File LSBU/2/2/1 - Correspondence Regarding Building Works to Borough Road and Kell Street

Identity area

Reference code

LSBU/2/2/1

Title

Correspondence Regarding Building Works to Borough Road and Kell Street

Date(s)

  • 1889-1901 (Creation)

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File

Extent and medium

1 box

Context area

Name of creator

(1892-1970)

Administrative history

Name of creator

(1883-1910)

Administrative history

South London Polytechnic Institutes Council was established following the City of London Parochial Charities Act, 1883. In the Act the government's Charity Commissioners were to distribute money to schemes which would improve the physical, social and moral condition of Londoners. Edric Bayley, a solicitor and member of the London School Board, wanted to use the money to establish a people's college in Elephant & Castle, which could help alleviate the extreme poverty he saw in that area as well as help strengthen British industry.

In 1887 Bayley established the South London Polytechnic Institutes Council, whose members included the Lord Mayor of London and the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) as its President. In January 1888 the Council appealed to the Charity Commissioners for the money they needed. The Commissioners were impressed and pledged that they would match any funds raised by the public up to the sum of £150,000 in order to establish three technical colleges, or polytechnics, in South London.

A Committee of the Council had the task of raising the money needed from the public and also of deciding where the three polytechnics should be located. The Committee decided that one should be established at Elephant and Castle (now London South Bank University), another at New Cross (which is now Goldsmiths College) and lastly at Battersea (which eventually moved and became part of the University of Surrey). The public appeal for the money needed was launched at a widely publicised dinner held at Mansion House in June 1888. Within four years £78,000 had been raised through the public's generosity for the Elephant & Castle and Battersea Polytechnics, which was matched by the Charity Commissioners.

Name of creator

Administrative history

Approved by the Board of Charity Commissioners on 12 August 1892.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Loose letters, bills, building estimates, legal documents and notes regarding the purchase of the Borough Road building for the Borough Road Polytechnic and its subsequent adaptation and refurbishment.

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Chronological

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Language of material

  • English

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    Dates of creation revision deletion

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