Archive material relating to Maria Grey College was discovered at the University’s former campus at Twickenham prior to the vacation of the University in 2005. The material was moved from Twickenham to the Archive and Records Centre at Runnymede to be housed alongside the existing part of the collection. Twickenham was the last home of the Maria Grey College which they occupied from 1946. The college was incorporated into the West London Institute of Higher Education in 1976, which was subsequently merged with Brunel University in 1995.
Maria Grey was a campaigner for both the professional education of teachers, particularly women teachers, and the establishment of Education as a field of study. Maria was the creator of the National Union for improving the Education of Women of all classes, which was known as the Women’s Education Union, a pressure group formed to state a case for women’s rights to professional recognition. This group enabled the formation of the Teachers’ Training and Registration Society. The Society founded a training college in 1878, which in 1886 adopted the name of Maria Grey College.
The collection now contains the records of the college from its origins to incorporation (1876-1976).