Queen’s College: Pioneer of Women’s Education

Queen’s College was founded in 1848, the first institution to provide academic qualifications for women.   With royal patronage, which continues to the present day, it transformed the lives of women, opening doors into the professions and nurturing generations of pioneering and independent women.   In 1853 the College was granted a royal charter, the first charter granted by an English sovereign for the furtherance of women’s education.

Queen’s College was established through the idealism and far-sightedness of Frederick Denison Maurice, Professor of English Literature and History at King’s College, London.   Maurice was one of the great social reformers of the Victorian age and founder of the Christian Socialist movement.   The college now educates almost four hundred girls, aged eleven to eighteen, in its gracious buildings in Harley Street.  Queen’s College Preparatory School, in Portland Place, welcomes younger girls, whether or not they will continue their secondary education at the college.