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William Barents was born c 1550; became a cartographer and explorer; embarked on three notable expeditions hoping to find the Northeast Passage above Siberia. Barents reached the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya on his first two attempts, rediscovering Spitsbergen and Bear Island, sailing east into the Kara Sea. On his third attempt in 1596, his ship became trapped by sea ice and he and his crew of 16 men were forced to winter ashore on Novaya Zemlya. In June 1597 they set out on a 1,600-mile escape in two open boats, resulting in Barents death.

Jacob van Heemskerk was born in Amsterdam March 13, 1567. He became famous for attempts to discover an Arctic passage from Europe to China, 1596; Barents accompanied Heemskerck as pilot but died on this voyage. Following this, Van Heemskerck served as a vice admiral, protecting Dutch merchant shipping on voyages to China and the East Indies, dying after the Battle of Gibraltar as a result of leg wounds caused by a cannonball, April 25, 1607.

Sir George Howard Darwin was born on 9 July 1845 at Down House, Downe, Kent and was the second son of the naturalist, Charles Darwin; educated from 1856 at Clapham grammar school, he studied mathematics and science. Darwin failed to gain entrance scholarships at the University of Cambridge in 1863 and 1864, but matriculated at Trinity College in 1864. In 1866, Darwin won a foundation scholarship at Trinity and in 1868 was placed second wrangler in the tripos, winning the second Smith's prize; later that autumn he was elected a Fellow of Trinity. Darwin made law his profession, studying in London from 1869 to 1872, though he never practised due to illness. He turned to scientific pursuits, returning to Trinity in 1873.

Darwin studied the solar system, tidal theory, geodesy and dynamic meteorology. His first major scientific paper concerned geodesy and was entitled 'On the influence of geological changes on the earth's axis of rotation', it was read before the Royal Society in 1876. In 1879 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and by the mid-1880s he was well on his way to becoming a central figure of the scientific aristocracy of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. In 1883 he succeeded James Challis as Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge and won the Telford medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Darwin was an influential member of the Seismological Congress and the meteorological council to the Royal Society.

By the 1890s, Darwin was considered Britain's leading geodesist; he urged his country's membership in the International Geodetic Association,and later became its vice-president. Darwin's researches laid the groundwork for the startling growth of the geophysical sciences and in 1911 he was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society, the country's highest scientific distinction. Darwin was made a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1905 after his successful presidency of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Darwin died at Newnham Grange on 7 December 1912 of cancer.

Sir James Berry was born in 1860; educated at Whitgift School, Croydon; received medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital; was admitted Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (English), 1882; elected a Fellow of the College, 1885; having graduated in the interval BS at London University with the University Scholarship and Gold Medal. Berry was employed as house surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital; demonstrator of anatomy; surgical registrar. In 1885 he became surgeon to the Alexandra Hospital for Diseases of the Hip, Bloomsbury and elected surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Road. Berry became distinguished in general surgery, focusing on plastic work and then the operative treatment of goitre.

Berry travelled and had knowledge of French, German, Serbian and Magyar languages. In 1915, Berry organised a Red Cross Unit in Vrnjatchka Banja, Serbia. The hospital was confronted with an epidemic of Typhus, with Berry having to take on the role of physician. The German-Austrian invasion caused the hospital to fall into the hands of the Hungarians. Berry and other captives were treated well and during 1916-1917 Berry served as the head of a British Red Cross unit in Romania and Russia. Berry was made an Officer of the Star of Romania; decorated with the orders of St Sava of Serbia and St Anne of Russia. In 1917 Berry returned to England; became honorary surgeon to the military hospital at Napsbury and then Bermondsey. He was elected president of the Medical Society, 1926-1928 and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1918-1940. Berry was knighted in 1925 and died in 1946.

Publications include Diseases of the Thyroid Gland, 1901 and A Red Cross Unit in Serbia, 1916.

G C Binsteed was a Fellow of Royal Geographical Society 1911-1915.

No biographical history was available at the time of compilation.

Jean-Denis Barbier du Bocage was a French geographer and philologist.

