Wren and Gurney was a

crammer A cram school, informally called crammer and colloquially also referred to as test-prep or exam factory, is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high school ...

which specialised in preparing candidates for the public examinations of the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, the United Kingdom civil service and

Indian civil service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

. The college was founded in 1874 as a

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

between Henry Palin Gurney and

Walter Wren Walter Wren (28 December 1833 – 5 August 1898) was an English tutor and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons briefly in 1880. Wren was born at Buntingford, Hertfordshire, the son of Richard Wren (1804-1872), a maltster ...

and became known as the foremost institution of its day in preparing candidates for competitive examinations, its success measured by the number of its students within the army and the English and Indian civil services. Its activities were conducted in

Powis Square, London Powis Square is a garden square and locality in Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. The closest London Underground station to the square is Westbourne Park tube station. It was planned in the mid-19t ...

. After the partnership was formally dissolved in 1894 on Gurney's departure, the business continued under the stewardship of Wren alone until his death in 1898.

William Wyse William Wyse (19 March 1860 – 29 November 1929) was a classical scholar, noted for his work on the Attic orator Isaeus, and a benefactor of the University of Cambridge. Life Wyse was born in Stratford, London. After education at the King ...

, the

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, was among those engaged as a tutor at the college. Students included: *

Sir Ernest Gowers Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers (2 June 1880 – 16 April 1966) is best remembered for his book ''Plain Words,'' first published in 1948, and his revision of Fowler's classic '' Modern English Usage''. Before making his name as an author, he had a long ...

, a civil servant and writer *

Robert Norman Bland Robert Norman Bland (1859–1948), or "R. N. Bland," as he was more commonly known then in The Straits, was Resident Councillor of Penang and a career civil servant in the Colonial Administration of the Straits Settlements. Bland joined the C ...

, a colonial administrator in the Straits Settlements * Sir William Duke, colonial

Governor of Assam This is a list of governors of Assam, and other offices of similar scope, from the start of British occupation of the area in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War. The Governor of Assam is a nominal head and representative of the President ...

References

{{Reflist Educational institutions established in 1874 Defunct universities and colleges in London 1874 establishments in England