History
The College had its origins in a dissenting academy founded by Philip Doddridge in Northamptonshire in 1729 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
It moved to Hertfordshire in 1799 and was renamed Wymondley College
It was refounded as Coward College in 1813 and supported by the Coward Trust fund (established by William Coward in 1738) from 1850 until its closure in 1977 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for William Coward)
The Coward Trust already had a long history of supporting dissenting academies in London and elsewhere (John Handby Thompson, A History of the Coward Trust: The First Two Hundred and Fifty Years 1738–1998, 1998)
Upon its move to Byng Place the College became affiliated with the University of London (now UCL)
Its two Principals during its time in Byng Place were the Rev. Thomas Morell, who presided over the College at Wymondley from 1821 and who continued in London until 1840, and Dr Thomas William Jenkyn from 1840 to 1850 (Survey of London, vol. 21, 1949)
In 1850 it merged with Highbury College and the theological part of Homerton College to form New College, Hampstead, sometimes also known as New College, St John’s Wood; this occupied a site in north London from 1851 (C. R. Elrington (ed), A History of the County of Middlesex, vol. IX: Hampstead, Paddington, 1989)
Its old building in Byng Place later became (in three stages) College Hall, a hall of residence for women students in Bloomsbury
The College itself merged with Hackney College in 1900 to become the University of London’s theology faculty (C. R. Elrington (ed), A History of the County of Middlesex, vol. IX: Hampstead, Paddington, 1989)
This became a college of the University of London in 1924 as Hackney and New College (C. R. Elrington (ed), A History of the County of Middlesex, vol. IX: Hampstead, Paddington, 1989)
In 1934 the Hampstead site was closed and all the activities transferred to Hackney, but the name was changed back to New College, causing confusion for historians and archivists (Congregational Quarterly, vol. 16, 1938)
It closed in 1977 (C. R. Elrington (ed), A History of the County of Middlesex, vol. IX: Hampstead, Paddington, 1989)
The successor to the institution is the New College London Foundation, a charity founded in 1981 which trains people for the Congregational and United Reform congregations
The building in Byng Place became in 2005 a Hall of Residence for Huron University USA in London (later Hult International Business School), an institution based in Russell Square
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What was reforming about it?
It was “the most influential of eighteenth-century dissenting academies” (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for Philip Doddridge)
Where in Bloomsbury
In 1832 the College inquired of the Bedford estate about the availability of the houses newly built by Cubitt in Byng Place
The Bedford estate responded with questions about what kind of establishment this was, and in particular, whether the young men would be supervised (William Adam to Mr Sowring, 1 September 1832; William Adam to Christopher Haedy, 5 September 1832; NMR 1/37/4, Bedford Estate Papers, Woburn)
Negotiations were concluded successfully, and the College had moved in by 1833 (H. Hale Bellot, University College London, 1826–1926, 1926) and advertised their previous building for auction at the end of 1834 (The Times, 9 December 1834)
The building as it was then can be seen in an illustration held in Dr Williams’s Library, ref. MS/NCL/L64/1/4, also available online (opens in new window)
Website of current institution
The New College London Foundation does not have a website
The parent institution is the United Reform Church (opens in new window)
The Coward Trust still exists; its website is www.cowardtrust.org.uk (opens in new window)
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Books about it
Geoffrey Nuttall, New College, London and its Library (1977)
John Handby Thompson, A History of the Coward Trust: The First Two Hundred and Fifty Years 1738–1998 (1998)
M. J. Mercer, ‘New College London: Its Origins and Opening’, Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society vol. 6, no. 5 (1999)
Alan Chandler, New College London 1850–1977: A Pictorial Memoir (2008)
Archives
Records dating from 1831–1853 are held in Dr Williams’s Library, ref. GB/NNAF/C69401; details are available via Access to Archives (opens in new window)
Its library was donated to Dr Williams's Library in 1976
Further records can be found in School of Oriental and African Studies special collections (not searchable online)
There is a published guide, List of the Archives of New College, London, and the Coward Trust (1968); this has also been scanned and is available online via Access to Archives (opens in new window)
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