Originally founded in 1850 as a college for training Catholic schoolmasters, St. Mary's became a constituent college of the
University of London Institute of Education in 1949. This affiliation ended in 1976, and the university's degree courses were then validated by the
University of Surrey. Formerly called St Mary's University College, the university was granted full title by the
Privy Council on 23 January 2014. Since July 2019, the university has hosted the
Mater Ecclesiae College, whose
Ecclesiastical faculties (enshrined since 2013 in the "Bellarmine Institute") were added after the closure of
Heythrop College, University of London.
Strawberry Hill House and the Chapel in the Wood and gardens. 18th-century
watercolour by
Paul Sandby|thumb The university is built on land previously attached to
Strawberry Hill House, which was originally a small cottage on three acres of land by the
River Thames.
Horace Walpole, son of politician
Robert Walpole, rented the cottage in 1747 and subsequently bought it. He reconstructed the house and added to the land, which now amounts to approximately . Walpole did not follow the conventional 18th-century fashion of classical building, but sought his inspiration from medieval styles, creating a notable early example of
neo-Gothic architecture. Some of his contemporaries imitated his design; this house and the idea it embodied take their place in the history of architecture as "Strawberry Hill Gothic". By the end of the 20th century, Strawberry Hill House had fallen into a state of disrepair, with the cost of reversing its condition too substantial for the college to meet. The Grade One listed building had been registered as a building at risk by
English Heritage (now Historic England) in 1996, and in August 2002, the Strawberry Hill Trust was formed with a mission to restore the building and open it to the wider public. After the building was included in the 2004 World Monuments Fund Watch list of the world's 100 Most Endangered Sites and featured on the
BBC Two programme
Restoration, the
Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Strawberry Hill Trust a £4.6 million grant in 2005. £370,000 in development funding and a £1.4M investment from St Mary's were also received, but finances still fell short of the projected £8.2M cost of restoration. The shortfall was finally met in 2007, and in July of that year, the lease was transferred from the
Catholic Education Service to the Trust. Restoration began in 2008, and the house was opened to the public in September 2010 following the completion of the first phase of the £9M project. Near the porter's lodge is what
Bridget Cherry and
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner describe as an "incongruous Walpole survival without its protective vegetation".
Chapel in the Wood is a garden building designed in 1772 by
John Chute and was completed in 1774 by
Thomas Gayfere the Elder. It was restored in 1954 as a chapel to include a shrine of the
Virgin Mary, with new murals and
stained glass by
Harry Clarke. The stained glass that Walpole housed is now at its original home at Bexhill Church, Sussex.
Foundation St Mary's was founded in 1850 on the initiative of
Cardinal Wiseman. The
Catholic Poor School Committee, which was concerned with providing primary education to children of poor Catholic people throughout the United Kingdom, purchased a former girls' school at Brook Green House,
Hammersmith, and adapted it for use as a college with accommodation for 40 adult male students. A legal trust created on 16 July 1851 in connection with this property and its use as a training college for Catholic schoolmasters was confirmed in perpetuity. The college was established on similar lines to that of the
Brothers of Christian Instruction (''les Frères d'Instruction Chrétienne'') at
Ploermel,
Brittany, where English students were sent between 1848 and 1851. A French brother, Brother Melanie, was initially placed in charge of St Mary's College, until the appointment of an English principal, Rev. John Melville Glennie, in 1851. The college opened with six adult male students who had begun their training at the
novitiate of the
Brothers of Christian Instruction. It was expected that students would join the teaching religious order, however in 1854, in response to a shortage of suitably qualified candidates, the decision was taken to admit lay students to the college. In 1855, additional accommodation was provided for 50
lay students, and by 1860 only lay students were attending the college. The Catholic Church tried to found in 1873 a British Catholic University (
Catholic University College, Kensington) but this Institution failed and closed in 1882. With the appointment of the fourth principal, Father William Byrne CM in 1899, the association of the college with the Congregation of the Mission (usually known as the
Vincentians) commenced. This inaugurated a period of change and augmentation, seen in the increase in staff and student numbers, the introduction of the office of
Dean, and the extension of the college premises made possible by funding from the Catholic Education Council. At the same time the college was concerned with adjusting to the requirements of the Education Acts of 1902–03 and their effect on the development of elementary education. In 1898 Inter-College Sports were introduced between Borough Road, St Mark's, St John's, Westminster and St Mary's Colleges. The college magazine,
The Simmarian, began a new series in 1903–04. Originally in manuscript form, it became a printed paper in 1905 and is still published today.