Vero Louis Bosazza was born 21 January 1911; graduated in geography from University of Witswatersrand and obtained his Doctor's degree from University of South Africa; and worked as a practical field geologist, gaining extensive knowledge of South and Central Africa. During World War Two, Bosazza served with the South African Forces and on his return home worked in the Mineral Research Laboratories. Bosazza had an interest in the work of David Livingstone, maintaining that the scientific results of the Zambesi expedition of 1854-1864 were more important than previously considered. Bosazza was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1947-1980. Bosazza died in Johannesburg on 26 March 1980.

F S A Bourne was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1886-1912. He worked for the China Consular Service and was in charge of the Blackburn Commercial Mission to China. No biographical history concerning Tratman was available at the time of compilation.

Born, 1869; educated, Farnborough School, 1879-1882 and Sandhurst, 1882-1889; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1893-1901; Scots Guards, 1899; served in Somaliland and Abyssinia, 1894; Foreign Office, Uganda, 1894-1895; took part in Ungoro, Nile and Nandi expeditions where he undertook surveying; awarded the Murchison Grant, 1897; served in West Africa, 1896-1897; Egypt, 1897-1899; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, South Africa, [1900]-1901; died, 1901.

Publications: Campaigning on the Upper Nile and Niger (1898)

Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1889-1903; member of the Rangoon cotton traders Biedermann Sherriff and Co.

Born, 1821; educated, private school at Rottingdean; College School, Gloucester, 1833-1835; private tutor, 1838-1840; departed for Germany to finish his education, 1840; travelled to Mauritius to manage the family estate, 1845; relocated to Ceylon to establish a coffee plantation and an English colony at Nuwera Eliya, 1845-1854; while in Ceylon he established an impressive reputation as a big game hunter; traveled in eastern Europe; manager-general with the Danube and Black Sea Railway, 1859-1860; traveled in Asia Minor; expedition to discover the sources of the Nile River, 1861-1865; Royal Geographical Society's gold medal, 1865; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1865-1893; governor-general of the equatorial Nile basin, 1869-1873; returned to England, 1873; died, 1893.

Born, 1796; appointed to the public service, 1812; sent to Sicily, 1814; accompanied the expedition to Naples that restored the Bourbon dynasty after the fall of Murat, 1815; junior secretary to Lord Castlereagh's extraordinary embassy for the settlement of the general peace of Europe upon the overthrow of Napoleon, Paris, 1815; assistant to Lord Castlereagh's private secretary, Joseph Planta, 1816; Ionian Islands, arranging with Ali Pasha of Yanina in Albania the cession of Parga and the indemnities for the Parganots, 1816; recalled to England, 1818; accompanied Lord Castlereagh to the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle; commissioner and consul-general to Buenos Aires, 1823, and in 1825 chargé d'affaires; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1833-1882; Chief Commissioner to Naples, 1840-1845; died, 1882.

The Tristan da Cunha Fund was set up c 1886, by Douglas M Gane, a London solicitor. The purpose of the fund was to send aid to Tristan da Cunha following the failure of the potato crop and the loss of 15 of the islands best boat men at sea. The fund provided provisions for the islanders including wood, food and candles. Gane, Honorary Secretary of the Fund, who had visited the island aboard the clipper Ellora, repeatedly wrote to The Times in London to ensure the islanders were not forgotten. The Fund survived Gane's death in 1935, and his son, Irving B Gane, took over as Honorary Secretary. The Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Empire Society were the Fund's trustees. The fund was wound up sometime after 1951, as changes on the island meant that it was no longer dependant upon the Fund for survival.

Born, 1843; commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1862, he joined the Survey of India in 1865 and surveyed much of the North West frontier and Afghanistan; appointed to the Russian/Afghan boundary commisision in 1884 and later to the Pamir and the Perso/Baluch commissions; he settled the Argentine/Chile border dispute in 1902; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), 1868; Founders Medal, RGS, 1887; President of the RGS, 1917-1919; died, 1929.

Lieutenant Thomas Howard Molyneux led an expedition from the HM SPARTAN to examine the course of the Jordan and and the valley through which it runs and to measure the depth of the Dead Sea, 1847.

