was known as the Polytechnic Harriers. Hogg provided 27 acres at Merton, where athletics took place. The Polytechnic's 40-acre Memorial Ground at Chiswick, bought by public donation following Hogg's death in 1903, opened in 1906.
The first big open meeting was held in 1888 in conjunction with the Polytechnic Cycling Club. The Harriers organised the first inter-club competition in 1893, and began to publish their Gazette - discontinued in 1902 because all events were reported in The Polytechnic Magazine. By 1914 the Club had established 11 world records, and at its peak in 1929 the Club had over 800 members.
In 1908 Club was invited to organise the trial race for the marathon, which was to be introduced into the Olympic Games in London in 1908. The race, the first to be run in the UK, was run over 23 miles from Windsor Castle to Wembley Park. The Olympic event was also planned by Jack Andrew, secretary of the Harriers. The race began at Windsor Castle and ended at White City Stadium over a distance of 26 miles and 385 yards (added so that the event could finish in front of the royal box). Runners were escorted by members of the Polytechnic Cycling Club. Poor British performance in the Olympics led the Harriers to organise an annual international Polytechnic Marathon, beginning in 1909. The Kinnaird Trophy inter-club meeting at Chiswick was also first held in 1909.
When Regent Street Polytechnic became the Polytechnic of Central London in 1970, relations with the sports and social clubs - which had been an integral part of Quintin Hogg's vision for the Polytechnic - were redefined as part of the new constitutional arrangements. The Harriers became legally separate but retained some links with the Polytechnic Institute. The expense of mounting major events placed an increasing strain on the club. The Polytechnic Institute did not have the resources to modernise the Quintin Hogg Memorial Ground at Chiswick, and by the late 1970s the lack of an all-weather running track prevented the Harriers from hosting major events. The Club left Chiswick to become the Kingston AC and Polytechnic Harriers.
The philanthropist Quintin Hogg (1845-1903) aimed to provide for the social, educational, spiritual and physical needs of young men, and later of young women. Consequently, the institutions which he founded (the Youths' Christian Institute and its successors, the Young Men's Christian Institute and Polytechnic Institute, later Regent Street Polytechnic) came to include a large number of clubs and societies. Many of these became very successful and attracted a much wider membership than did Polytechnic courses. Hogg undoubtedly saw all these activities as equal parts of a single entity, but many constitutional and organisational changes followed his death, as a result of which the educational activities, supported by public funding, became predominant. The relations between the surviving clubs and the Polytechnic have therefore become more complex and are sometimes unclear. Broadly, the term Polytechnic Institute, in the early 20th century used to describe the whole institution, came to describe the social and sports clubs, as distinct from the 'educational side'.
The largest clubs were for sporting activities, including football, cricket, boxing, rugby, basketball, fencing, rowing, and water polo, amongst others. In their heyday the Polytechnic Cycling Club and the Polytechnic Harriers were among the largest and most successful clubs in the country. Hogg provided in the Regent Street premises - acquired in 1882 - a gymnasium and (opened in 1884) a swimming bath-cum-reading room. There was also a rifle range. Hogg also bought the first boat house in 1888, and provided 27 acres at Merton, where cricket, football and athletics took place. The 40-acre Memorial Ground at Chiswick, bought by public donation following Hogg's death in 1903, opened in 1906. A stadium was added in 1938. Hogg was succeeded as President of the Polytechnic in 1903 by the cricketer J E K Studd (Sir Kynaston Studd). The Studd trophy was presented annually to the best athlete from any club. A number of self-improvement societies existed in the early days, including the Polytechnic Parliament, the Mutual Improvement Society, and a Reading Circle. There were religious groups, and many clubs continued the founder's tradition of good works, for example the Christmas dinner fund providing food parcels for poor families in Marylebone. Clubs would combine to present concerts and pantomimes; for many years there was a New Year fete which presented all aspects of Polytechnic activity. In addition, clubs and social groups were formed by the various educational courses. There were a number of old members' groups, as those once actively involved in different groups wanted to continue their connection with the Polytechnic.
The relationship between the Polytechnic and the clubs had to be redefined in 1970, when Regent Street Polytechnic became the Polytechnic of Central London (PCL). Property which did not pass directly to PCL, including the Quintin Hogg Memorial Ground at Chiswick, came to be managed by Trustees. Some of the clubs survive into the present day as open clubs retaining links with the University of Westminster; some retain the name Polytechnic. Following the Education Reform Act (1988), which began the process by which PCL became the University of Westminster in 1992, further constitutional changes were made. In 1989 the Institute of Polytechnic Sports and Social Clubs was established to represent the interests of the members and liaise with PCL and, after 1992, the University of Westminster. This continues to exist, although membership is very much smaller than in former times.
Regent Street Polytechnic, founded by Quintin Hogg as the Youth's Christian Institute, encompassed members who were not students, but were involved in recreational activities via a large number of clubs. The Polytechnic Parliament, established in 1883, was a debating society whose members examined contemporary issues. It was perhaps the oldest model parliament in the country. There was an increasing division between the educational side of the Polytechnic, which dealt with students and the organisation of classes, and the Polytechnic Institute, which catered for members of the social and sporting clubs. The Institute was eventually to decline, particularly after Regent Street Polytechnic became the Polytechnic of Central London in 1970. The Polytechnic Parliament was wound up in 1970.
Regent Street Polytechnic, founded by Quintin Hogg as the Youth's Christian Institute, encompassed members who were not students, but were involved in recreational activities via a large number of clubs. The Polytechnic Ramblers' club was founded by W K Davies and Percy Randall, who claimed they had the idea in 1885. The first reference to the club is found in 1886. It grew out of the Christian Workers Union, whose minute book mentions in March 1886 a proposal for Saturday afternoon rambles 'to promote healthy exercise and social intercourse among those who did not participate in the more athletic games on Saturday afternoons', and includes a few further references to its activities, among them a record of the first ramble in April 1886. The club claims to be the second-oldest walking club in the country. With Saturday rambles in the summer, and visits in winter, ladies were soon invited, and the club became popular. There was subsequently a separate ladies' club. The club was involved in the founding of the Federation of Rambling Clubs in 1905, which later became the Ramblers' Association. When Regent Street Polytechnic became the Polytechnic of Central London in 1970, relations with the sports and social clubs - which had been an integral part of Quintin Hogg's vision for the Polytechnic - were redefined as part of the new constitutional arrangements. They became legally separate, though some links remained. Further changes were made following the Education Reform Act of 1988. The club is now essentially independent, but retains a link as a member of the Institute of Polytechnic Sports and Social Clubs, founded in 1989. The club was variously known as the Polytechnic Ramblers and the Polytechnic Rambling Club, although no definite date for a change of name is known. It has a website at: http://www.pgould.dircon.co.uk/rambling
In 1885 Quintin Hogg (1845-1903), founder of the Polytechnic Young Men's Christian Institute (later Regent Street Polytechnic), announced the founding of a day school there, a response to the fact that so many rooms in its premises at no 309 Regent Street were left empty during the day (much of the teaching and activities taking place in the evenings). The school opened in 1886 with 130 boys, aiming to provide professional, commercial (including Civil Service) and industrial secondary education at moderate fees. It was run by the Polytechnic President, Director of Education, and Governing Body, with its own Headmaster. It catered for boys aged 7 to 17 and soon had over 500 pupils; there was also, from 1888, a school for girls in Langham Place, which may have survived into the 1930s. Hogg himself undertook some teaching. The school used the Polytechnic sports and laboratory facilities. It pioneered educational trips abroad with a visit to Belgium and Switzerland in 1888. A club, the 'Old Quintinians', was formed in 1891 for former pupils to keep in touch with the Polytechnic after leaving the school, and a supplement added to the Polytechnic's magazine for them. The school was known variously as the Polytechnic (Boys') Day School, the Polytechnic Middle Class School, and the Polytechnic Intermediate Day School. Due to growing numbers of students, the Technical School (originally the Industrial Division) and Commercial School (which included the Professional Division) were divided in 1892. They came to operate largely as separate schools, despite occupying the same building. 'Aided' status under the London County Council was attained in 1911. The Commercial Day School and the Technical Day School were reunited as the Polytechnic Secondary School in 1919. Conditions in Regent Street were cramped owing to the expansion of the adult Polytechnic. The school was evacuated to Minehead in 1939. On the return to London it was again apparent that the Regent Street Polytechnic building was overcrowded and lacked facilities such as a playground. A proposed alternative site near Regent's Park was bombed, and other proposals also proved abortive. Boys who had returned to London were taught in St Katherine's House, Albany Street, and additional space was found at the LCC Institute for Distributive Trades in Charing Cross Road. Most of the classrooms in Regent Street were in use by the Polytechnic, although some school laboratories remained in the Great Portland Street extension (Little Titchfield Street). This accommodation was unsuitable for the bulk of the pupils returning from evacuation in 1945 and the Pulteney School (originally an elementary board school, founded in 1881) in Peter Street, Soho, provided further premises. Under the Education Act (1944) fees were abolished. The school moved from aided status to become a voluntary controlled school, under closer control by the London County Council. Renamed the Quintin School in 1948, when it became a grammar and instituted its own governing body, the school continued to operate on the split site until 1956, when it moved to new accommodation in St John's Wood, designed by Edward D Mills & Partners and opened in 1957, neighbouring the newly-relocated Kynaston Technical School (formerly Paddington Secondary Technical School). The two schools merged in 1969 to form Quintin Kynaston School, a boys' comprehensive, which became co-educational in 1976. For further information see L C B Seaman, The Quintin School 1886-1956: a brief history (London, 1957).