Early 20th century By 1924 there were 129 resident students at the college. Recognising the limitations of facilities at Hammersmith, the Principal the Very Rev J J Doyle, CM, along with Sir John Gilbert and Sir Francis Anderton, negotiated the sale of the Hammersmith site to the neighbouring
J. Lyons and Co. in 1922, and in 1923 the purchase of the Walpole-Waldegrave property at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, from
Lord Michelham. The college moved to its Strawberry Hill site in 1925 despite the extensive new buildings, designed by S. Pugin-Powell, being at that point incomplete. It was not until June 1927 that the latter were officially opened. The new site provided accommodation for 150 students, with 190 students altogether. The majority of students were from England and Wales and entered according to Board of Education regulations. There were also a number of private students from 1925 onwards, including approximately 40 coming annually from Northern Ireland, as well as students from Malta, and brothers from England and Wales. Private students lived in accommodation separate from the college. Prior to 1928 the Certificate of Education course and examinations were jointly controlled by the Board of Education and individual training colleges. With the introduction of a new scheme for London teacher training colleges, the Board of Education retained its inspectorship functions, but delegated its authority over the courses and examination to the
University of London. Under this scheme, the four resident male teacher training colleges in London (St Mary's, Strawberry Hill; Borough Road, St. Mark's and St. John's; and Westminster) were formed into a group under the supervision of
University College London (UCL). This group was jointly responsible with UCL for drawing up the syllabuses of the courses taught at the colleges, while the final examinations were designed to qualify students for the Certificate of Education awarded by the University of London. To direct the scheme, the Training College Delagacy was established, composed of representatives of the university, the teacher training colleges, religious denominations and local authorities. Meanwhile, two representatives of the University of London joined the governing board of St Mary's. In 1930, in addition to the Certificate of Education course and examination, degree courses were provided at St Mary's University College leading to a University of London degree for successful candidates. At the same time a one-year colonial course was established at the college to train Priests and Brothers destined to join overseas missions. In 1935, responsibility for this course was transferred to the
Jesuits.
After World War II The college became a constituent college of the University of London
Institute of Education, inaugurated on 19 December 1949, and the incorporation of the college into the institute was formally approved by the Senate of the university in April 1950, the college's centenary year. In response to the increasing demand for teachers, it was agreed in 1959 to expand the college to 500 places. By 1966, there were 1,000 students. 1966 also saw the admission of the first full-time women students to the college. Other developments include the introduction in 1968 of an extra year's study for the conversion of the Teacher's Certificate to a
Bachelor of Education degree, and in 1975, the first students pursuing the University of London
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Humanities and
Bachelor of Science. St Mary's association with the University of London came to an end in 1979. St Mary's degree courses were then validated by the
University of Surrey in
Guildford. Representatives from St Mary's College attended meetings of the University of Surrey Delegacy which was set up in 1980. In 1986 the first students of the college graduated with degrees from the University of Surrey. With the retirement of Fr. Desmond Beirne as Principal in 1992, the college's educational links with the Vincentians came to an end, although the post of chaplain was held by a Vincentian (Rev Perry Gildea CM) until 1996 and one teaching post in the Religious Studies department (Rev Michael Prior CM) until later. Fr Beirne was replaced in 1992 by Arthur Naylor, the college's first lay Principal.
Early 21st century In 2006, St Mary's became a University College and was granted the power to award its own degrees by the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom. The university maintains study-partnerships with other universities across the globe, including the
University of San Francisco, the
University of St Thomas (Houston),
St Mary's University, Halifax,
Australian Catholic University and the
Catholic University of America. In 2020, St Mary's entered into historic partnership with
The University of Notre Dame Australia. On 17 September 2010,
Pope Benedict XVI visited St Mary's on the second day of his four-day UK state visit, the first papal visit to the country since
Pope John Paul II visited in 1982. On 1 October 2010,
Philip Esler became the university's second lay Principal. During 2010 and 2011, existing sports facilities were refurbished and an additional complex was added. The resulting £8.5 million sports centre was opened on 27 October by Lord
Sebastian Coe, with
Tim Brabants,
David Weir,
Rebecca Romero and
Dave Bedford in attendance; the latter two, both St Mary's alumni, were inducted into the St Mary's Hall of Fame for Sports. The University College was granted full university title (status) by the
Privy Council on 23 January 2014, becoming '''St Mary's University'''. In July 2019 the ecclesiastical Faculties of Philosophy and Theology of
Allen Hall Seminary were transferred to St Mary's University and renamed
Mater Ecclesiae College after their previous host institution,
Heythrop College, University of London closed down. == Sporting achievements ==