Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1920-1938 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
2 files
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Before 1889 there were very few facilities for technical education in Britain, apart from those found in selected grammar and elementary schools. The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 empowered County Councils to aid technical or manual instruction by means of the penny rate, further funding came from the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of the following year. A 35 man Technical Instruction Committee was set up in Essex in 1891, when a further Act was passed to regulate the administration of these funds. Known, from their origins, as 'Whisky Money', they amounted to about £22,000 per annum but gradually diminished. Following the Education Act of 1902 further funds came from the levy of a Higher Education rate in the areas served, to meet the cost of higher education. In 1930 the system of differential rating was abolished and a flat higher education rate was raised over the whole administrative county.
The first grants to fund laboratory equipment and organised, evening science schools in the region were made in 1895. The two largest projects were the technical institutes at Walthamstow (1897) and Leyton (1898). The schools were so successful that by 1910 there were calls for day classes to be introduced. The Day Classes were delayed by the outbreak of the First World War, but the first was opened at Walthamstow in 1917 with 75 pupils. Leyton followed in 1918 with 100 pupils.
By 1924 the demand for technical education in the area had become so pronounced that the District Sub-Committees recommended the establishment of larger technical colleges in extra-metropolitan Essex. In 1933 the Technical Instruction Committee decided to divide the County into four regions and to provide each with a technical college, supported by a ring of junior and senior evening institutes.
The last to be built was South West Essex Technical College - formed by the merger of Technical Colleges of Walthamstow and Leyton. It served the boroughs of Walthamstow, Leyton, Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford and the districts of Waltham Holy Cross, Epping and Ongar.
Repository
Archival history
Before its move to the Docklands Campus, the uncatalogued and unsorted institutional archive was housed in UEL's Barking Campus and an external store. When the Barking Campus closed in 2006, the material which was held onsite was transferred, however the external store material was not and as a consequence is lost. The extant material is therefore of a very patchy nature. There are no student records.
GB 2381 WTC 1920-1938 Fonds (collection) 2 files Walthamstow Technical Institute
Walthamstow Technical College
Before 1889 there were very few facilities for technical education in Britain, apart from those found in selected grammar and elementary schools. The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 empowered County Councils to aid technical or manual instruction by means of the penny rate, further funding came from the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of the following year. A 35 man Technical Instruction Committee was set up in Essex in 1891, when a further Act was passed to regulate the administration of these funds. Known, from their origins, as 'Whisky Money', they amounted to about £22,000 per annum but gradually diminished. Following the Education Act of 1902 further funds came from the levy of a Higher Education rate in the areas served, to meet the cost of higher education. In 1930 the system of differential rating was abolished and a flat higher education rate was raised over the whole administrative county.
The first grants to fund laboratory equipment and organised, evening science schools in the region were made in 1895. The two largest projects were the technical institutes at Walthamstow (1897) and Leyton (1898). The schools were so successful that by 1910 there were calls for day classes to be introduced. The Day Classes were delayed by the outbreak of the First World War, but the first was opened at Walthamstow in 1917 with 75 pupils. Leyton followed in 1918 with 100 pupils.
By 1924 the demand for technical education in the area had become so pronounced that the District Sub-Committees recommended the establishment of larger technical colleges in extra-metropolitan Essex. In 1933 the Technical Instruction Committee decided to divide the County into four regions and to provide each with a technical college, supported by a ring of junior and senior evening institutes.
The last to be built was South West Essex Technical College - formed by the merger of Technical Colleges of Walthamstow and Leyton. It served the boroughs of Walthamstow, Leyton, Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford and the districts of Waltham Holy Cross, Epping and Ongar.
Before its move to the Docklands Campus, the uncatalogued and unsorted institutional archive was housed in UEL's Barking Campus and an external store. When the Barking Campus closed in 2006, the material which was held onsite was transferred, however the external store material was not and as a consequence is lost. The extant material is therefore of a very patchy nature. There are no student records.
Transferred from the library at UEL's Barking campus in 2006.
Records of the Walthamstow Technical Institute, later Walthamstow Technical College, 1920-1938, comprising:
Prospectuses, 1920, 1932; 'The Anvil', Magazine of Walthamstow Technical College, 1936-1938.
As above.
Access is by appointment only, please contact the Archives Department, University of East London, for information. See: www.uel/lls/archives
Copies, subject to copyright and the condition of the original, may be supplied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the archivist.
English
Detailed listing available on Archives Hub.
The University of East London also holds some records relating to: Leyton Technical Institute, later Leyton Technical College, 1898-1938; Commercial School for Girls, Walthamstow, 1923-1937; South West Essex Technical College, later Waltham Forest Technical College, 1938-1970.
Waltham Forest Archives holds a number of records relating to Walthamstow Technical College and its successor South West Essex Technical College, including committee minutes and student records. These appear to have been deposited by Waltham Forest College which took over the building of the Waltham Forest Technical College when it left to become part of North East London Polytechnic in 1970.
Sources: Degrees East: the making of the University of East London 1892-1992 by Michael Locke, John Pratt, Nick Richards and Tyrell Burgess, (Athlone Press, Jun 1995); Annual Report of the South West Essex Technical College and School of Art, 1938-1939. Description by Caroline Lam.
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.
April 2012 Engineering education Organizations Institutes Technical institutes Educational systems Adult education Workers education Information sciences Communications media Publications Periodicals Higher science education Industrial education Technical education Technical and vocational education Formal education Walthamstow Technical Institute
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Transferred from the library at UEL's Barking campus in 2006.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Records of the Walthamstow Technical Institute, later Walthamstow Technical College, 1920-1938, comprising:
Prospectuses, 1920, 1932; 'The Anvil', Magazine of Walthamstow Technical College, 1936-1938.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
As above.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access is by appointment only, please contact the Archives Department, University of East London, for information. See: www.uel/lls/archives
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to copyright and the condition of the original, may be supplied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the archivist.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
The University of East London also holds some records relating to: Leyton Technical Institute, later Leyton Technical College, 1898-1938; Commercial School for Girls, Walthamstow, 1923-1937; South West Essex Technical College, later Waltham Forest Technical College, 1938-1970.
Finding aids
Detailed listing available on Archives Hub.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Waltham Forest Archives holds a number of records relating to Walthamstow Technical College and its successor South West Essex Technical College, including committee minutes and student records. These appear to have been deposited by Waltham Forest College which took over the building of the Waltham Forest Technical College when it left to become part of North East London Polytechnic in 1970.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
- Higher science education » Engineering education
- Organizations
- Educational systems
- Educational systems » Adult education
- Educational systems » Adult education » Workers education
- Information sciences
- Periodicals
- Higher science education
- Technical education » Industrial education
- Technical education
- Formal education » Technical and vocational education
- Formal education
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English