The College began as 'Endsleigh House' near Euston Station - a London school for girls founded by Miss Catherine Buchan-Smith in 1873.
History
The College began as 'Endsleigh House' near Euston Station, a London school for girls founded by Miss Catherine Buchan-Smith. It was based in Endsleigh Gardens between 1873 and 1878, in an age of pioneers in girls' education. The school grew quickly and by 1890 was large enough to add a training department for young teachers, but soon after this a decision was made to move to Northwood.
In the late 1880s, the farm lands around the newly-opened Northwood Station on the Metropolitan Line were being divided up for sale, and a site for the school was acquired in Maxwell Road which, at that time, was a leafy country road with only two houses in its length. The main College building was built in 1892 and in December the school moved out of London to start the new term in Northwood. There were twenty boarders and a handful of day girls.
Within two years of its existence at Northwood, a new wing was built to the school and to meet the needs of a rapidly developing residential area, a department for small boys, the Briary, was later opened in an adjoining house. Boys continued to attend the school until the 1940s.