Members of the Polytechnic founded by Quintin Hogg (1845-1903) and its predecessors had visited his homes, including Holly Hill in Hampshire, for holidays, but increasing numbers meant that this became impractical. In 1886 trips for members were arranged to Switzerland and Boulogne. In 1888 a party of boys from the Polytechnic School toured Belgium and Switzerland to see the mountains they were learning about in geography lessons. In 1889 arrangements were made for Polytechnic parties to visit the Paris Exhibition. Cruises to Norway began in 1892. In 1893 the Director of Education Robert Mitchell (1855-1933) acquired chalets by Lake Lucerne which were to become the most famous centre for the Polytechnic Touring Association. A notable achievement was the organisation of a series of trips to Chicago to see the World's Fair in 1893: more than 1,000 people made the month-long journey. By 1894 the total number of persons participating in Continental tours exceeded 3,000, increasing to 12,000 by 1903. The steam yacht Ceylon was purchased in 1896 for cruises of the Norwegian fjords. Polytechnic employees acted as guides. The trips pioneered cheaper travel, making it accessible to less affluent travellers, and the Touring Association, organising trips in Britain and overseas and attracting customers from among non-Polytechnic members, became a substantial business. Its office was adjacent to the main entrance of the Regent Street Polytechnic building. The tours were initially organised within the general administration of the Polytechnic, though after the Scheme of Administration in 1891, there was pressure from the auditors to separate out the accounts and administration. Robert Mitchell remained the driving force until after World War One. The continued expansion of the firm after 1918 was due largely to the leadership of Cmdr Ronald G Studd: when he left the Navy in 1921 his father, Sir Kynaston Studd, President of the Polytechnic, invited him to take over the management of the tours. He did this very successfully, expanding the range of tours to include southern Europe. When the Creative Tourist Agents Conference was formed, Studd became chair. In the 1960s the concern was taken over by the firm of Henry Lunn Ltd to form the travel retailer Lunn Poly.
Wilfred Goddard Bryant was born in September 1872, the son of John (a schoolmaster) and Hope Bryant. In 1901 they were residing in St Marks Buildings Polytechnic Annexe School. Hope died in June 1901. Wilfred had two brothers and two sisters, and married in 1910 to a lady whom he met on a trip to Switzerland. In the 1891 census he is shown as a bankers clerk and in 1901 as a Clerk-Bank of England. Subsequent enquiries at the Bank of England confirmed that Wilfred Goddard Bryant was employed at the Bank's Branch Office from November 1890 until August 1937, reaching the position of cashier.
Born into a Jewish family in Siauliai, Lithuania, 1888; with her seven brothers and sisters and her parents emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, USA, as a young child; active in the fight against tuberculosis in Boston and president of the Jewish Anti-Tuberculosis Association in Boston, 1912-1913; visited Europe, 1914; married Morris Klein, an emigrant from Krakow, 1921.
Paddington Technical College (which originated in 1903) took over the Chelsea School of Chiropody in 1957 and in 1967 moved into new blocks on the north side of Paddington Green. The Biological Science Department of Paddington Technical College joined the Polytechnic of Central London as the School of Biological and Health Sciences in 1990, following the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority. The School moved from the Paddington campus in 1993.
The Polytechnic Institution was opened in August 1838 to provide the public with (in the words of its prospectus of 1837) 'a practical knowledge of the various arts and branches of science connected with Manufactures, Mining Operations, and Rural Economy'. The idea was that of Charles Payne, former manager of the Adelaide Gallery in the Strand. William Mountford Nurse, a builder, provided the initial capital. Sir George Cayley (1773-1857), landowner and aeronautical scientist, became chairman of the provisional committee and later of the directors. His influence helped to raise the necessary share capital. A house at no 5 Cavendish Square was purchased, and a new gallery building (designed by James Thompson) added, with an entrance on Regent Street. The Institution received its charter of incorporation in 1839. The Gallery housed a large exhibition hall, lecture theatre, and laboratories. Public attractions included exhibitions, working machines and models, scientific lectures, rides in a diving bell - a major attraction - and, from 1839, demonstrations of photography.
In 1841 Richard Beard opened the first photographic studio in Europe on the roof of the building. The Polytechnic became known for its spectacular magic lantern shows, pioneered by Henry Langdon Childe (d 1874), and a new theatre was added in 1848. John Henry Pepper (1821-1900) was appointed lecturer and analytical chemist in that year. He was its most famous showman, also expanding the teaching role of the Polytechnic, which began evening classes in 1856 under the auspices of the Society of Arts. By the 1870s these were formalised under the Polytechnic College. By 1841 the Institution was calling itself the Royal Polytechnic, probably due to the patronage of Prince Albert. Expansion gradually gave way to financial difficulty, reflecting a long-standing tension between education and the need for profit. A fatal accident on the premises in 1859 caused the first company to be wound up and a new one formed. Various regeneration schemes were considered, but in 1879 a fire damaged the roof, precipitating the final crisis. By 1881 the Royal Polytechnic Institution had failed, the assets sold at auction and the building (no 309 Regent Street) put up for sale. It was purchased by the philanthropist Quintin Hogg (1845-1903), and the RPI succeeded by his Young Men's Christian Institute (later known at the Regent Street Polytechnic), which opened in 1882. Hogg lived for some years in the house in Cavendish Square. See also Richard Altick, The Shows of London (1978); and, on the Polytechnic and the history of photography, Helmut Gernsheim and Alison Gernsheim, The History of Photography (1969); Brenda Weeden The Education of the Eye (2008).
The Young Men's Christian Institute became Regent Street Polytechnic when the Polytechnic Scheme of Administration was approved by an Order in Council on 23 June 1891. The Scheme, which was drawn up under the auspices of the Charity Commissioners, established a new governing body and ensured annual funding from the City Parochial Foundation.
The Scheme changed the name and status of a well-established and rapidly expanding institution. The Young Men's Christian Institute (originally the Youths' Christian Institute), founded and funded by Quintin Hogg (1845-1903) in Covent Garden, had moved to no 309 Regent Street in 1882, and gradually assumed the title of Polytechnic, which came from the name of the building, well known to the public as the former home of the Royal Polytechnic Institution. Hogg's vision was to provide for the athletic, intellectual, social and religious needs of young men, and to this end he provided a range of sporting and social facilities as well as an increasing range of educational and vocational classes. His institution attracted a great deal of attention from the technical education lobby, and also from Henry Cunynhame, one of the Charity Commissioners, whose reports prompted the Commission's decision to devote a substantial proportion of the revenue created by the City of London Parochial Charities Act (1883) to endowing Regent Street and establishing a network of polytechnics on the Regent Street model throughout the metropolis. The City Parochial Foundation (CPF) was established in 1891 to administer the funds. The 1891 Scheme, with some amendments, shaped the government of Regent Street Polytechnic until 1970. From 1893 the Polytechnic also received grants from the Technical Education Board (TEB) of the London County Council. The London Polytechnic Council (LPC) was established to inspect and co-ordinate the work of the polytechnics. Both the TEB and the LPC were abolished following the London Education Act in 1904, when the LCC took over responsibility for education in the metropolis. By then it had overtaken the CPF in provision of financial support for the polytechnics, and continued to fund and to manage them until 1965, when it was succeeded by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA). The maintenance grant for Regent Street was negotiated on an annual basis. CPF funding, which remained at the level established by the 1891 Scheme, was withdrawn from the polytechnics in 1962.
The establishment of a formal management structure and the increasing dependence upon outside funding, which brought external accountability and loss of independence, eventually led to the breakdown of Hogg's unified vision. The educational side, which dealt with students and the organisation of classes, became separate from the Institute side, which catered for members of the social and sporting clubs, with the eventual decline of the Institute. This was a slow process, however, with many individuals participating in the full range of activities, and the Polytechnic remained remarkably unchanged until after World War Two. When Hogg died in 1903, he was succeeded as President by Kynaston Studd, who remained in office until his death in 1944, and did much to continue the traditions of the founder. Two major appeals were launched to support expansion, the first for the rebuilding of no 309 Regent Street in 1910-1912, and the second to build the Polytechnic Extension building in Little Titchfield Street, which was formally opened in 1929. Both buildings continued to provide sporting and social facilities for members of the Institute as well as workshops and classrooms for students of the Education Department.
