Working Men's College - History and Background

History and Background

Founded in 1854 the College was established by Christian Socialists to provide a liberal education for Victorian skilled artisans to counter what its founders saw as the failings in practice of the social theory of Associationism. The founding of the College was also partially a response to concerns about the revolutionary potential of the Chartist Movement. Its early protagonists were also closely associated with the Co-operative Movement and labour organisations.

The College's founders – a view reached in 1904 – were Frederick Denison Maurice, (the first principal), Thomas Hughes (author of Tom Brown's Schooldays), John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow, Frederick James Furnivall, Lowes Cato Dickinson, John Westlake, Richard Buckley Litchfield and John Llewelyn Davies. Notable early promoters and supporters of the College and its foundation were, Edward Vansittart Neale, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Ruskin, Charles Blachford Mansfield,John Stuart Mill, and Charles Kingsley, (author of The Water-Babies), while later including G.M. Trevelyan, E. M. Forster, C.E.M. Joad and Seamus Heaney

Frederick Denison Maurice with Frances Martin helped to set up the Working Women's College in 1874, later to be called The Frances Martin College. This sister college, through financial and organisational difficulties, eventually ran its courses for women at The Working Men's College, and later this in name only as it, and its associated charity, had become unviable. The College's charitable funds were absorbed into those of The Working Men's College, and The Frances Martin College ceased to exist in 1967. Around this time, in 1965, The Working Men's College admitted female students for the first time.

The decision to admit women was an expression of what was seen by the College as its unique and progressive historic feature: educational and financial management through a democratically elected Council of teachers and students. Teachers, (who were unpaid volunteer professionals in their field,) and students were both considered as, and called, Members of College as a mark of equality and respect. This educational and management tradition, seen as being in the spirit of a liberal education that promotes values and responsible civic behaviour, and being a direct link to the founders' concern over the failure of Associationism, lasted until the mid–1990s. Sir Wilfred Griffin Eady, principal of the College from 1949 to 1955, defined Liberal Education, the raison d'etre of the College, as "something you can enjoy for its own sake, something which is a personal possession and an inward enrichment, and something which teaches a sense of values".

During the 1970s the College introduced and increased a number of certificated courses, and by the beginning of the 1980s there were successful moves to change the voluntary tradition by remunerating teachers. This led to a drain on the financial reserves of the College. Where previously it supported itself mostly from interest on donations as investments, by the late 1980s it felt obliged to seek government financial aid.

In 1996–97, the governance of the college was changed. Before the change, two bodies regulated college under Articles of Association and a Scheme of Management: a College Council of 12 teachers and 12 students elected by members of college, and a College Corporation of 16 members self-appointed. Council directed education and finance policy through its committees, and elected college officers: the Principal, Vice Principal, Dean of Studies, Bursar and Librarian. Corporation managed college charitable trust funds and provided for asset maintenance and part-finance for courses; it was composed largely of lawyers, bankers and businessmen thought capable of managing and extending charitable funding from the private sector. Both bodies and their officers were voluntary. Before 1996, an administrative staff of Warden, Deputy Warden, Financial Controller, and College Secretary ran the College day-to-day, managing a small number of part-time reception and maintenance staff. After legal advice, and representations to the Charity Commission, Corporation introduced a new Scheme of Management that dissolved Council, and created a self-appointed governing Board of 21 members to decide policy and oversee what became an enlarged paid management. Forceful argument on the change was made on both sides. Seeing Liberal Education’s civic values and democratic control as being relevant was a view opposed by one that saw different management method being needed for financial and educational viability.