Led expeditions in Canada including Southampton Island, 1936, Baffin Island, [1943] and Hudson Bay, [1947]; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1933- ; awarded the Patron's Medal in 1948.

Born 1846; served with 75 Regiment, in Gibraltar, Mauritius and South Africa; accompanied Charles Brownlee on a mission to chief Kreli of the Gcalekas, 1874; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1878-1881; led expedition to chart the tract between the Zambesi and Limpopo Rivers, where he died, 1881.

The USS POLARIS was originally launched as the AMERICA, it was renamed the USS POLARIS in 1871 when it was loaned to Charles Hall's North Polar Expedition. The expedition was the failed first U.S. expedition to the North Pole. Eighteen of its members, including officer George Tyson, were marooned on an ice floe, where they drifted for six months until rescued by another ship. Capt Charles Francis Hall died, Nov 1871 and foul play has been suspected. The expedition ended when the ship ran aground, was crushed by the ice and abandoned by the remainder of the crew.

Charles Frederick Hall was born 1821; business man in Ohio; mounted a rescue expedition to find the survivors of John Franklin's expedition, 1859 (failed); second expedition with the same purpose (failed), 1865-1869 [on this second expedition it has been suggested that Hall killed one of his crew]; expedition to reach the North Pole on the USS POLARIS, 1871; died on the expedition, 1871.

Verney Lovett Cameron was born in 1844. A naval Lieutenant, Cameron was selected by the Royal Geographical Society to lead an expedition to find David Livingstone in 1872; Livingstone had died when Cameron reached central Africa; Cameron then crossed tropical Africa from east to west, the first European to do so; awarded the CB by Queen Victoria and the Gold Medal of the RGS. Cameron was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1876-1894 and died in 1894.

Born, Canada, 1879; expedition to Northern shores of Canada and Alaska, 1908-1912; leader of the Canadian Arctic expedition, 1913; Royal Geographical Society (RGS) Founder's Medal 1921; Fellow of the RGS, 1923-1962; died, 1962.

Alley was an English merchant who was active in the East India trade as an interloper where his flamboyant behaviour caused considerable irritation to the East India Company. Numerous pious interjections suggest he may have been a Puritan. He mentions that his wife travelled with him.

W C Fox served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in India, 1916-1919.

Lt William Harvey Hooper was ship's purser on HMS ALEXANDER, HMS HECLA and HMS FURY, 1818-1825. He died, 1833.

Born, 1878; educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, 1889-1893 and King William's College in the Isle of Man, 1893-1896, and passed out of Sandhurst early in 1898; service in the Indian Army, mostly in Rawlpindi and Bombay, 1898-1904; transferred to the political department of the Government of India; Consul at Bandar-e-'Abbas and assistant to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Sir Percy Cox, 1904; political agent in Kuwait, 1909-[1915]; series of explorations in the interior of Arabia, 1909-1914; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1914-1915; died, 1915.

Born, 1788; merchant service; Royal Navy, 1805; surveying in Italian, Adriatic, Greek, and north African waters; Founder member of the Royal Geographical Society of London (RGS), 1830; President of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1845-1846; retired, 1846; President of the RGS, 1849-1850; Vice-President and Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society; Vice-President and Director of the Society of Antiquaries; died, 1865.

Born, 1843; educated at Brighton College; Royal Military Academy at Woolwich; obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers, 1864; served in India, 1869-1871; stationed at Aldershot, Chatham, and Woolwich, 1871-1876; joined Colonel Valentine Baker's journey to Persia, 1873; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1874-1882; ordered to Hong Kong, and while there obtained leave to travel in China, 1876; gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1879; intelligence branch of the War Office; sent to Constantinople as assistant boundary commissioner for the new boundary between Turkey and Russia, 1879; obtained leave to go to India to join Sir Charles Macgregor, as a survey officer, in his expedition against the Maris, -1881; granted leave of absence to explore the provinces between Tunis and Egypt, 1881-1882; deputy assistant adjutant-general, Egypt, 1882; died, 1882.

Born, 1811; medical missionary in China; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1858-1896; died, 1896.