The Education Department provided a wide range of courses, with a rapid expansion of commercial subjects alongside the original trade and technical classes. Courses ranged from post-elementary school entry for craft and technical training at 13 to preparation for University of London external degrees. Most teaching was in the evening and part-time, though day classes increased throughout the period. Following World War Two there was a rapid growth in the demand for further education and training, which was reorganised following the White Paper on Technical Education (Cmnd 9703) in 1956. The variety of levels of work at Regent Street meant that it was designated a regional college rather than a college of advanced technology, after which the governors decided to reduce the proportion of lower level work. Following the establishment of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) in 1964, a number of degree courses were approved and became operational. In 1960 the London County Council announced a plan to turn Regent Street into a tri-partite federal college by adding a new College of Architecture and Advanced Building Technology (CAABT) and also a College of Engineering and Science (CES). The existing commercial subjects would remain centred on no 309 Regent Street. CAABT was allocated the Luxborough Lodge site in Marylebone Road and CES a site in New Cavendish Street. Both schemes suffered prolonged delays and the new buildings were not finished until 1970. Meanwhile the publication of the White Paper, 'A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges' (Cmd 3006), had announced the creation of some 30 polytechnics throughout the country to form what became called the public sector of the binary system of higher education. The 13 existing colleges managed by ILEA were to be reorganised into five. Holborn College of Law, Languages and Commerce was merged with Regent Street to form PCL (the Polytechnic of Central London). At a ceremony on 21 May 1971, the Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham, grandson and namesake of Quintin Hogg, opened the new buildings and designated the new institution.
Born, c1923; volunteered for the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 1940; basic training at Guildford; posted to the Records Office at Winchester; moved to Bournemouth; the work included writing up secret war diaries; posted to London to study for six months at Regent Street Polytechnic, 1942; kept apart from the civilian students; taught in the electrical and radio workshops; sent to Gainsborough for the final stages of training, including learning how to search for signals which could be relayed to guns and to calibrate the information; posted to Charminster, working in the radio workshops and on the gun sites; posted to various workshops around England, eventually at Kippings Cross near Pembury, Kent; discharged, 1946; married P R Baker.
The Schools of Engineering at Regent Street Polytechnic were used between 1940 and 1945 for training technicians in various disciplines for the army, navy and air force. Departmental laboratories were used under a double-shift system, and several thousand personnel were trained over the period. Civilian day courses were maintained, but with a restricted number of students, and evening courses were discontinued until the end of the war.
Stacey was appointed to be chief instructor at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Hairdressing in 1939, having previously been in charge of the hairdressing department at Harrods. Leslie Henry was a pupil at the School from 1938-41. He later became head of hairdressing at Brighton Technical College.
Hairdressing was one of four trade and technical schools at the Polytechnic which were amalgamated in 1929 to become the Craft Schools. They provided general education and specialist trade instruction for boys from 14-17. The Schools also had large evening departments. There were usually about 350 day boys, and in September 1939 about half that number were evacuated to the village of Winscombe in Somerset. A garage was converted into a ladies hairdressing saloon. In 1942, Hairdressing was one of two Schools allowed to make an early return to London. Changes after the War, including the implementation of the 1944 Education Act, meant that the Craft Schools were unable to continue as before, and in 1952 the London County Council moved the Senior School of Hairdressing to Barrett Street Technical College (one of the predecessor bodies of London College of Fashion).
Sidney Webb College, a day training college which provided courses for men and women on primary school teaching and for women teaching domestic subjects in secondary schools, was established by London County Council in 1961 as a constituent college of the University of London Institute of Education. It was accommodated initially in premises in Horseferry Road, Westminster, and, serving mature students, was non-residential. In 1965 responsibility passed from the London County Council to the Inner London Education Authority, and the college also moved, to premises in Barrett Street, near Baker Street. Courses to teach English, speech and drama in secondary schools were offered in conjunction with the Central School of Speech and Drama, Embassy Theatre, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, from c1973. The college became part of the Polytechnic of Central London as the Sidney Webb School of Education in 1975 and closed in 1980.
The Polytechnic of Central London (PCL) was redesignated as the University of Westminster following the Higher and Further Education Act (1992), which created a single funding council, the Higher Education Funding Council, for England and abolished the remaining distinctions between polytechnics and universities. As a university, Westminster gained the power to grant its own degrees. The name was changed from "Polytechnic of Central London" to "University of Westminster" by Special Resolution passed on 30 March 1993, with the consent of the Privy Council given 16 June 1992 pursuant to Section 77 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.
The merger of Harrow College of Higher Education and PCL in 1990 was followed in 1991 by the commissioning of an Accommodation Strategy. This identified the legacy of the fragmented and widely dispersed estate, spread across more than 20 sites. The University has been consolidating onto its main sites in the West End, at Marylebone Road, and at Harrow. A major redevelopment of the Harrow site was completed in 1995 to house the School of Communication (now the School of Communication and Creative Industries). Little Titchfield Street was then refurbished to house the School of Law (completed in 1998), and its former site in Red Lion Square, acquired through the amalgamation with Holborn College of Law, Languagues and Commerce in 1970, sold.
In 1997/98 the University introduced a new devolved structure based on four campuses - Cavendish, Harrow, Marylebone and Regent - supported by a small core of central service units. In 1998 the University acquired the Policy Studies Institute and also the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and in the same year opened Polyclinic for the teaching and provision of complementary therapies.
Further information on the University is available on its website: http://www.westminster.ac.uk.
The Youth's Christian Institute (later known as the Young Men's Christian Institute) grew out of York Place Ragged School, which had been founded in 1864 by the philanthropist and educationist Quintin Hogg (1845-1903). Hogg founded the Institute in 1873 (some sources wrongly given the date as 1871) to provide for the needs of older, working boys who were evidently reluctant to break their connection with the School. It was in this period that Hogg developed his vision for providing for the athletic, intellectual, social and religious needs of young men which later characterised the polytechnic movement. The initial premises were between Endell Street and Castle Street, which it shared with the Ragged School, but it outgrew these, having increased its membership to some 300, and in 1878 removed to larger premises in nearby Long Acre. Membership fees paid for free use of a library, social rooms, gymnasium and entertainments for members; a small additional fee was required from students for technical classes. Non-members paid larger fees. Robert Mitchell (1855-1933), the Institute's honorary secretary, agreed to become the full-time Secretary. A more ambitious programme of classes was instituted: Science and Art classes began in 1878. A savings bank was also inaugurated. Soon there were 500 members and a year-long waiting list. A monthly magazine, Home Tidings (from 1888 The Polytechnic Magazine), was started in 1879. Hogg's search for larger premises identified a suitable site in St Martin's Lane, but in 1882 he instead purchased the lease and equipped and enlarged no 309 Regent Street, which provided much larger premises than Long Acre. The building had until 1881 housed the Royal Polytechnic Institution, which failed in that year. It became known as the Polytechnic Young Men's Christian Institute. The premises at Long Acre were closed. Hogg was its President, and Robert Mitchell its Secretary and, from 1891, the Director of Education. From 1882 an expanded programme of classes began, including science and art classes held in conjunction with the Science and Art Department (of the Board of Trade), and a scheme of technical and trade education, related to the City and Guilds of London Institute of Technical Instruction and to the London Trades Council. The building housed classrooms, a swimming bath, gymnasium, and a refreshment room. Activities included debating and gymnastics. By 1888 membership was 4,200, in addition to 7,300 students, and over 200 classes were held weekly; concerts, lectures, and an annual industrial exhibition were also held. Membership was open to those aged between 16 and 25. A Young Women's Branch, housed in separate premises in Langham Place, was also begun. In the early 1880s the Institute attracted much favourable attention from the technical education lobby. Following the City of London Parochial Charities Act in 1883, it became clear that funds would be available to endow the Polytechnic and to found and support institutions on the same model across London. A public appeal was launched in 1888 to raise the required matching funding. The Scheme was finalised under the auspices of the Charity Commissioners in 1891, when the Institute was reconstituted as Regent Street Polytechnic, managed by a newly created governing body.
