UCL BLOOMSBURY PROJECT

History

It was founded by Henry Stein Turrell of Brighton in 1846; originally known as the Society of Teachers, it was an attempt to create and maintain professional standards in a profession which had at the time a poor reputation (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

“Schoolmasters at that time, and especially masters of private schools, were not very highly esteemed, and the more worthy were prejudiced by the evil repute of quacks and charlatans, who looked upon school-keeping as nothing else than a mode of obtaining money by false pretences...There was a real merit in belonging to a body which existed in order to purge the profession” (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

It was incorporated by royal charter as the College of Preceptors in 1849, at a cost of over £500 (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

When the Teachers’ Registration Council was established in 1900, the College of Preceptors was one of the three Bloomsbury-based bodies of the six who could appoint members to this council, the others being the National Union of Teachers and the Teachers’ Guild (Richard Willis, The Struggle for the National Teaching Council, 2005)

Although it established the first Professorship of Education in the country here in 1873, money was needed to establish this permanently

The money was not forthcoming from Government, the Professorship was suspended in 1875, and instead three lectureships were created, including one in Psychology for Professor Croom-Robertson of UCL (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

Joseph Payne, the first professor at the College, died in 1876, bequeathing a sum of money and his educational library to the College (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

There was also, from the early days, a Benevolent Fund for “aged, distressed, and afflicted schoolmasters” (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

On 2 October 1847 the first issue of the Educational Times was published, although this was not officially recognised as the organ of the College for about 15 years

Alexander Isbister (sometime Headmaster of the Jews’ College) was editor of the Educational Times from 1861, and Dean of the College from 1872–1883; he was succeeded as Dean by H. W. Eve, Headmaster of University College School

In 1860 the Council decided to have monthly meetings with lectures and discussions at the College premises in Queen Square; the first was held on 16 January 1861, and subjects subsequently included educational theory and examinations as well as maths, history, geography, and botany (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

“The audiences at these lectures were at first rather select than numerous; and, indeed, the accommodation for meetings of any kind in the Queen Square premises was poor and unattractive. But their popularity and usefulness have steadily increased. In the permanent home of the College in Bloomsbury Square, even the large Lecture Hall is sometimes filled to overflowing by the promise of a good Wednesday paper” (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

By the late 1870s the building in Queen Square was too small for the College and it began looking for a larger building or site elsewhere; in 1878 a Building Fund was started, which accumulated between £1500 and £2000 per year Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

Various buildings and sites were looked at in Bloomsbury, and also in Westminster, but none proved suitable

In December 1884 the agent of the Bedford Estate offered an 80-year lease on the site of two previous houses on the south side of Bloomsbury Square, together with the adjacent site of a house in Southampton Street round the corner, at an annual rental of £130 (Council minutes, 13 December 1884, COP/C/2/2, Records of the College of Preceptors, Institute of Education, London)

The new location was a plot on the south side of Bloomsbury Square, with a 46ft frontage on the square and 87ft depth, and an adjoining plot at right angles with a 20ft frontage on Southampton Street, making a total of about 5300 square feet (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

There was a main block with offices, a Members’ Room, Council Room, Library, Lecture Hall, and Training College rooms; the Southampton Street wing was mainly clerical, dealing with pupils’ exams and so on (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

The architect Frederick Pinches designed a new building in red brick with dressings of Portland stone, and carved stone panels above the ground and first floor windows decorated with medallions of famous educators from John Locke and John Milton to Pestalozzi and Froebel (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896, 1896)

A photo-lithograph of Pinches’ design was printed in May 1885 by James Akerman of 6 Queen Square (COP/M/9, Records of the College of Preceptors, Institute of Education, London)

The new building was opened on 30 March 1887 (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896) and continued to house the College until well into the twentieth century

After its move to Bloomsbury Square, the College was revitalised as an institution, and began campaigning again for a Training College and registration of teachers (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

The College introduced oral exams in foreign languages in 1890; no other school examining body did this (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

As a representative of mainly private teachers, it increasingly clashed with the National Union of Teachers

It became the College of Teachers in 1998 and moved out of Bloomsbury Square in 2003 to the University of London’s Institute of Education building in Bedford Way

It continues to offer qualifications for accreditation of practising teachers and teaching assistants

Its splendid building at 2–3 Bloomsbury Square was subsequently restored and became a training venue; it has its own website at www.bloomsburyhouse.com (opens in new window)

For more information about the present use of the Bloomsbury Square building, see also http://ornamentalpassions.blogspot.com (opens in new window)