‘The technical high school is in its infancy. Its development will be watched with interest and perhaps from some quarters with less goodwill than other educational changes. But the Committee look forward with confidence to the time when it will attain to its full and fitting stature in the educational system.’
- Official Opening brochure, 1939.
Despite the District Sub-committees’ recommendation in 1924 for the establishment of large technical colleges across Essex, it was not until a fresh proposal submitted in 1929 that action was taken. One month after this proposal a site in Gainsborough Road, Leytonstone was decided upon, pending approval of the County Council and Board of Education.
In 1931 a new sub-committee was formed with the task of assessing technical education in the southwest region of Essex. The findings concluded that two colleges should be built. One that provided for Leyton, Walthamstow, Wanstead, Epping and West Ilford, and a second to be built on Longbridge Road in Dagenham to serve Dagenham, Barking, Ilford and Romford.
The plans to build two colleges in the South Essex region were put on hold due to the significant downturn of the national and global economies during the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The economic downturn meant that all large expenditures of public money were to be reviewed. This put the plans for the two new technical colleges at Leyton and Dagenham at risk. However, while it was decided to put the Leyton scheme on temporary hold, the site at Dagenham was given the go ahead owing to the lack of further education provision in that area.[1]
The college built in Dagenham was called the South-East Essex Technical College and School of Art. It was built on the edge of the Becontree Estate, which was erected between 1921 to 1935 and was, at the time, the largest public housing estate in the world.[2] The resulting large population increase in the region meant the South-East Essex Technical College was more vital and the college was opened in 1936 along with a secondary school.
The South-East Essex Technical College was renamed the Barking Regional College of Technology in 1965 and in 1969 it merged with West Ham Technical Institute and parts of the South-West Essex Technical College to form the North East London Polytechnic. In 1992, after a few years of name and location changes, the North East London Polytechnic became the University of East London.[3]
In 1932 the proposed college at Leyton was abandoned altogether and instead, land near the Sir George Monoux Grammar School was considered. Shortly after the Board of Education had considered the proposals, the site was purchased from Walthamstow Borough Council.[4]
In 1933 the Essex Education Committee made the decision to divide Essex County into four regions. These regions would each be served with a main technical college which would be surrounded by junior and senior evening institutes. The locations identified for the colleges were Colchester, Chelmsford, Dagenham and Walthamstow. The first two at Colchester and Chelmsford had existing education centres that would be renovated and enlarged to meet increased public demand and modern requirements.[5] In the opening brochure for the South-West Essex Technical College an explanation and plan for the four main colleges in the Essex region is provided:
‘In providing these colleges the Committee have kept before them the needs and possibilities of further education in its widest sense. The colleges have been planned to cater for the vocational, cultural and recreational needs of every type of student, although in view of the abundant facilities offered in London little provision has been made for extreme specialisation in technical subjects. [The South-West Essex Technical College is an] exception. The Committee have attempted to unite under one roof a range of studies and activities, for women no less than for men, that in many other places is catered for by separate institutions. They believe that to bring together in a single building students of art, commerce, science and engineering is to enhance the value of these studies and to enrich the corporate life of the college community. It is their hope that their technical colleges and evening institutes will become vital centres in which the people of the neighbourhood will, in addition to their more serious pursuits, find recreation in discussion, physical training, play production or in any other way that seems good to them.’
When the South-East Essex Technical College opened in 1936 the entry age to the day school was lowered from 13 to 11. This was brought forward as a recommendation for the new South-West Essex Technical College. The Board of Education approved having two day schools (one for boys and one for girls) inside the College with a total enrolment capacity of 1,000.[5] These day schools would replace the existing Walthamstow and Leyton Technical Schools, as well as the Walthamstow Commercial School for Girls.
References
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, “WayBackMachine,” [Online]. Available: https://web.archive.org/web/20120405151148/http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/MuseumsAndHeritage/LocalHistoryResources/Documents/Infosheet3UELBarkingcampus.pdf. [Accessed 04 07 2023].
RIBA, “A brief history of the Becontree estate,” 01 03 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/a-brief-history-of-the-becontree-estate. [Accessed 04 07 2023].
University of East London, “Our History,” [Online]. Available: https://web.archive.org/web/20110831002659/http://www.uel.ac.uk/about/history.htm. [Accessed 04 07 2023].
W. R. Bray, The Country Should be Grateful - The War-time History of the South-West Essex Technical College and School of Art, London: The Walthamstow Press Ltd, 1947.
Essex Education Committee, “Opening Ceremony of the South-West Essex Technical College and School of Art,” Silver End, Witham, E. T. Heron & Co. Ltd..
Researched and written by Thomas Barden