York Place Ragged School was founded in 1864 by the philanthropist and educationist Quintin Hogg (1845-1903), inspired by his observation of the poor in London. With Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird (1847-1923, later 11th Baron Kinnaird), he rented rooms in York Place (formerly Of Alley), off the Strand, for a boys' school, initially a day school, which subsequently began to open in the evenings. Hogg was himself involved in teaching the boys. Another of Hogg's Eton friends, the Hon Thomas Henry William Pelham (1847-1916), was also involved in its inception. The Strand premises were gradually expanded, and a boys' home opened in 1866. The school was associated with a mission room. Later initiatives also catered for girls. By 1869 the institution had more spacious premises at Castle Street, Long Acre. York Place was retained as a home for young women. Hogg, who was engaged in various philanthropic and educational enterprises, also founded the Youths' Christian Institute (later known as the Young Men's Christian Institute). The removal of this Institute to larger premises in Long Acre in 1878 marked its separation from the Ragged School, which ceased when the Board Schools made such institutions less necessary. The missionary work and boys' homes continued under others, but Hogg himself was increasingly absorbed with his Institute.
Sir Alfred Sherman was born on 10 November 1919 in Hackney, London. At seventeen he fought in the International Brigade on the republican side of the Spanish civil war. During the Second World War he worked in field security in the Middle East and after as an administrator in the enemy occupied territories. He studied at the London School of Economics after leaving the army and was a member of the student branch of the Communist Party whilst there.
He graduated in 1950 and briefly became a teacher before going on to become a journalist, working for the Jewish Chronicle. In 1965 he was recruited to the Daily Telegraph where he voiced his opinions on local government. He served as a Conservative councillor in Kensington and Chelsea between 1971 and 1978.
In April 1974 Alfred Sherman co-founded (along with Sir Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher) the Centre for Policy Studies and became its first Director. The Centre was set up to promote free market ideas and influence Conservative thinking. Sherman researched and wrote speeches for both Joseph and Thatcher, becoming her aide and speech writer until 1983. His speeches and journalism included many ideas which are thought of as key to Thatcherism, including curbing trade union powers, cutting taxes and public spending, control of the money supply and reform of the welfare system to reduce dependence on it. Sherman was most influential during the Conservative Party's period of opposition between 1974 and 1979 but he was sacked as the Centre's research director in 1984 after disagreements over the role of the Centre. Sherman believed it shouldn't be too close to the Conservative Party to give it freer range to criticise ministers. Sherman was knighted in 1983 but no longer had access to Thatcher after he left the Centre.
He later became a public adviser to the National Bus Corporation and the Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. He died from pneumonia on 26 August 2006 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Information taken from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.
The Coton Collection originated in the personal library of the late Edward Haddakin (1906-1969), the eminent ballet and dance critic who wrote under the name of A V Coton. This library, consisting of the books, periodicals, programmes, souvenir items, and photographs collected by Edward Haddakin during his career as a ballet and dance critic from 1938-1968, was donated to Royal Holloway by his wife, Dr Lillian Haddakin (1914-1982), formerly Senior Lecturer in English at University College, London. The Collection also includes some additional programmes that were donated by Lorraine Williams, a former employee of Westminster Music Library.
The following biographical note about A.V. Coton is extracted from Writings on Dance, 1938-68, by A. V. Coton, (selected and edited by Kathrine Sorley Walker and Lillian Haddakin and published in London by Dance Books in 1975).
";A. V. COTON (EDWARD HADDAKIN) was born at York on 16 February, 1906; son of a railwayman; of mixed Irish and English extraction. He was educated at St. Michael's College, Leeds. From 1922 to 1924 he was a merchant seaman, and he served in the Metropolitan Police Force from 1925 to 1937, mainly in Bethnal Green. He began writing ballet criticism in 1935 and became a full-time freelance writer in march 1937. He published his first book, A Prejudice for Ballet (Methuen) in 1938; in the same year he married Lillian Turner. He was also active in the organising and management of Antony Tudor's London Ballet, which was launched in 1938; and he worked with Peggy van Praagh and Maude Lloyd when the company was revived in 1939-40. From 1940 to 1945 he served in the Civil Defence (Light Rescue Division) in the City of Westminster, (Light Rescue workers went into action during air raids, rescuing as many still-living persons as they could). After the war he returned to freelance writing, diversified by lecturing (mainly evening courses in the London area) and by radio and television work; he was a founder-member of the London freelance branch of the National Union of Journalists. He published The New Ballet: Kurt Joos and His Work (Denis Dobson) in 1946. From 1943 to 1956 he was London correspondent for the American Dance News. He was best known in journalism as dance critic of The Daily Telegraph, a position he held from 1954 to 1969; but he also acted as assistant drama critic for the same newspaper from 1957, and throughout his career he was deeply interested in drama and the theatre generally. He was part author of Ballet Here and Now, published by Denis Dobson in 1961, and in the same year, President of the Critics' Circle, London. He travelled extensively in Europe and North America for the purpose of seeing ballet and other forms of dance, in performance and in teaching; he visited the U.S.S.R. in 1960. He died of cancer on 7 July, 1969."
Red Shift Theatre Company was founded as a profit-share company in south-east London in 1982 by Jonathan Holloway, who became the Company's Artistic Director, and the theatre designer Charlotte Humpston. They assumed a collaborative Director-Designer partnership rather than a Writer-Director partnership.
Jonathan Holloway had studied dance at the Laban Centre and Noh Theatre at the International Centre for Theatre Creations, Paris. During the 1970s he worked as an actor, stage manager, sound technician, freelance writer, director, film-maker and lighting designer. He established the Red Shift Theatre Company because he believed it was not possible to do the type of work he wanted in established theatre. Instead of focusing on the text of the play, Holloway wanted to produce shows where the notion of text was broader than simply what is printed on the page.
Initially Holloway had difficulty in finding work since there was a strong feeling in the 1970s that there was an established career pattern for directors, whereby they started out as assistants in regional theatre and gradually worked their way up the ladder. Jonathan Holloway had spent time at the Royal Court in 1977-78, but left conventional theatre to work as a community artist for two years before establishing the East End Theatre Group with Dave Fox in 1979. Since he didn't have a conventional directing background he needed to forge a working context for himself.
The Red Shift Theatre Company combined traditional narrative and character-based drama with art-house performance, using design, image and spectacle. Holloway made considerable use of text and visual siginification to provide a broad story-telling vocab, whilst great emphasis was placed on 'cinematic' use of music and design to lift Red Shift productions above most UK small-scale company productions.
Red Shift attempted to make English and European classics accessible and relevant to the concerns of modern audiences by producing radical new versions. New plays were also performed and the Company received acclaim for its ability to create imaginative and inspiring work.. Within a year of its inception Red Shift had its own venue at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1986 Jonathan Holloway's stage version of Dostoyevsky's 'The Double' secured the Company's first Arts Council grant, and in 1989 Germaine Greer presented BBC2's Late Show special on the Company's 'Timon of Athens'.
As a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity undertaking small and middle-scale touring around Britain and across the world the Company sought to bring theatre to broad audiences via use of modest performance spaces in rural communities and inner-city venues not frequented by mainstream theatre-goers. Approximately 175 performances each year were given by the Company to over 25,000 people. Red Shift also invested in the future of British theatre by running workshops for writers and by commissioning new plays.
Awards:
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1987-89 - Edinburgh Fringe Firsts
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1990 - Charrington London Fringe Award for Best Music
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1990 - Robert Breckmen Award for Best Poster
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1993 - London Fringe Award nomination for Best Director
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1993 - London Fringe Award for Best Music
Government funding:
- The Arts Council of Great Britain awarded the company three-year funding from January 1991. This was renewed from 1994-95 until 1996-97.
Media appearances:
- Appeared on the 'Late Show' (BBC2), 'Edinburgh Nights' (BBC2), 'Kaleidoscope' (BBC Radio 4)
Touring:
- The Company has performed in Egypt, Santiago de Chile and Hong Kong.
Roy William Waters (1928-2010), M.A. Cambridge, spent the majority of professional life in education, working as an English teacher and then a school inspector. He began his career at Wandsworth School, south-west London (1954-63), before working as deputy head of Spencer Park School (1963-66). His final teaching post was as head of William Penn School in Dulwich (1966-68); feeling he lacked the necessary skills to excel as a head teacher Waters moved on to work for the Inner London Education Authority schools inspectorate, a post that he held for twenty years until his retirement in 1988.
During his career Roy Waters also undertook the arrangement of school plays and personally took on a number of performance and broadcast responsibilities, from planning a Son et Lumiere production at Spencer Park School to broadcasting both "Did You Write Poetry at School" in 1963 and a series of 60 broadcasts in Schools series "Over to You" for less able Secondary school pupils on the British Broadcasting Corporation's Home Service (Schools) from 1963 to 1966.
These achievements reflect the pastimes which occupied his personal life; Roy had an avid interest in theatre and the performing arts. He spent the last 40 years of his life building an extensive and diverse collection of ephemera, artefacts and printed books relating to his theatrical interests. The emphasis was initially on theatrical ephemera concerned with actors; however, it was when Roy developed an interest in material relating to Oscar Wilde that the scope of the collection expanded to include dramatists. The collection was acquired on various rationales from the narrow and specific, e.g. London theatre programmes, to the general, with material of various kinds linked by their relationship to a particular event or individual, either directly or by association.
