Bolt Court Technical School London County Council School of Photoengraving and Lithography St Bride's Foundation School North Western Polytechnic College for the Distributive Trades London School of Printing and Kindred Trades, 1922-1949 London School of Printing and Graphic Arts, 1949-1962 London College of Printing, 1962-1990 London College of Printing and Distributive Trades, 1990-2001

Bolt Court Technical School London County Council School of Photoengraving and Lithography St Bride's Foundation School North Western Polytechnic College for the Distributive Trades London School of Printing and Kindred Trades, 1922-1949 London School of Printing and Graphic Arts, 1949-1962 London College of Printing, 1962-1990 London College of Printing and Distributive Trades, 1990-2001

The roots of the London College of Printing (LCP) lie in the City of London Parochial Charities Act of 1883, which aimed to provide better management of these charitable funds, and inter alia, benefit the inhabitants of these parishes by improvement of education and employment prospects. The need for improved technical education of workforce was clearly felt against a background of changing technologies and foreign competition, and particularly so in the field of printing. The Act established the St Bride Foundation Institute Printing School, which opened in Nov 1894. In the same year the Guild and Technical School opened in Clerkenwell Road to improve the craft skills of apprentice and journeymen engravers and lithographers, and then moved the following year to Boult Court, where it became known as the Bolt Court Technical School. The School was subsequently renamed the London County Council School of Photoengraving and Lithography.

In 1921, the Westminster Day Continuation School (the forerunner of the College for the Distributive Trades) opened. In 1922 St Bride's School moved to larger premises at 61 Stamford Street and now under LCC control was renamed the London School of Printing and Kindred Trades (LSPKT). In 1949 the Bolt Court School of Photoengraving and Lithography merged with the LSPKT to form the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts (LSPGA). The LSPGA was renamed the London College of Printing in 1960. New premises at the Elephant and Castle were opened in 1964, and the North Western Polytechnic Department of Printing merged with LCP in 1969. On 1 Jan 1986, the LCP joined Camberwell School of Arts and crafts, the Central School of Art and Design, Chelsea School of Art, the College for the Distributive Trades (CDT), the London College of Fashion and St Martin's School of Art to form the London Institute.

The LCP and CDT subsequently merged in 1990, and the LCP was renamed the London College of Printing and Distributive Trades.