Born, 1846; Aberdeen grammar school, 1865; studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen, 1867; Anderson's Medical College; graduated MB, 1872 and MD, 1874; practised medicine in Scotland; Assistant Medical Officer in the Seychelles, 1873; Resident Surgeon in the civil hospital at Port Louis, Mauritius, 1874; Chief Medical Officer for the colony of Fiji, 1875; first Administrator of British New Guinea, 1888-1895; Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, 1895-1898; Founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1896; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1898-1919; Governor of Lagos, 1899-1904; Governor of Newfoundland, 1904-1909; conducted a scientific expedition to Labrador, [1906]; Governor of Queensland, 1909-1914; retired, 1914; died, 1919.

William Archibald MacFadyen was in the employ of several petroleum companies and of the Iraqi government, 1921-1939; served in the Army, 1939-1945; went to British Somaliland in the employ of the General Survey, 1946; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1927-1985; died, 1985.

W O McEwan was awarded the Royal Geographical Society Cuthbert Peek grant to travel to Lake Nyasa to take up the work of James Stewart of the 'Lake Junction road', 1884. Before leaving for Africa he took a course of instruction on Practical Astronomy at the Royal Geographical Society. He died sometime before 1888.

Born, England, 1873; educated, Alleyn's College of God's Gift, Trinity College, Cambridge, 1892-1903; St Thomas's Hospital, London; member of the Royal College of Surgeons; licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, 1903; joined the Daniells anthropological expedition to British New Guinea to investigate cancer, 1903; assistant resident magistrate at Kairuku, Central Division, 1904; resident magistrate of North Eastern Division of Papua, 1908; led investigation on dysentery among Papuan labourers, 1912; chief medical health and quarantine officer, [1919]; implemented a programme for training Papuans as medical assistants, 1933-1935; retired, 1938; died, 1946.

Born, 1817; expedition to search for the companions of Sir John Franklin, 1850; expeditions off Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, [1855-1857]; throughout his life he endeavoured to enlist public interest on behalf of the companions of Sir John Franklin; died, 1895.

William Singer Barclay was born in 1871; educated at Bedford School and on leaving school travelled to central Uruguay to join a relative who was contracted to build a railway. This contract was cancelled and led to Barclay travelling South and Central America for twenty years. Barclay contributed to the Society's journal from 1904; became editor of a monumental commercial map of South America, published by George Philip in 1922; worked as General Secretary of the Tower Hill Improvement Trust and in later life lectured at the Society's evening meetings; became an authority on South America working as Commercial Secretary to the British Mission to South America, under Sir Maurice de Bunsen during the latter part of World War One and General Secretary to the British Empire trade exhibition in Buenos Aires, 1929-1931. Barclay was a fellow of Royal Geographical Society, 1903-1947 and received the Back Award in 1913. He died in 1947.

Katherine Maria Routledge was born 1866; graduated from Somerville Hall, 1895; taught courses through the Extension Division and at Darlington Training College; after the Second Boer War, she traveled to South Africa with a committee to investigate the resettlement of single working women from England to South Africa; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1900-1939; married William Scoresby Routledge, 1906; died, 1935.

William Scoresby Routledge was born in 1859; married Katherine Maria Pease, 1906; died, 1939.

The Routledges went to live among the Kikuyu people of British East Africa (now Kenya) and jointly published With A Prehistoric People (1910); they organised an expedition to Easter Island, 1910, affiliated with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the British Museum and the Royal Geographical Society; the expedition, on the schooner MANA, departed, 1913 and arrived 1914; they left Easter Island, 1915.

Born, USA, 1912; educated Lincoln School, New York, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon, 1925-1931; Trinity College, Cambridge, 1931-1933; left Cambridge to devote himself to motor sport, 1933; formed the Straight Corporation, 1935; Royal Auxiliary Air Force, 1940; air aide-de-camp to King George VI, 1944; first deputy chairman and managing director of British European Airways, 1946; chairman of Government advisory committee on private flying, 1947; chairman of the Royal Aero Club, 1946-1951; deputy chairman British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), 1947; executive vice-chairman BOAC 1949-1957; executive vice-chairman, Rolls-Royce Ltd, 1955; deputy chairman; chairman, 1971-1976; board of the Midland Bank, 1956; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1964-1979; deputy chairman of the new Post Office Corporation, 1969-1974; died, 1979.