The collection was acquired from the variety of avenues available to the private collector of theatrical material, namely ephemera fairs such as those hosted by the National Theatre, print and rare book sellers, auctions and websites such as EBay and AbeBooks.
Douglas Jerrold was born into a theatrical family in 1803 and became a prolific playwright and journalist. His plays included "Black-Eyed Susan" and "The Rent Day". He was a frequent contributor to "Punch" after its launch in 1841: "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures", which Jerrold wrote in 1845, was particularly popular. Jerrold also wrote for his own periodicals such as the monthly "Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Magazine".
Barking Local Board was formed in 1882, and took over many of the functions previously undertaken by the Parish Vestry, including the management of Barking Town Wharf. This local board was succeeded by Barking Urban District Council under the Local Government Act of 1894. The first meeting of the new council, consisting of twelve members was held on 8 January 1895, with Dr H. H. Mason being elected Chairman, Mr E. H. Lister becoming Clerk and Mr C. J. Dawson appointed Surveyor.
Barking Urban District Council was responsible for public services, notably public health, sanitation, lighting, electricity, tramways, highways, libraries and parks, as well as having a jurisdiction over the Barking Burial Board from 1897 and the Barking School Board from 1903. Barking Council went on to apply for a borough charter, which was granted in 1931 and led to the awarding of additional statutory powers in 1933.
Soon after incorporation the council began to plan a new town hall, but the project was delayed by the Second World War. After the war the scheme was resumed with only slight modifications to the original design by Herbert Jackson and Reginald Edmonds of Birmingham. Building work was carried out by the works department of the borough council and the new town hall was opened in 1958. The buildings, on the courtyard plan, occupy a large island site between East Street and Axe Street, and include an Assembly Hall approached from the Broadway. The old town hall, in East Street was sold to the Essex County Council for use as a magistrates' court, and became known as Barking Magistrates Court.
The London Government Act of 1963, created the London Borough of Barking in 1965. The constituent parts were almost all of the Borough of Barking and the greater part of the Borough of Dagenham. At the time of the amalgamation the combined population of Barking and Dagenham was around 180,000, the northern tip of Dagenham having been incorporated into Redbridge and a small area of Barking in Newham. The borough was renamed the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in 1980.
Lawes Chemical Company was founded by Sir John Bennet Lawes. He set up a factory for manufacture of super-phosphates at Deptford Creek, London, in 1843, and bought in 1857 100 acres at Barking Creek, Essex, on which the main factory and workmen's cottages were built. The business was purchased from Lawes by a group of businessmen in 1872 and incorporated with limited liability as Lawes Chemical Manure Co. Ltd, to manufacture artificial fertilisers, sulphuric acid and other chemical fertilisers. Branches were established in Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, and the company traded overseas in North and South America, India, New Zealand, Australia South Africa and the Middle East. Lawes also established several subsidiary companies as artificial fertiliser merchants. Including: Gwalia Fertilisers (Briton Ferry) Ltd., Neath, Glamorgan (inc 1934), A Nightingale and Sons Ltd, Bedford (inc 1937), Thomas Fenn. Ltd, Ipswich, Suffolk (inc 1947), Seabright Chemicals Ltd (inc 1967), Jersey Trading Co Ltd (inc 1914) and Jersey Trading Co (1948) Ltd, as fruit and vegetable traders. The company became Lawes Chemical Company Ltd in 1935 and went into liquidation in 1969, the business continuing to trade under the name of Seabright Chemicals Ltd.
Williams Hudson Group Limited is the parent holding company for a number of companies, and was incorporated on 30 September 1936, bringing together Samuel Williams and Sons Ltd and John Hudson Ltd, and their subsidiaries. This group went on to acquire more companies, covering the following aspects of trade: international transportation and wharf ownership, road transportation, property dealing, motor retail, finance, hotels and building, engineering and metalwork, fuel distribution, storage and manufacture.
Williams Hudson Group went into liquidation and was sold to an asset stripper in the 1980s, who divided up and sold off the various companies that comprised it. The majority of the companies whose archives are contained within this collection were part of the group, but some are believed to be other companies, which had been taken over by the asset stripper and whose files had become mixed with those of the Williams Hudson Group.
The Dagenham Film Co-operative Society was established under the patronage of the Dagenham Borough Council, in particular the Library Service in order to support cultural activities in the Borough of Dagenham in 1947. The first film made by the society, entitled 'The Seeds of Time' (1948), depicted what life was like on the Becontree Estate and went on to be awarded several national prizes. Further films followed including 'Dagenham Festival' (1951), 'Our Year' (1957), 'Time to Play' (1960), 'Help Yourself to Health' (1963) and 'Playtime' (1969). Members of the society were also involvoed in the British Film Institute, the federation of film societies, the London regional group, the federation of cine societies and the Dagenham Arts Council.
Egbert E. Smart, librarian and Borough Photograph was Honorable Secretary and active member in the early years, other members of the first Board included:
President: Alderman F. Brown ECC
Chairman: R. E. Crawley
Vice-Chairman: C. E Nicklen
Hon. Asst Secretary: T. J. H. Stevens
Hon. Treasurer: G. A. Allen
Film Production: N. Crosby
Members later formed the Fanshawe Film Society. According to the constitution this new society was conducted under the auspices of the Barking Arts Council, and the patronage of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, with the main objective to encourage interest in film and the study of films through the means of exhibitions, lectures and amateur film production. Sadly this society ceased to function in the late 1980s.
Allan Victor Batley (1887-1977) was born at Wramplingham, Norfolk. He was superintendent of the Parks and Cemeteries Department of the Borough of Dagenham for 24 years from 1930 to 1954. Before this he tended the gardens of a number of private houses, including Broke Hall, Ipswich and Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, as well as parks belonging to Southall and Norwood Urban District Council. After his retirement he returned to Norfolk. He died at his home in Attleborough at the age of 90.
Barking Abbey was founded in the later part of the seventh century by St. Ethelburga. The earliest charter of the Abbey, relates to a gift of land being made by Hodilred, King of Essex. Although all the places mentioned in this charter cannot be identified with certainty, it is fairly certain that it is referring to all the land between the River Roading and Dagenham Beam River. Barking is not appears to be identified as Beddanhaam or Budinhaam, while Dagenham is called Deccanhamm. It is not known when Dagenham became a separate parish. Although it is likely to be fairly early due to the date of the dedication of the Parish Church St. Peter and St. Paul's.
For secular purpose the land granted by the charter remained in the hands of successive abbesses of Barking, and formed part of the large Manor of Barking until the Dissolution. It remained a royal manor until 1628, when it was mortgaged to Sir Thomas Fanshawe. On his death it was passed to his daughter who sold it to Sir Orlando Humphreys in 1717. In turn it was brought by Smart Lethuillier and then inherited by the daughter of his brother Charles, who was also the wife of Sir Edward Hulse.
The parish of Barking, included parts of Ilford, as well as Barking. These two areas were separated for ecclesiastical purposes in 1830, but remained one civil parish until 1888. Before this division, the parish was about thirty miles in diameter. It is probable that the early inhabitants would have worshipped at Barking Abbey and then St. Margaret's Church, which was located on the southern edge of Barking Parish. Those that lived north of this towards Ilford, would have attended the Chapel of the Leper Hospital, and later the Chapel at Aldborough Hatch, built in 1653.
The rapid urbanisation during the beginning of the nineteenth century caused problems in the administration of public health and welfare, which the vestries of such districts were incompetent to deal with. The bad name of the town vestries, meant reformers ignored the spirit of local patriotism and the historic descent of local government. After the Poor Law of 1834, ad hoc bodies were continually being created to carry out different tasks that were previously undertaken by the local vestry. Barking, for example found itself within the Romford Poor Law Union. The maintenance of the highways was taken over by the 6th Highway District in 1867. In addition to this the provision of education was put into the hands of an elected School Board in 1889. Barking also had its own Board of Health from 1853 to 1855.
However unity was restored with the establishment of the Barking Urban District Council under the Local Government Act of 1894. The vestry of the parish of Barking, continued to meet despite its diminished power in order to discuss church and secular business, as well as to receive charity accounts after 1895. The overseer also remained in office until the introduction of the Rating and Valuation Act in 1925.
This administrative history was largely based on a book by J. E. Oxley, entitled Barking Vestry Minutes (1955).
Becontree Heath was the meeting place of the Becontree Hundred, which was a court that governed on local matters until 1465. The Lord of the Manor had some jurisdiction also and Manorial Courts for the Dagenham Manors were held regularly here or in the Leet House at Barking. The Poor Law Act of 1601 set up the 'Vestry', the first unit of Local Authority. The members of the Vestry, later known as the Parish Council, were responsible for a number of local affairs put principally the care of the poor.
