Westfield College

Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, England, which was a constituent college of the University of London from 1882 to 1989. The college originally admitted only women as students, and then became coeducational in 1964. In 1989, Westfield College merged with another of the University of London's colleges – Queen Mary College. The merged institution was named Queen Mary and Westfield College. This remains the college's official name today, though for day-to-day use the college now often calls itself Queen Mary, University of London.

History

The College was founded in 1882 by Constance Louisa Maynard (1849-1935) and Ann Dudin Brown (1823-1917), who was the founding benefactress and Council member from 1882-1917. Eleanor Constance Lodge was Principal of Westfield from 1921-1931. Kathleen Chesney was Principal from 1951-1962. Until 1964 it was women-only, and as late as the early 1980s residences were segregated and the opposite sex were banned from each other's halls under the so-called "11:30 rule".

In the mid-to-late 1980s, the University of London underwent considerable reorganisation, and many smaller colleges were merged. Consequently, Westfield was merged with Queen Mary College in 1989, forming Queen Mary and Westfield College. The new college was situated at Queen Mary's site in Mile End, East London. However, some departments moved to King's College London and many academic staff moved to other colleges, such as Royal Holloway College.

The history of the College, entitled "Castle Adamant in Hampstead", was [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Castle-Adamant-Hampstead-Westfield-1882-1982/dp/0904188051 published in 1983] by Janet Sondheimer.

Present day

King's College London took over the former Westfield site, which has been divided up over the years. The majority of the south side of the site (The Queen's Building and other teaching blocks) was demolished in the early 1990s to make way for The Westfield Apartments, a block of luxury private flats. The remainder of the south side (the Caroline Skeel Library, Ellison, Temple, Chesney and Stocks buildings) was used by King's College as student accommodation and as an archive; however, this part of the site is now for sale. The north side of the site (Queen Mother Hall, Bay House, Old House, Maynard, Lady Chapman, Orchard I and II, Dudin-Brown and Skeel buildings) remains in use as student accommodation, with Orchard I and II renamed for Lord Cameron and Rosalind Franklin, respectively. Until 2005, the Old House was home to the London Jewish Cultural Centre.

Since the early 2000s Queen Mary and Westfield College has gone by the name Queen Mary, University of London, although in its charter it is still formally named Queen Mary and Westfield. The college's new student accommodation complex (opened in 2004) is officially named the "Westfield Student Village" as a reminder of the history of the college.

Trivia

Westfield was the prototype for the University for Women parodied in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Princess Ida.

The author Andrea Newman, who wrote "Bouquet of Barbed Wire" was an alumnus of the College, and another of her novels is set there.

Westfield was also the site of one of the Sex Pistols' earliest performances on November 21, 1975.

Alumni

*Artist Dom Ramos
*Author Andrea Newman
*BBC journalist Margaret Gilmore
*Immigration solicitor Jane Coker, who lost a sex discrimination case against the Lord Chancellor's Department
*Jane Hawking (nee Jane Wilde), first wife of Stephen Hawking
*Fascist Nesta Webster (nee Nesta Bevan)
*Fascist Richard Verrall
*Karen Morgan Thomas (nee Karen Morgan). According to Hansard, mentioned by Denis MacShane MP in connection with dealing in Anglia Television shares. Jeffrey Archer's dealing in Anglia Television shares was under investigation at this time.
*Chris Mitchell. Professor of Computer Science, Information Security Group, Royal Holloway, University of London.
*Jan Royall - Labour Politician
*Peter Wild. Professor of Computer Science, Information Security Group, Royal Holloway, University of London.
* Nirmala Rao. Professor Of Politics at Goldsmiths College, University of London
* Guy Walters, author
*Screenwriter Ed Whitmore
*TV presenter Adrian Chiles
*TV sports pundit Bryn Law

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1670033.stm Jane Coker]
* [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=karen%20morgan%20thomas&ALL=&ANY=&PHRASE=%22Karen%20Morgan%20Thomas%20%22&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=Debate-1_spnew9&URL=/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-02-03/Debate-1.html#Debate-1_spnew9 Karen Morgan Thomas mentioned in Hansard]
* [http://www.isg.rhul.ac.uk/~cjm/Chris_Mitchell.htm Chris Mitchell]
* [http://www.womenatqm.qmul.ac.uk/ Women@QM Project and Exhibition, a celebration of students and teachers]