| StorageSite | UCL Institute of Education |
| Description | Material regarding courses and lectures run by Morley College, London, including syllabus, 1949-1950; programme for a series of and singular lectures at the College, including a course of lectures on child psychology by Susan Isaacs, 1930-1945; correspondence with the NUWT regarding the social science department, 1938; booklet 'A Great Educational Experiment: The Romance of Morley College: from a back room to a palace of culture' by W Margrie, 1934. |
| AdminHistory | In the early 1880s Emma Cons and her supporters took over the Royal Victoria Hall, (the ‘Old Vic’), and turned it into the Royal Victoria Coffee and Music Hall to provide inexpensive entertainment. The programme included music-hall turns with opera recitals, temperance meetings, and, from 1882, lectures every Tuesday by eminent scientists.
Local enthusiasm for these ‘penny lectures’ and success in attracting substantial philanthropic funding, led in 1889 to the opening of Morley Memorial College for Working Men and Women. The College was founded by an endowment from Samuel Morley MP for Nottingham and later Bristol.
The College was run separately from the Theatre, but held its classes and student meetings back-stage and in the theatre dressing rooms. The two split in the 1920’s, when Emma's niece and successor Lilian Baylis raised funds to acquire a separate site nearby. |