Ecclesiastical and secular affairs came under the same body, and were carried on in this war for two hundred years. There were also other special bodies, such as Trustees of the Turnpike Roads and the Commissioners for the Levels. In 1836 the union of Parishes was enforced for the care of the poor and Dagenham elected members to the Romford Board of Guardians and ceased to keep a village workhouse. The poor rate was collected by the Vestry, and the earliest surviving rate book dates back to 1839.
In 1840, the parish became part of the Metropolitan Police Area. The Local Board of Health was established in 1851. This body was responsible for local sanitary matters. Dagenham School Board was founded and five schools erected under the new compulsory Education Act of 1872. In 1902 the School Board was abolished and the management of schools in Dagenham was taken over by Essex County Council. During the same year a drainage scheme was undertaken, and then enlarged in 1910.
The parish remained mainly rural until 1921, when the London County Council started to build the great Becontree Estate. Modern industries, notably the Ford Motor Works, soon followed the new population. Dagenham became an urban district in 1926 and a borough in 1938.
William Warne and Co Ltd was established in 1837 as a private company to manufacture rubber products. The company became a joint stock company, the directors then being Edward Gerard Coles (Chairman), Ernest Harry Coles, George Frederick Spencer Warne, Oscar Edwin Coles, and James Burbridge; Ernest. F Spencer Warne acted as the Company Secretary in 1895. The company factory was in Tottenham, Middlesex, with registered offices at 29 Gresham Street in the City of London. In 1907 the company purchased land in Barking and built a new factory there, which became its headquarters, known as India Rubber Mills.
The onset of the Second World War, trading conditions became difficult because, despite military orders, there was a shortage of raw materials. In 1945, William Warne and Co. Ltd amalgamated with the St. Alban' s Rubber Company and The London and Provincial Rubber Co. Ltd. was set up as the holding company. Their range of products was broad, aimed mainly at defence, pharmaceutical and postal markets, and ranged from precision seals for pharmaceutical inhalers and refuelling hoses for military aircraft to rubber bands for the Post Office.
In June 2000, Icon Material Technologies (Holdings) Ltd purchased William Warne and the company name was changed to Icon Warne. At the time, there were 140 employees at Barking. The Barking premises were closed in 2002 when Icon Warne based its production in Retford, Nottinghamshire.
William Howard Frindall was born on 3 March 1939 in Epsom, Surrey. He had four children - Raymond, Stuart, Vanessa and Alice, and was educated at Tadworth County Primary School and Reigate Grammar School, going on to study architecture at the Kingston School of Art.
Frindall spent 43 years as the scorer for Test Match Special on the BBC, replacing the previous scorer, Arthur Wrigley, who died in October 1965. During this time he covered all of England's home Test series for the BBC, and meticulously recorded the scores onto paper using different colours to differentiate between the batsman and scores, also highlighting important entries.
Frindall developed a method of scoring Test matches that he believed originated in Australia. When becoming Test Match Special's scorer in 1966, he revised and redesigned the ball-by-ball method of play that commentators relied upon. The method followed basic conventions of the standard system as described in former MCC Secretary Colonel R S Rait-Kerr's textbook Cricket Umpiring and Scoring, and used three different types of scoresheet: a ball-by-ball record of play, a cumulative record of bowling analyses and extras, and the innings scorecard. This method became widely popular, so much so that Frindall in later years sold scoresheet templates to prospective cricket scorers.
Frindall also wrote a weekly column for the Daily Express, also providing scores to other major national newspapers. He also was editor of the Playfair Cricket Annual for 23 years, and worked on the Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Guinness Facts and Feats, England Test Cricketers: The complete record from 1877 as well as releasing an autobiography, Bearders: My Life in Cricket, in 2006. He was appointed an MBE for services to cricket and broadcasting in 2004, and died in 2009.
The centrepiece of the collection is the original scoresheets that Frindall created whilst scoring for the BBC. They include all of England's home series from June 1966-2008, and a selection of overseas Test matches on England tours from 1975-2008. Frindall also covered all England's home one-day internationals from 1972-2005, and England matches/finals of the World Cups of 1975-1983, and 1996-2003. The collection contains files of scoresheets, statistics and newspaper cuttings relating to tours not involving England, player and team statistical files, newspaper cuttings, photographs, and files relating to books Frindall wrote and published throughout his career.
In October 2011 a small group of MA Heritage students at the University of East London began to collect oral histories from the occupiers at the London LSX Occupy Camp in the grounds of St Paul's Cathedral. The vast majority of the histories were recorded during the occupation in and around the camp.
Cross Arrows Cricket Club was founded in 1880 by members of MCC staff. Prior to 1880 they played away matches against other local cricket clubs, calling themselves the ‘St. John’s Wood Ramblers Cricket Club’. When they discovered another cricket club had the same name, they needed to call themselves something different. The day before they played against Northwood Cricket Club, one of the staff members asked where Northwood was and received a reply of ‘It’s cross ‘arrow way’ meaning that it was beyond the District of Harrow. J Fennell, who worked at Lord’s as an Assistant Tennis Marker, said ‘That’s it, let’s call the club the Cross Arrows’. Membership of the club was initially only for MCC employees but nowadays allows for MCC and Middlesex County Cricket Club employees past and present and also members of both clubs.
J A Murdoch, Assistant Secretary of MCC between 1878 and 1907, became the Cross Arrows’ first President. Since Murdoch, all the Presidents have also been the MCC Secretary, from Sir Francis Lacey onwards. The captain is usually Assistant Secretary of MCC. Famous players who have represented Cross Arrows during the years include Albert Trott (the only man to have ever hit a ball over the top of the Lord’s Pavilion), Gubby Allen, Denis Compton, Bill Edrich, Jim Laker, Fred Titmus, Mike Brearley, Garfield Sobers, and also non-cricketers such as Gary Lineker. The current Secretary of MCC and President of Cross Arrows, Derek Brewer, played against Cross Arrows for NatWest in 1988.
The club usually plays its fixtures in September, and regularly against teams such as Adastrians (Royal Air Force), Stage, Butterflies, Royal Navy, Stragglers of Asia, and MCC themselves. Cross Arrows fixtures have either been played on the Main Ground at Lord’s or the Nursery Ground. In 1980 Cross Arrows celebrated its centenary with a match against a combined MCC and Middlesex XI, while in 2014, to commemorate Lord's 200th anniversary, a match between a President of Cross Arrows XI and a Cross Arrows XI was played on the main ground at Lord's, made up of MCC staff.
This collection consists of minute books, files relating to fixture arrangements, scorebooks, membership and financial information. Not all records have been retained.
Great Ormond Street Hospital was founded in 1852 by Charles West on its current site in Bloomsbury as the Hospital for Sick Children. It was the first children's hospital in Britain. It became part of the NHS in 1948 and took over the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Sick Children in 1968. It went through several changes of name during this period and adopted its current name in 1994.
Cromwell House opened in 1868 as a convalescent home. Since it opened in 1852, the hospital had sent children to convalescent homes, generally at the expense of hospital supporters. Children were regularly transported to Mitcham, and to the seaside at Margate, Brighton, Torquay and Eastbourne, in the hope that rest and country or sea air would help them regain health and strength.
The governors settled on Cromwell House, a mansion in Highgate Village, that had been used as a boys’ school for many years, and had suffered a catastrophic fire in 1865. The house was built in the early 17th century, and, coincidentally, had medical associations dating back to the time of the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza. The Queen’s physician, Dr Fernando Moses Mendes, (a Portuguese Jewish convert to Christianity who attended Charles II in his final illness), lived in the house when it was owned by his cousin, Alvaro Jacob Mendes, a diamond merchant. The hospital negotiated a 70-year lease, at an annual rent of £250, and the hospital spent £3,000 on fitting it out as a suitable place to care for sick children. It had space for 20 beds for convalescents, and 32 for chronic cases (12 medical and 20 surgical).
The numbers treated crept up, and by 1885, Cromwell House had provided care for 98 convalescent and 152 chronic patients. The vast majority of the patients cared for in Highgate were chronic cases, that is, suffering from long-term debilitating conditions that required continuing skilled treatment.
From 1870, parents were allowed to visit their children at Cromwell House on Sunday afternoons. Highgate had been originally intended for both in and out patients, but always had far more in-patients, as it was difficult to arrange their removal to north London unless the children actually passed through the hospital. Many children who would not have benefited from treatment in the hospital were presented for admission to Great Ormond Street with governors' letters, but who would be expected to gain much from a spell at Cromwell House. By 1870, these children were brought into Great Ormond Street for only a day or two before being sent up the hill to 'healthy Highgate'.