Born, 1910; educated, Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford; Honarary Attache of Duke of Gloucester's Mission to Abyssinia, for Haile Selassie's coronation, 1930; Explored Danakil country of Abyssinia and the Aussa Sultanate, 1933-1934; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), 1934; awarded Back Grant from the RGS, 1935; Sudan Political Service, Darfur and the Upper Nile, 1935-1940; Served in Ethiopia, Syria and Western Desert with Sudan Defence Force and Special Air Service; worked in Arabia with the Desert Locusts Research Organisation, 1945; explored Southern Arabia, twice crossing the Empty Quarter, 1945-1949; RGS Founder's Medal, 1948; returned to England in the 1990s; died, 2003.

Publications: Arabian Sands (1959)
The Marsh Arabs (1964)

Mate in the RESOLUTE under Captain Austin in the expedition of 1850-1851; first lieutenant of the ASSISTANCE in Sir E Belcher's expedition, [1852]-1854; retired captain, 1869; died, 1896.

Bedford College for Women was founded in 1849 by Mrs Elizabeth Jesser Reid, a widow who had been left a private income by her late husband, which she used to undertake philanthropic works. Mrs Reid and her circle of well-educated friends had long espoused the need for better education for women, and in 1849, she went ahead with her plans, leasing a house at 47 Bedford Square, London, placing £1,500 with three male trustees, and persuading a number of her friends to serve on the management committees and act as teaching professors. The intention was to provide a liberal and non-sectarian education for women.

In the first few years, the 'Ladies College in Bedford Square' struggled both financially and academically. The latter problem was countered in 1853 by the opening of a school on the premises to provide a better standard of entry to the classes in the College. Some of the students became resident, staying first in 'The Residence' in Grenville St, and later in 48 Bedford Square.

Upon the death of Mrs Reid in 1866, the three Reid Trustees, who controlled a large legacy of her money, insisted upon a new constitution (as the College in fact had no legal charter), which was framed by a Committee of Management and came into effect in 1868. The College was incorporated as an Association under the Board of Trade, with Articles of Association setting out a new management structure.

The College officially became 'Bedford College', though its premises moved to 8 and 9 York Place in 1874. The two houses acted as one, with the College using the downstairs rooms and the Residence the upstairs. As numbers began to rise, the College expanded, with the addition of extensions housing science laboratories. Degree examinations of the University of London were opened to women in 1878, and Bedford students had been gaining BA, BSc and Masters degrees from the early 1880s. Another innovation was the appointment in 1893 of a Lady Principal, Miss Emily Penrose, who became responsible for both the teaching and residential aspects of Bedford College.

The student numbers were still cause for concern, for despite scholarships paid for by benefactors, the College still had no permanent endowment, and financial pressures were putting off prospective students. This changed in 1894-1895 when the London County Council made a grant of £500 to the College. Numbers began to climb, with the beginning of a thriving social and academic life for the female scholars. Bedford College was a success, with a reputation for high academic standards - it boasted the largest number of female students who had graduated with London degrees. The College became one of the constituent Colleges of the newly formed teaching University of London in 1900.

Following extensive discussions, especially relating to the inadequate representation of teachers in the management structure of the College, it was decided to apply to the Privy Council for a Royal Charter to take the place of the Deed of Incorporation. Royal Assent for this new chartered body was received in Jan 1909, and the College became officially recognised as the 'Bedford College for Women'.

The continued growth of the College led to a search for new premises which culminated in the purchase of the lease of the Regent's Park site in 1908. A huge fundraising effort was undertaken to provide the new site with all modern amenities, and the official opening took place in 1913. The College buildings continued to be extended and rebuilt throughout the 70 years the College spent at Regent's Park, especially following extensive damage following wartime bombing, and numbers of students continued to rise.

The decision to admit male undergraduates was made in 1965, following the Robbins Report of 1963, which also recommended an increase in student numbers, no small task for an already overcrowded College. Male residences were created at Tennyson Hall in Dorset Square, and Hanover Lodge in Regent's Park. Other halls became mixed sex. The name of the College was changed back to 'Bedford College'.

