Marking 160 years since Ripon College’s foundation

In 1862, Ripon teacher training College opened its doors for the first time. Unlike the opening of its predecessor in 1846, Ripon College was opened with far more fanfare. Guests were invited to attend and a service of thanksgiving held at the Cathedral. The new purpose-built college had also had far more money spent on it than its founder school.

2022 marks 160 years since Ripon College was founded. Although the College no longer exists in its original form, we thought we’d mark the foundation of one of our founder colleges with a little look back at some of our history. So, to mark 160 years since Ripon College was founded, here are 16 things you might not know about Ripon College!

1. It took several years for Ripon’s students to focus solely on their academic work

When Ripon College was founded, it was founded to educate women as teachers. Whilst this seems like a simple objective, Ripon’s earliest students also had a lot of non-academic work to complete too. Whilst today we might expect students to hoover their room, wash their own clothes and clean their bathroom and kitchen, when Ripon College was founded, these simple tasks were very labour intensive. Ripon’s earliest students completed a lot of domestic labour, like scrubbing the steps!

Most domestic labour was then phased out over the next century. But, rumour has it that when Ripon College began accepting men in the mid 60’s, that they had their beds changed by staff but women changed their own!

2. Ripon’s first principal was made an honorary Canon at Ripon Cathedral

Ripon College had close ties with Ripon Cathedral, so close in fact that its first principal became a Canon! But, a slightly more unfortunate fact is his surname. As one of the few men the students interacted with, Principal Badcock’s name must have caused at least a few giggles during his time there!

However, Badcock was a respected figure within the local and college community. Even after he left his post as principal, Badcock was still an active part of the college community and attended several important events with students and alumnae.

3. Reunions have always been popular at Ripon College

Who doesn’t love reuniting with old friends? A few months ago, our Ripon alumni had a very successful reunion centred around the old campus and the city. But did you know Ripon College regularly held their own reunions too?

Then as now, reunions were popular for a variety of reasons. At a time when communication was a lot slower than it is today, reunions helped our alumnae reconnect. It was also a chance to network, see old tutors and see how much the college had changed!

Many reunions were held in summer and were far more formal than those held today. Although they occasionally included picnics, they usually included formal lunches instead! Reunion goers would also see awards being presented to retiring staff, attend a thanksgiving service, and even fundraise for the college!

4. Ripon College alumnae supported current students

Ripon College’s alumnae often ‘gave back’ to their college. This included donating their old school items, fundraising for new essentials and fundraising for commemorative items for staff members. Alumnae also raised money to contribute towards new college buildings and other new resources.

In fact, we currently have one of the commemorative plaques donated by Ripon College alumnae on display!

5. Ripon students debated universal suffrage, for fun

In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Ripon College decided to expand its extracurricular offering for students. This included a range of new societies for students to get involved in, including a debating society.

Debates were over a range of topics, both serious real-world issues and more throwaway topics too. As a college for women, it’s inevitable that universal suffrage would be debated. But today it seems baffling that the team debating for universal suffrage lost the debate!

Today it seems ridiculous to debate universal suffrage, but before 1918 it was a divisive topic. For the young women at Ripon, many will have been influenced by mainstream propaganda portraying both suffragettes and suffragists negatively.

You can read more about the anti-suffrage movement on the British Library website.

6. Ripon College began working with a university fairly early on

In 1929, Ripon College began working more closely with The University of Leeds. A recent government report determined that teacher training colleges should share examination boards with universities, so like many other colleges, Ripon College made the decision to begin a working relationship with its closest university. This relationship meant that attendance of specific parts of the teacher training course conferred exemption from part of Leeds’ BA and BSc degree courses.

7. Ripon College took 68 years to be led by a woman

Despite being a college created for women to be trained, it took until 1930 for a woman to be appointed as principal. Eva Lett was an experienced principal who led the college up to and through World War Two. Under Lett’s leadership, Ripon began making changes. In fact one of her first acts was to reduce the difference between the food served to students and staff! Although she didn’t make the meals the same, we’re sure her students must have appreciated getting slightly better food!

Lett also oversaw the final stages of construction of what would become the West Wing, complete with a brand new gymnasium for students.

8. During World War Two, the College did its part

During World War Two, Ripon’s students did their bit for the war effort. This included completing first aid certificates, donating blood, digging for victory and raising money for Spitfires.