The staff at Cromwell House, away from the management committee, enjoyed more freedom, but also more individual responsibility, than their Great Ormond Street counterparts. In 1869 it was run by a lady superintendent, just one experienced nurse, two assistant nurses, a convalescent nurse or teacher, a cook, two housemaids, one kitchen maid, and a porter-cum-gardener. There was only one night nurse on duty, who had charge from 9.30 p.m. until 7.30 am.
No admissions were allowed from the fever wards, or where the patient or a member of his or her family had had an eruptive fever in the previous two months. All children admitted had to be able to walk, and to partly feed and dress themselves, and the patients had to be able to observe the regulations regarding the hours of rising, meals and rest. There was a strict veto on epileptics, idiots, the insane, or those who needed a lot of care at night. While these regulations certainly restricted the numbers of children admitted to Cromwell House, the biggest filter was the fact that parents were expected to pay two and sixpence in transport costs to get their child to and from Highgate, and sixpence a week for washing.
Great Ormond Street kept Cromwell House open until the early 1920s, when it became clear that the old mansion was no longer suitable for long-term convalescent care, and that metropolitan London had crept up Highgate Hill, enveloping the house and garden in pollution and traffic noise. A new mansion (complete with extensive parkland) was found near Epsom on Surrey, and Tadworth Court became the new convalescent branch of Great Ormond Street Hospital. The main house was partly given over to wards, but mostly for offices, and single-storey pavilions were built in the grounds to house non-ambulant patients more easily.
Cromwell House’s medical associations did not end with the departure of the patients, however; it became home to the first Mothercraft School set up in this country, according to the tenets of the Dr Spock of his day, New Zealand paediatrician Sir Frederic Truby King. Today it is home to the Ghanayan Embassy.
Born, 1923; as a Roman Catholic he was educated at St Brendan's Grammar School, Bristol; St Edmund's Seminary, Ware, 1938; ordained priest, 1946; Gregorian University, Rome, licentiate in sacred theology, 1948; taught fundamental theology and apologetics, St Edmund's, 1949-1952; Professor of Dogmatic Theology, St Edmund's, 1952-1964; Heythrop College, 1964-; attended the third session of the Second Vatican Council, 1964; first Roman Catholic to present the Maurice lectures at King's College, London, 1966; announced publicly that he had resolved to break with the Roman Catholic church, 1966; Clare College, Cambridge, -1967; head of a new religious studies department at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, 1967-1970; Professor of Religious Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, 1970-1991; editor of the periodical Studies of Religion / Sciences Religieuses, 1977-1985; Principal of Lonergan University College in Montreal, 1987-1991; retired, 1991; returned to Britain, 1993; died, 1999.
Publications: A Question of Conscience (1967)
Theology and Political Society (1980).
The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 was established in 1850 by Queen Victoria to mastermind the 'Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations'. The commissioners were appointed by Royal Charter to plan and promote the Great Exhibition, with Prince Albert as the President taking personal charge of the operation. The exhibition was held in London in 1851 in a building designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, known as the Crystal Palace. It was erected in Hyde Park, and after the exhibition closed was sold by the contractors to a syndicate for re-erection at Sydenham, where it remained until it was burnt down in 1936. The exhibition made a substantial profit of £186,000, and when its affairs were wound up the commissioners remained a permanent body under a supplemental charter to administer the surplus funds to 'increase the means of industrial education and extend the influence of science and art upon productive industry'. The profit was carefully managed, and capital assets are now of the order of £39 million with annual charitable disbursement of over £1 million. The commissioners proposed to provide a 'locality', and establish central institutions working in cooperation with regional interests to promote industrial education for the benefit of the whole country. Within two years the commissioners had bought an estate in South Kensington of eighty-seven acres. The commissioners were assisted by Parliament to complete the purchase of the estate, and elected Government representatives to the commission as ex-officio members to assist them in managing the estate. Government representatives continue to serve, although the partnership with the commission was dissolved in 1858.
The first step in the development of the system was taken by the Government in founding the Department of Science and Art in 1853. The Department was moved to land off Exhibition Road in Kensington in 1860, and other institutions were established in the same area including the School of Naval Architecture and Engineering (later moved to Greenwich), the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines and the Royal College of Art. In 1858 the commissioners assigned to the Government the land east of Exhibition Road on which the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum) was built. The southern part of the main square of the estate was used for the International Exhibition of 1862, and in 1863 part of that site was sold to the Government for the Natural History Museum and other public institutions. From 1860 to 1889 the commissioners used the estate for temporary exhibitions and other activities designed to stimulate public interest in science and art. The commissioners still intended to establish permanent institutions according to their stated aims, and to this end a Museum of Art had been established and Museum of Science was being developed. The commissioners leased sites for and helped promote the foundation of the Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Music, Royal College of Art, Royal College of Organists, Royal School of Needlework, National School of Cookery, School of Art Woodcarving and Queen Alexandra's House, a residential hostel for female students. The commissioners also enabled the Government to acquire land for developing the National Science Collections and Library and eventually to build the Science and Geological museums. Land was leased to the City and Guilds of London Institute for the building of their Central Institution (opened 1884), and for the building of the Imperial Institute (later Commonwealth Institute). The Royal Horticultural Society's gardens also occupied a large section of the estate until the 1870s. The remainder of the unoccupied estate was leased to the Imperial College of Science and Technology (now Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) which in 1907 co-ordinated its constituent colleges already established on the estate, the Royal College of Science, Royal School of Mines and City and Guild's College.
As part of their aims of 'increasing the means of industrial education and extending the influence of science and art upon productive industry' the commissioners also established fellowships and scholarships for science and engineering graduates which continue today. A scheme of postgraduate awards was launched in 1891 'for assisting the promotion of scientific education by devoting a portion of their surplus income to the establishment of technical scholarships'. Seventeen to twenty scholarships were offered each year to students from universities in Britain, Ireland and throughout the empire. The scheme was reorganised in 1922, with two schemes operating. Senior Studentships (later called Research Fellowships) were available to all British university institutions and provided funds for two years of research for scientists or engineers. Overseas Scholarships, which ran until 1988, were awarded to universities of the Empire and later the Commonwealth. They allowed selected students to devote two or three years to full time research. The schemes provided research opportunities to many outstanding scientists and engineers, including eleven Nobel Laureates, four Presidents and 130 Fellows of the Royal Society. Former 1851 award holders include Lord Ernest Rutherford, Professor Charles Barkla, Professor Robert Robinson, Professor Walter Haworth, Sir John Cockcroft, E T S Walton, Paul Dirac, Sir James Chadwick, C P Snow, Lord Alexander Todd, Professor Sir John Cornforth and Sir Aaron Klug.
A scheme of industrial bursaries was established in 1911 to give graduates financial assistance before obtaining employment in industry, ending in 1939. Post graduate scholarships in naval architecture were also awarded by the commission, and travelling scholarships tenable at the British School at Rome for the study and practice of fine arts. Currently the Commission's educational awards comprise Research Fellowships in Science or Engineering awarded to scientists or engineers to continue research for two years, Industrial Fellowships, awarded to British nationals for work in British industry, Industrial Design Studentships and Research Fellowships for research within the Built Environment.
The collection was established in 1985 by Liz Ward, Librarian at Chelsea College, the result of increasing demand by students for documentation recognising the contribution to British art by artists of African-Caribbean, Asian and African descent. It has grown naturally as a part of the library's collection.
Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts was opened on 10 January 1898 in premises adjoining the South London Art Gallery. It was established by the Technical Education Board of the London County Council in a building provided by the Vestry of Camberwell, and aimed 'to give the best artistic and technical education to all classes in the district', 'supplement knowledge gained by craftsmen in workshops' and 'help the craftsman become the designer of his own work'. The philanthropist John Passmore Edwards gave a substantial sum of money for the erection of the building in memory of Lord Leighton. The school and gallery were the fruition of a movement for the foundation of an artistic centre in Camberwell, supported by Edward Burne-Jones, Lord Leighton, Walter Crane and G F Watts. The school enrolled 198 students, mostly part-time, for the first session. The school offered evening technical classes in architecture, cabinet design, embroidery, wood carving, wood block and stencil cutting; trade classes in masonry and stone carving, plasterwork, house painting and decorating and an evening art school giving classes in elementary drawing and design, life classes and modelling. A day art and technical school was also held from 10 to 4, offering life classes, preliminary drawing, painting and design, modelling, wood carving and embroidery. The demand for places in the school grew continuously and an extension was opened in 1904 enabling further courses to be added including brickwork, plumbing and typography. A further major extension was completed in 1913 providing rooms and studios for a wide range of courses, including sculpture, pottery, drawing and painting and a new library.
