Queen Margaret College (Glasgow)

Queen Margaret College (Glasgow)

Queen Margaret College was a women-only higher education institution based in North Park House in Glasgow, Scotland. It was established in 1868 by the Association for the Higher Education of Women, as women were not at the time permitted to study at Scottish universities.

The College was named for Queen Margaret of Scotland, and at the time was the only such college in the country. North Park House, built between 1869 and 1871 for John and Matthew Bell, owners of the Glasgow Pottery, was purchased by Isabella Elder, a local philanthropist and wife of the shipbuilder John Elder, to house the College, which moved into the premises adjacent to the University's Botanic Gadrens in 1883. A medical school was opened in 1890, designed by John Keppie and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and the students' union was formed in the same year.

The College merged with the University of Glasgow in 1892, although the premises continued to be used solely for the education of women until being sold to BBC Scotland in 1934, who moved from premises in West George Street. Queen Margaret College leaves a strong legacy within the University, in the form of the Queen Margaret Union, Queen Margaret Settlement, and Queen Margaret Halls of Residence in Kelvinside.