Coward College was a
dissenting academy
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's edu ...
at Byng Place,
Torrington Square
__NOTOC__
Torrington Square is a square in Bloomsbury, owned by the University of London, located in central London, England. Today it is a square in name only, most of the houses having been demolished by the university. The southern end of th ...
, London. Intended for the education of future
nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
ministers of religion, it was in operation from 1833 to 1850. It was the successor to
Wymondley College
Wymondley College was a dissenting academy at Wymondley House in Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire, England. Intended for the education of future nonconformist ministers of religion, it was in operation from 1799 to 1833, when it relocated to Byn ...
in
Little Wymondley
Little Wymondley is a village and former civil parish situated between Hitchin and Stevenage, now in the parish of Wymondley, in the North Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Paradoxically, it has a larger population ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
and the precursor, via a merger with two other colleges, of
New College London
New College London (1850–1980) (sometimes known as New College, St John's Wood, or New College, Hampstead) was founded as a Congregationalist college in 1850.
Predecessor institutions
New College London came into being in 1850 by the amalgama ...
.
History
Thomas Morell, who had been an
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
minister at
St Neots
St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...
in
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popul ...
, had become the last theological tutor at Wymondley College in 1821
and had restored its reputation after many years of internal discord, mostly relating to accusations of
heterodoxy
In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , "other, another, different" + , "popular belief") means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". Under this definition, heterodoxy is similar to unorthodoxy, wh ...
.
In December 1831, the trustees who managed the college on behalf of a
charitable trust established by
William Coward
William Coward (1657?–1725) was an English physician, controversial writer, and poet. He is now remembered for his sceptical writings on the soul, which Parliament condemned as blasphemous and ordered to be burned in his presence.
Life
He wa ...
discussed moving the institution to London to take advantage of access to teaching at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, which had recently opened. A suitable location was soon found at Byng Place, Torrington Square, the site at Wymondley was closed and sold, and in 1833 the college moved. The name was changed from Wymondley College to Coward College.
The new premises were a part of
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt (25 February 1788 – 20 December 1855) was a British master builder, notable for his employment in developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury. His great-great-g ...
's development of
Gordon Square
Gordon Square is a public park square in Bloomsbury, London, England. It is part of the Bedford Estate and was designed as one of a pair with the nearby Tavistock Square. It is owned by the University of London.
History and buildings
The sq ...
in
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
and comprised a row of three houses that were bought for £2,200.
It was adjacent to what is now
Dr Williams's Library
Dr Williams's Library is a small English research library in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London. Historically, it has had a strong Unitarian focus. The library has also been known as University Hall.
History
The library was founded using the es ...
and was capable of boarding 16 students.
Morell, who had initially been sceptical of moving, became theological tutor at the new institution. However, he no longer had an assistant, as had been the case at Wymondley, because it was thought that he could cope alone if students also had access to the university. The new college would concentrate on teaching just theology, whereas Wymondley had also taught subjects such as
algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics.
Elementary a ...
, general history, geography,
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
and natural philosophy.
The college began with a roll of 13 students, 11 of whom had transferred from Wymondley and a further two who had been accepted on a probationary basis. While demand for admissions often exceeded capacity in its early years, it tailed off later to the point that the trustees promised the governors at
Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School is a 13–18 mixed independent, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
History
A committee of Nonconformist me ...
that they would pay £50 to any pupil who took up further study at Byng Place. In that same year, 1847, the trust stopped its provision of funding
matriculation
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...
fees to prospective students and required that they had already been accepted for study by the university before they sought membership of the college.
It proved to be an unhappy experience for Morell: the trustees lost confidence in him and he died in 1840 shortly before the time they had agreed for his departure. He was replaced by
Thomas William Jenkyn
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
, who fared little better after an initial grace period. Now in a busy metropolis rather than the relatively isolated village of Little Wymondley, and with the facilities of the university as a comparison, the students increasingly perceived the college offerings, both in teaching and equipment, as being inferior. The library, however, based on that originally created by
Philip Doddridge
Philip Doddridge D.D. (26 June 1702 – 26 October 1751) was an English Nonconformist (specifically, Congregationalist) minister, educator, and hymnwriter.
Early life
Philip Doddridge was born in London the last of the twenty children of D ...
, remained a significant and appealing feature. Those students meant to be at Morell's theology classes became less interested and more disruptive, if they attended at all, and as early as 1836 the trustees suspended their award of £5 to each student because examination results were unsatisfactory. Fines of one shilling, intended to enforce a 10 pm curfew, became seen by students as a necessary expenditure rather than a deterrent, and the trustees clashed with students over their demands to be allowed to associate with their peers at other institutions.
Coward College was the last in a line of peripatetic institutions run by the Coward Trust prior to a merger with
Highbury
Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington
in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads.
The manor house was situ ...
and
Homerton
Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, it had ...
colleges to form New College London. A decision to close the college was made as early as June 1849 and its remaining 14 students were transferred to New College. Historia Simon Dixon says that
The building at Byng Place was leased to the
Commissioners for Works and Public Buildings in 1852. In the 1880s the secretary of the trustees, Revd Joshua Harrison, was approached by
Eleanor Grove
Eleanor Grove (1826 – 22 November 1905) was a British translator and educationist. She was the founding principal of College Hall in London that allowed women to live in Bloomsbury and attend the University of London. She and her life long pa ...
who arranged for the building to be used by the new
College Hall which allowed women to attend university classes.
The building still stands, although in modified form.
Notable people
70 students are known to have studied at Coward College. Notable among them are:
*
John Curwen
John Curwen (14 November 1816 – 26 May 1880) was an English Congregationalist minister and diffuser of the tonic sol-fa system of music education created by Sarah Ann Glover. He was educated at Wymondley College in Hertfordshire, then Cowar ...
, who had transferred from Wymondley
*
Joseph Edkins
Joseph Edkins (19 December 1823 – 23 April 1905) was a British Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China, 30 of them in Beijing. As a Sinologue, he specialised in Chinese religions. He was also a linguist, a translator, and a philolo ...
*
Joseph Mullens
Joseph Mullens (2 September 1820 – 10 July 1879) worked with the London Missionary Society (LMS) in India.
Life
Joseph Mullens, son of Richard Mullens, was born on 2 September 1820 in London. He studied at Coward College, a dissenting academy ...
*
Henry Robert Reynolds
Henry Robert Reynolds (26 February 1825 – 10 September 1896) was an English Congregational minister, college head and writer.
Life
Born at Romsey, Hampshire on 26 February 1825, he was the grandson of Henry Revell Reynolds, and the elder son o ...
*
James Ewing Ritchie
James Ewing Ritchie (1 May 1820 – 1898) was an English journalist and writer.
Born in Wrentham, Suffolk, the son of Reverend Andrew Ritchie, he was educated at Coward College and University College, London
, mottoeng = Let a ...
*
Matthew Atmore Sherring
See also
*
Daventry Academy
Daventry Academy was a dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by English Dissenters. It moved to many locations, but was most associated with Daventry, where its most famous pupil was Joseph Priestley. It had a high reputation, an ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Coward Trust official website*
{{coords, 51.523, -0.131, display=title
1833 establishments in England
1850 disestablishments in England
Dissenting academies
History of education in England
Nonconformism
Education in the London Borough of Camden
Educational institutions established in 1833
Educational institutions disestablished in 1850
Former colleges of the University of London