Between its foundation and the Second World War the school provided a wide range of courses, mainly for those employed in the building and printing trades and in the manufacture of pottery and furniture. By 1913 courses offered by the school were divided into four, mainly vocational areas, comprising printing and book production, construction and decoration of buildings, embroidery and dressmaking and jewellery, silversmithing and enamelling. All the trade courses were taught with the co-operation of the relevant trade organisations, and afternoon and evening courses for apprentices were established by the 1920s. After 1913 there was a gradual movement away from the trade courses (with the exception of printing and typographical design) to an increasing emphasis on the fine arts and design, with the establishment of the Fine Art Department in the inter-war years. A number of building trade subjects were dropped from the curriculum between 1913 and 1930, and under Stanley Thorogood, Principal from 1920 to 1938, the study of drawing and painting, commercial art and crafts such as pottery, dressmaking and embroidery was extended.
A Junior Art School (later known as the Secondary Art School) was established in 1920, providing preliminary training courses for students from the ages of 14 to 16 before moving to full-time senior courses. As well as teaching trade, technical and art subjects students were given instruction in English, science and physical training. It was closed in 1958 when the policy of separating secondary and further education was established.
During the Second World War the Junior Art School was evacuated to Chipstead and later to Northampton along with other students from the school. Printing continued at Camberwell throughout the war. The number of full-time students (apart from the Secondary Art School) increased from about 40 before the war to nearly 400 by 1948. After the war the school concentrated on providing courses on fewer subjects, with the main fields of study being painting, sculpture, illustration, graphic design, printed and woven textile design, pottery, printing and bookbinding. A new sculpture building was opened in 1953, providing new workshops for modelling in clay, bronze casting, plaster casting, stone and wood carving. By 1963 the work of the school was organised into three departments, Painting and Sculpture, Design and Crafts and Printing and Bookbinding. A course in foundation studies was begun in 1962, and in 1963 the former courses for the National Diploma in Design were superseded by those for the Diploma in Art and Design. These were approved in 1974 as leading to the BA honours degrees of the CNAA, with main studies in painting, sculpture, graphic design, printed and woven textiles and ceramics. Courses in paper conservation were started in 1970.
By 1968 the School was organised into eight departments, Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Design, Ceramics and Metalwork, Textiles, Foundation Studies, Art History and Printing. Between 1966 and 1971 additional accommodation was opened in Meeting House Lane and Lyndhurst Grove, and a purpose-built sculpture annexe was completed in 1969. A new building on an adjoining site was opened in 1973, providing a further 42 studio workshops and classrooms, new assembly and lecture halls, library and common rooms. In 1976 the former premises of Wilson School was taken over by the school, allowing a number of smaller annexes to be relinquished. Degree courses in silversmithing and metalwork were introduced in 1976. The vocational courses in printing and typographical design were discontinued in 1981 and the department closed, and in 1983 the textiles degree course was closed. In 1982 a new Department of Art History and Conservation was established, offering Higher Diploma and BA honours degree courses.
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. In 1989 Camberwell was renamed Camberwell College of Arts, and the courses were organised into two schools, one of Applied and Graphic Arts and the other of Art History and Conservation. In 1993 the London Institute was granted the right to award degrees in its own name, and in 1998 the college launched a new framework for its BA courses, offering students the opportunity to focus on a specialist discipline supplemented by chosen elective subjects.
Teachers at Camberwell have included William Coldstream, Rodney Burn, Lawrence Gowing, John Minton, W T Monnington, Victor Pasmore, Claude Rogers, William Townsend, Nigel Walters, Edward Ardizzone, Martin Bloch, Norah Braden, Helmut Ruhemann, Gilbert Spencer, Karel Vogel, Berthold Wolpe, John Buckland Wright and Dennis Young.
Chelsea College of Art & Design has its origins in the South-Western Polytechnic, which was opened at Manresa Road, Chelsea in 1895 to provide scientific and technical education to Londoners. Day and evening classes for men and women were held in domestic economy, mathematics, engineering, natural science, art and music. Art was taught from the beginning of the Polytechnic, and included design, weaving, embroidery and electrodeposition. Instruction in design especially adapted to various industries was an early feature of teaching in art at Chelsea. The South-Western Polytechnic became Chelsea Polytechnic in 1922 and taught a growing number of registered students of the University of London.
At the beginning of the 1930s the interests of the school of art began to widen, including courses in craft training. Teaching began to cover commercial design, with courses including package design, block-printed fabrics, knotted rugs, painted furniture and typographical lay-out introduced between 1931 and 1938. Fine art courses appeared, with a sculpture department founded under the Principal, H S Williamson. Notable teachers in the School of Art have included Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Lawrence Gowing, Norbert Lynton and Patrick Caulfield. On 1 January 1957 the college was designated a College of Advanced Technology, and became known as Chelsea College of Science and Technology. The School of Art was separated and became independent. In 1964 the School of Art merged with the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art to create a new Chelsea School of Art in purpose built premises at Manresa Road, directly managed by London County Council. Courses were reorganised leading to the new Diploma in Art and Design in Painting and in Graphic Design and Sculpture. Under the first head of the new institution, Lawrence Gowing, an option programme was introduced encompassing workshops on experimental music, poetry, artists' books, psychoanalysis, philosophy and anthropology. A basic design course pioneered by Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton developed to become the basis of the College's foundation course. An MA in Fine Art was introduced in 1974.
Hammersmith College of Art and Building was founded in 1891 by Francis Hawke, with the establishment of a few evening classes to prepare students for science and art certificates. In 1904 the school was taken over by London County Council and a new building erected at Lime Grove, which opened with an extended curriculum in 1908. A trade school for girls was erected on the same site in 1914. From the outset the College had a tradition of training and education in art closely associated with the building professions and craft. A new building was opened in 1930. Hammersmith College merged with Chelsea College of Art in 1975.
In January 1986 Chelsea School of Art 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. In 1989 the School was renamed Chelsea College of Art & Design. New courses since 1989 include a BA in design, an MA in History and Theory of Modern Art, and an MA in the Theory and Practice of Public Art and Design for the Environment.
Born in Nassau, Bahamas, 1925; returned to Scotland as a child; educated at boarding school; poverty in Glasgow; education ended at the age of thirteen with the outbreak of war and evacuation to the Orkneys; briefly attended Glasgow School of Art; army service, 1942-1945; sergeant in the RASC, saw service in Germany; became friendly with the artists Colquhoun, MacBryde, Hohn Minton; worked as a shepherd in the Orkneys, 1945; agricultural labourer; wrote short stories and plays, some broadcast by the BBC; moved to Edinburgh, 1950s; labourer in the Orkneys, working on rhyming poems; founded the Wild Hawthorn Press with Jessie McGuffie, 1961; produced the periodical Poor. Old. Tired. Horse., 1962-1968; produced the broadside Fishsheet for concrete poetry, 1963; publication of Rapel, collection of concrete poems, and of Standing Poem I, 1963; Canal Stripe Series 3, first published booklet-poem, 1964; settled at Stonypath, 1966, and began work on the 4 acre garden; Scottish representative on the Comité International of the concrete poetry movement, 1967; contributor to the International concrete poetry exhibition, 1967 Brighton Festival; first one-man exhibition at the Axiom Gallery, London, 1968; published the Weed Boat Masters Ticket booklet, first question booklet, 1971; retrospective exhibition, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1972; started a series of works for the Max Planck Institute Garden, Stuttgart, 1974; ceramic works in collaboration with David Ballantyne, 1975-1976; Collaborations exhibition, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 1977; exhibited at the Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture, Battersea Park, London, 1977; exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery, London, 1977; cancelled exhibition in Edinburgh as a protest against actions of Scottish Arts Council officials, 1978; Stonypath renamed Little Sparta, 1978; corresponded with Albert Speer, 1978; beginning of the 'Free Arts' project, 1978; worked on Japanese Stacks with John R Thorpe, 1978-1979; Nature Over Again After Poussin travelling exhibition, 1980-1981; exhibited at the Sculpture Show, Hayward Gallery, London, 1983; collaboration with the architect Andrew Townsend, 1983-1984; garden and temple at Little Sparta reopened to visitors, 1984; exhibitions at Merian-Park, Basel, Graeme Murray Gallery, Edinburgh and British Council's British Show in Australia; touring exhibition organized by Southampton Art Gallery, 1984; exhibitions with Sarkis at the Espace Rameau-Chapelle Sainte-Marie, Never, France and at the Eric Fabre Gallery, Paris; outdoor sculpture exhibitions at Geneva, and Wageningen, Holland, 1985; shortlisted for the Turner Prize, 1985; exhibited Osso in Paris, 1987; honorary professorship, University of Dundee, 1999.
Inventory magazine was first published in 1995 by an artists' collective of 3 ex-Chelsea MA students: Paul Claydon, Adam Scrivener and Damian Abbott. They published the first issue of the magazine whilst studying at the Chelsea.