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Maria Grey Training College was atraining college in London, England, for teachers from 1878 to 1976. When it opened, it was the first teacher training college for women in Great Britain. It was named forMaria Georgina Grey, a promoter of women's education and a founder of the organisation that became theGirls' Day School Trust.
The college was opened as theTeachers' Training & Registration Society College on 1 May 1878 in the Clergy House, Skinner Street,Bishopsgate (now Pindar Street).[1] In some literature it is recorded as the first teacher training college for women,[2] howeverWhitelands College (now part of the University of Roehampton) opened in 1841 as a women's teacher training college and was the first such college in England for women.[3] The Teachers' Training & Registration Society was created by the Women's Education Union to promote women's right to education and the professional recognition of female teachers.[1] The Society was promoted byMaria Georgina Grey, who had also been fundamental in the founding of the Union.
In 1885, it moved toFitzroy Square,[4] and in March 1886 it was renamedMaria Grey College after its founder.[1] The college was attached to Brondesbury and Kilburn High School so that the trainee teachers could test their skills in a classroom situation. New buildings for the college and high school were erected in 1892, designed by architect J. Osborne Smith, at a cost of £11,500 (£1.58 million as of 2023).[5]
In 1892, it attractedAlice Woods as its new head. She was not a great administrator but she focussed on raising the quality of the student's work. Under her leadership, she was able to have lecturers who were all graduates for every area except for the kindergarten.[6] The teachers learnt about teaching methods developed byMaria Montessori andFroebel.[7][8]
In 1946, it moved toTwickenham. In 1976, the college merged withBorough Road College andActon & Chiswick Polytechnic to form theWest London Institute of Higher Education.[1] In 1995, the West London Institute of Higher Education became part ofBrunel University.[9] The site was sold when the department moved toUxbridge in 2005.[10]
The records of the college are now held in the Brunel University Archives.[11]
51°31′18″N0°8′18″W / 51.52167°N 0.13833°W /51.52167; -0.13833