Despite a Development Appeal, launched in 1978, financial and accommodation pressures provoked the decision, made in 1982, to merge with Royal Holloway College at Egham, and the Bedford College Charter was revoked on 1 Aug 1985. The resulting establishment was known as the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College.

Under the 1909 Royal Charter of Incorporation, the Bedford College Board of Education was replaced by the Academic Board, which also took over the functions of the Staff Meeting. It was originally composed of the Principal, who was also the ex officio Chairman, Heads of Departments or their representatives, and various other teaching staff as appointed by the Council on the recommendation of the Academic Board. These last were to number no more than five. The Secretary of the Council also acted as Secretary of the Board (until 1978 when this function was taken over by the Registrar. The Secretary of the Council was still to attend meetings). Faculties of Art and Science were created, each led by a Dean and consisting of teachers from those disciplines, the Secretaries of which reported to the Board on a regular basis. Membership was widened in 1920 and 1929 to increase the number of Assistant Staff.

At first its powers were confined to giving advice on educational matters, but the scope was enlarged in 1911 when it was permitted to make representation to the Council on matters concerning the wider management of the College. The Board was also empowered to appoint Committees made up of its members. The Charter of 1909 allowed for the election of two members of the Board to the Council, with this being increased to five by 1930. Staff Councillors held office for 3 years. The composition of the Academic Board changed in the years up to 1982 to include ex officio the Principal, the Vice-Principal, the Deans of Faculties, and the Librarian, as well as Heads of Departments and elected members from the Faculties.

The Bedford College Academic Board was empowered to create Committees made up of its own members by the terms of the Royal Charter granted in 1909.

The Faculties of Arts and Science were first organised in 1909, following the reorganisation of the constitution of Bedford College when it was granted a Royal Charter. Each was presided over by a Dean, who reported directly to the Academic Board, and included Heads of Departments, Lecturers and Recognised Teachers of London University. The Deans gradually came to play an important role within the College, sitting on the Academic Board and later on the Finance Committee (1972) and the Policy and Estimates Committee (1972).

The Hygiene Diploma, intended as a preparation for women intending to take posts in the Department of Public Health, ran from 1895-1919. Taking over its role in 1916 was the newly formed Social Studies Department, which had been created as the result of an application by the Charity Organisations Society for courses of lectures on Social Economics and Social Ethics as part of the C.O.S. Certificate for Social Workers. In 1918, the Department changed its name to the Department of Sociology, Social Studies and Economics. By 1912 a special course in Public Health had been arranged for international nurses with scholarships from the League of Red Cross Societies, and continued for six years. At this point a Committee comprising College members, representatives of the League and the College of Nursing, was formed to carry on and develop this course. A second course for Nurse Administrators and Teachers in Schools of Nursing was set up in 1925-1926. In 1934 the courses were carried on under the auspices of the Florence Nightingale International Foundation.

The Department for the Professional Training of Teachers was inaugurated in 1892, and a Loan Fund created to help the students (this was extended to the whole College in 1896). It quickly established a reputation as a leading training Centre for Assistant Mistresses in secondary schools, and received grants from the Board of Education. It was closed in 1922 following the demolition of South Villa, where it had been housed since 1913.

Art students had attended Bedford College since its opening in 1849. An Art Studio was provided at Bedford Square, which was the first in England to allow women to paint and draw from the life. A gradual decline in the number of pupils, despite injections of funds from female artists such as Madame Bodichon (Barbara Leigh Smith), led to its closure in 1914.

The Hygiene Course at Bedford College was established in 1896 under the encouragement of Dr Louis Parkes, Medical Officer of Health for Chelsea as he felt there was an opportunity for the training of women as hygiene inspectors. The course was recognised as being very academic and criticised as too academic for the role of hygiene inspector by some members of the medical establishment. In 1918, the Department of Hygiene was closed, but some of the staff transferred to the new Department of Social Studies where a course offering training to Health Visitors was offered. This course was again criticised as too academic and too rigorous as it was a one-year course rather than the six month minimum duration required by the Ministry of Health. However the course survived and had to adapt to meet the increasing requirements from the Ministry of Health.

