Student London
A new history of higher education in the capital
Georgina Brewis (Author), Sam Blaxland (Author)
Students have formed a significant part of London’s population since the foundation of its first university in 1826, and Student London centres their experiences in the city’s history. To tell the 200-year story of student life in the capital this book draws on a rich source base that ranges from institutional records to college magazines, court reports to secret service files, and many hundreds of student memoirs and oral histories. It offers a detailed examination of life at the original London University (known as University College London since 1836) alongside many other institutions that eventually joined with UCL. Student London captures a diverse range of higher education experiences across medical schools, teacher training colleges and specialist institutes. A sweeping history of an ever-changing city, the book engages in much greater depth with London’s imperial history than earlier studies of higher education. It examines students’ everyday lives, fees and funding, collegiate cultures, social and political engagement, physical and mental health, recreation, sports and leisure. In doing so, it charts changing student attitudes to class, race, gender, sex and sexuality across two centuries.
List of figures
List of tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
A note on terminology
Timeline of relevant institutional changes
Introduction
1 London’s first university and its students, 1826–1858
2 Mid-Victorian London, 1858–1890
3 London students at the fin de siècle, 1890–1914
4 The Great War and the reconstruction of university life, 1914–1930
5 Modernity interrupted, 1930–1945
6 Austerity London, 1945–1963
7 Student life in ‘swinging London’, 1963–1979
8 Cutbacks and commercialisation, 1979–2003
9 Into the twenty-first century
Appendix: oral history
Select bibliography
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781806550166
Number of illustrations: 116
Publication date: 11 February 2026
PDF ISBN: 9781806550166
EPUB ISBN: 9781806550173
Hardback ISBN: 9781806550142
Paperback ISBN: 9781806550159
Related titles
Student London
A new history of higher education in the capital
Students have formed a significant part of London’s population since the foundation of its first university in 1826, and Student London centres their experiences in the city’s history. To tell the 200-year story of student life in the capital this book draws on a rich source base that ranges from institutional records to college magazines, court reports to secret service files, and many hundreds of student memoirs and oral histories. It offers a detailed examination of life at the original London University (known as University College London since 1836) alongside many other institutions that eventually joined with UCL. Student London captures a diverse range of higher education experiences across medical schools, teacher training colleges and specialist institutes. A sweeping history of an ever-changing city, the book engages in much greater depth with London’s imperial history than earlier studies of higher education. It examines students’ everyday lives, fees and funding, collegiate cultures, social and political engagement, physical and mental health, recreation, sports and leisure. In doing so, it charts changing student attitudes to class, race, gender, sex and sexuality across two centuries.