ABSTRACT

Residential colleges, whose purpose was to train young women and men to teach, date back to the early years of the nineteenth century. There was, as yet, no state involvement in the provision of schools, and such provision that was made for the education of working-class boys and girls was in the hands of two religious societies – The National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor, founded in 1811 by the Church of England, and the non-conformist British and Foreign School Society founded in 1814. The first training college as such was opened in 1805 by the British Society, at Borough Road in South London. At first only men students were admitted; but shortly after its foundation the college became co-educational. The first college for women only – Whitelands, also in London – was founded in 1841 by the National Society.2