In 1921, Bedford College partnered with the League of Red Cross Societies and the College of Nursing to offer courses in Public Health to international nursing students. The League of Red Cross Societies offered scholarships to qualified nurses from all over the world to study Public Health for a year in London. The students undertook academic lectures at Bedford College and completed practical work in hospitals around London and later further afield in Britain and mainland Europe. The students also had guest lecturers from other colleges including King's College, University College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 1925, a second course was introduced for nurse administrators and teachers in schools of nursing. The nurses lived at a residence owned by the League of Red Cross Societies at 15 Manchester Square.

In 1934, due to financial difficulties the League of Red Cross Societies withdrew from the administration of the courses and the Florence Nightingale International Foundation was established to raise funds and provide scholarships to nurses. In 1938 the courses were merged and allowed students to choose which subjects they wanted to study. 1939 proved to be the last year of the courses as they were cancelled in September due to the beginning of World War Two.

Nursing studies was not reintroduced at Bedford College until 1981. However, since the late 1960s students had been able to take a joint degree in Sociology with a qualification as a registered nurse in conjunction with the Royal Middlesex Hospital. The Nursing Studies course was a four year BSc degree course including a qualification as a State Registered Nurse. The course only had two intakes of students due to the suspension of the course following the merger of Bedford College with Royal Holloway. The possibility of relocating the course to Royal Holloway's Egham site was considered but due to the inability to find a suitable hospital to offer practical placements, the course was permanently discontinued. The final students graduated in 1986.

The Council set up the Library Committee in 1886, though Rachel Notcutt had been Librarian since 1872. The original Committee included six former students, a representative of the present students, the Secretary of Council, and the Librarian. A member of the Council and a further two present students were added in 1890, but staff were not represented until 1895, when two were allowed to sit on the Committee. At the same time, the former students were removed from the Library Committee and replaced by the Chairman and seven members of the Council. The Principal became an ex officio member, and a fourth present student was added. The 1909 Charter removed student representation altogether. The composition altered once more in 1937, and the Committee comprised all Heads of Departments, a member of Assistant staff from each Faculty, four Council representatives and the ex officio Committee members. The Librarian has throughout acted as Secretary to the Committee. After the resignation of Rachel Notcutt in 1896, volunteers held the post until 1902, when a full time Librarian was appointed. The Library staff slowly increased, and in 1926 the Librarian was assigned the status of Head of an academic department. The scope of the Committee was to draw up rules for the use of the Library, and to arrange the books.

During the early history of Bedford College, the office of Principal did not exist, the relevant tasks being undertaken by a Lady Resident (for care of the College) and a Lady Superintendent (for care of the Residence). In 1893, the Managers of the Residence finally agreed to the merging of these two offices in the person of a Lady Principal, who had taken over the full management of the Residence by 1894. The successful candidate was Emily Penrose, who was appointed on the understanding that she was an 'educational head' only, her role being that of an advisor of students regarding their studies. The Principal only became an official attendee of Council meetings in 1897 (previously her attendance had been by invitation only) but was still unable to participate in the proceedings. Emily Penrose was from the first a member of the Committee of Education and, after two years, of the Library Committee, but was excluded from the Finance Committee and the House Committee. She became a member of the Staff Meeting upon her appointment as Professor of Ancient History in 1894. Her special duties, besides giving educational advice, included receiving fees and keeping the petty cash account. The office of Vice-Principal was created in 1894, but discontinued in 1897.

In 1898, with the appointment of Ethel Hurlbatt as Principal, the position improved. The Principal became an ex officio member of the teaching staff and the Staff Meeting, and from 1900 onwards was usually the Chairman of the latter. The Principal remained a permanent member when the duties of the Staff Meeting were transferred to the Academic Board in 1909. The Charter of Incorporation of 1909 also made the Principal an ex officio member of the Council, allowing direct participation in the government of the College, a process begun by her appointment as an assessor on the Council in 1902. The 1909 Charter also created the Principal an ex officio member of all Council Committees. Thus the Principal became deeply involved in all aspects of College government, especially relating to educational, financial and building matters.

