Homerton College Records - Principals

Items relating to six of the College's Principals: John Pye Smith, Principal, 1800-1850 'Memoirs of the life and writing'; Mary Allan, Principal, 1903-1935, birth certificate, memorial fund leaflet, photographs, reports and letter book 1903-1935; Alice Havergal Skillicorn, Principal, 1935-1961, tributes presented at memorial meeting 1979, correspondence relating to her portrait 1953, correspondence with Elsie Jones (warden of Millbrook 1947-1954) about her memories of Miss Skillicorn, details of her memorial clock, documents relating to her early life; Dame Beryl Paston Brown, Principal, 1961-1971, photograph, menu from her retirement dinner 1971, letter relating to her portrait, file on memorial meeting and obituary notices, text of several speeches, Newsletter with photograph and appreciation; Alison Shrubsole, Principal, 1971-1985, photograph album, undated newscutting, items relating to farewell; Kate Pretty, Principal, 1991-date, press release on appointment in 1991 and librarian's annotated papers.

Homerton College was founded in 1695. It was one of several academies training ministers for nonconformist churches, at a time when the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge would accept only members of the Church of England. From 1768 several of these academies merged into new premises at Homerton Academy, Middlesex, then a convenient distance from London. The name of Homerton College was used from 1823. The specialised function of the college changed after 1836 when it was possible for nonconformists to sit degree examinations in the newly founded University of London. The London Congregationalists found a new purpose for Homerton College as a centre for teacher training for both men and women. It was Samuel Morely, a Victorian philanthropist who was instrumental in the establishment of Homerton as an independent college for the training of teachers. The surroundings of the College at Homerton, once a prosperous suburb of London, deteriorated towards the end of the nineteenth century. A new location was sought and found in the buildings of Cavendish College, Cambridge. The high Victorian Gothic buildings of the College date from 1876. Between 1896 and 1970 Homerton admitted only women students. Under the dynamic leadership of Mary Allan, its first woman Principal, Homerton gathered its reputation for academic and professional excellence. With the introduction of a three year teacher training course in 1960, Homerton expanded rapidly, with student numbers rising from 300 in 1960, to 540 in 1968. Dame Beryl Paston Brown, a graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, presided over a major building programme in the early 1960s which included a new library and dining hall. In 1976 Homerton was recognised as an Approved Society by the University of Cambridge. 1976 also saw the establishment of a four year Bachelor of Education honours degree, designed as a professional teacher training course. In the 1970s Homerton began admitting men as well as women to its postgraduate and undergraduate courses. August 2001 saw Homerton changing its legal and institutional status from a free standing Higher Education Institute to one moving forward to full membership of Cambridge University collegiate structure and, in that sense becoming a 'traditional college' within the Cambridge structure.

Access by arrangement with the librarian

Catalogued on Heritage IV available in the College Library

Description by Catherine Burke, Genesis Project Officer, 7 Feb 2002, amendments from Geoff Mizen, Homerton College. Submitted to the Archives Hub as part of Genesis 2009 Project.

Copying regulations available upon application

'Homerton 1894-1994, One Hundred Years in Cambridge' Elizabeth Edwards (editor) and Peter Warner, Black Bear Press, Cambridge, 1994. 'Alice Havergal Skillicorn, Principal of Homerton College, Cambridge 1935-1960: a study of gender and power' Women's History Review 1 (1992) pp109-129 by E Edwards.