The role of the Principal later extended to sitting occasionally on the Senate of the University of London, though direct representation was not extended to the various Schools of the University until the constitution was revised in 1929, when the Bedford College Principal had a permanent seat.

The duties of the Principal were never clearly defined, though the office retained responsibility for the welfare and conduct of the students. The office of Senior Student was instituted in 1894 (followed by that of Senior Resident in 1897) to act as a link between the Principal and students. The title remained until 1922, though the method of appointment by the Principal was changed on the creation of the Students' Union in 1913. Staff and Student files were traditionally held by the Principal's Office, though few other records survive as decisions made involving the Principal were chiefly made in Council and Committee meetings.

During the early existence of Bedford College, the Professors were all part-time, some with second jobs elsewhere. Appointments were made in a haphazard fashion by the Council, giving the staff no period of notice if their services were dispensed with. Various Committees were set up to recommend candidates to the Council. Following the Incorporation of 1869, the staff were accorded the right of appeal to the Members of the College if dismissed, but not until 1892 was a three month period of notice instituted. Assistant members of staff, of which there were a growing number, mainly former students, were also employed by the Council, who received nominations from the Professors concerned. After 1896 the Board of Education had advisory powers relating to staff appointments.

For some time, staff files remained in the keeping of the Principal, though it appears that the day to day organisation of personnel matters resided with the Secretary until recent times.

Until the grant of a Royal Charter in 1909, Bedford College had no modern administration system, relying instead on the good offices of several volunteers. With the move to Regent's Park in 1911-1913, the burden on the Secretary became too great, and the salaried offices of Bursar and Registrar were created in 1913. The Registrar's Department was concerned with all matters affecting the students and their studies, such as registration, academic development and student administration. From 1913 to 1945 and 1981-1985 the post of Registrar was combined with that of the Principal's Secretary.

Previous to this, files relating to individual students and the classes attended were kept in the Principal's Office. Before the appointment of a Principal in 1892, the Lady Resident kept details of fees and pupils. In 1888, student registers dating back to 1849 were compiled by Henrietta Busk.

Various Professors originally filled the unpaid post of Honorary Secretary to the Council, until Jane Martineau took over the role in 1855. She was followed by Henrietta Le Breton, Frances Kennington, Blanche Shadwell and Lucy Russell, who retired in 1898. The decision was then made to appoint a salaried Lady Secretary who would undertake clerical duties for the College and the Residence. The growth of the College, however, meant an increase in the volume of administrative work, leading to the appointment of an Assistant Secretary and an Honorary Treasurer in 1899. In 1913, with the move to Regent's Park, this ad hoc administrative system was put onto a more modern footing, with the employment of a salaried Bursar and Registrar to share the workload. This led to the creation of structured office procedures.

As the College developed, the role of the Secretary became ever more important, with an increase in scope and responsibility, especially on the financial side. From the outset the Honorary Secretaries had dealt with the general College accounts, and this duty expanded to include the calculation of salaries for the teaching staff, the administration of moneys for gifts and bequests, communication with the University of London, London County Council and other grant making bodies, and the recording and organisation of Council meetings and procedures. The Secretary sat on every Council Standing Committee, initially acting as Secretary for them all.

Throughout its history, the financial records of Bedford College have been created and maintained by a variety of different departments. Financial responsibility and control was always in the hands of the Council. For the first year of its existence, the Chairman, Rev Dr James Booth, kept accounts, until the institution in 1850 of a procedure for the drawing of cheques and a decision to appoint an auditor to check the accounts regularly. The Lady Resident and Lady Superintendent administered the fees and the household of the College and the Residence respectively from 1849-1893, both roles later being taken over by the Principal. The Council instituted a Finance Committee in 1889 (the joint post of Honorary Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee was created in 1899), which reported to the Council upon all the financial affairs of the College. Day-to-day administration of financial matters seems to have been left to the Secretary, with help from the Honorary Treasurer, especially relating to Staff salaries, scholarship trusts and building and extension fundraising. [All expenditure had to be agreed by the Finance Committee and the Council].