Students also helped accommodate victims of the 1941 blitz: 30 students from Hull Training College, and 25 babies and nurses.

9. Bombs were a real threat

Students came from all over to attend Ripon College, so during World War Two it was inevitable that students would feel the affect of the war. In a blog post by Ripon alumna Nora, she recalls,

“If our train was bombed we lost all our possessions, and often our projects for College. When a train was bombed at Darlington a friend of mine lost all her final sewing. She was given 20 coupons to replace everything, so she had to return home to try and make new clothes.”

Read more about Nora’s time at Ripon College in our blog post.

At a time when people had fewer possessions, and when leaving for college would often take the majority with them, this would have been a great personal loss, as well as the problem of losing all of her sewing course work!

10. It took over a 100 years for men to become students

Ripon College did its best to be a modern college, so when it became clear that becoming a co-educational college was in its best interests, it adapted. But, for over 100 years Ripon College was home to just women, causing a few issues with where to house the men, as well as how to adapt the course, the equipment lists and the facilities to accommodate them!

In 1965 the first six men were admitted, rising to 95 out of 580 students being men by 1971! Although Ripon did admit men as the years progressed, it’s clear that by the time Ripon College merged with St John’s, there were still fewer men than women.

11. When times got tough, the College knew how to adapt

Government cuts, falling student numbers and less funding created problems for many of the smaller teacher training colleges in the early 1970s. This meant that colleges like Ripon College and St John’s had to make hard decisions quickly to stay afloat.

Throughout Ripon’s history, it had maintained ties with its old sister school in York. Students shared social occasions together, sang together in joint choirs and of course, maintained a strict rivalry that never quite diminished even with the subsequent merger! For both colleges, it made sense to bring their association a step closer and merge to become a new, bigger college with a wider remit.

Although this saw the end of Ripon College and St John’s College when they became the College of Ripon and York St John, it’s clear that they remained very individual campuses with their own identities.

Although Ripon College is no more, and the College of Ripon and York St John has evolved to become York St John University, traces of the original founder colleges remain.

12. Ripon College items remain on our university campus

When the decision was made to close the Ripon campus, the home of Ripon College, several key items were moved to York to remember, embrace and maintain our history. One such item is the bell tower which sits outside our chapel.

The bell tower originally stood outside Ripon’s new chapel. Built in a similar style to the one in York, the tower was moved to York to remember our connection to our old campus. Although the original bell was donated to Ripon Cathedral, the old Student’s Association fundraised for a new bell for the tower to mark a new era of college life.

Today the bell tower is just as an iconic part of campus as it was in its old home.

13. Our university organ came from Ripon College

When Ripon College bought an organ, they bought one specifically to compliment the usual range of a woman’s voice. This beautiful reminder of the first 100 years at Ripon was removed from the chapel when the campus closed and installed in York.

Now whenever services or special events are held in the chapel, students, alumni and guests can listen to the fantastic original Willis organ.

14. St Margaret still watches over us

In 1899, Ripon College dedicated their original chapel to St Margaret, and followed this tradition in the dedication of their second chapel. When Ripon campus closed, many items from the original chapel, including mosaics of St Margaret were moved to York. A special St Margaret chapel was also created inside the main building to hold many of the dedication items, and to commemorate Ripon College’s chosen saint.

15. We renamed North-East Wing (NEW wing) Ripon Wing

In 2018 we made the decision to rename one of our oldest buildings on campus. The North-East Wing, fondly called NEW wing was built in 1933 to create more accommodation and teaching space for students. The decision to rename it after one of our founder colleges was a way of marking the legacy of Ripon College, its alumnae and later, its CRYSJ alumni.

16. Items from Ripon’s history are on display around campus

We’ve recently completed work to revitalise and redisplay items from our history, including items from Ripon College. In Heritage Passage (once known as Windy Passage), there are various items from Ripon’s past on display. These include items from Ripon College’s early years, a plaque commemorating Eva Lett, and an original copper plate with the college crest on.

There is also a display cabinet in Ripon Wing, opposite a stained glass window from Ripon containing a variety of items from the college’s past.

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It might be 160 years since Ripon College first opened, but the spirit of this founder college still continues on our campus and in our alumni community.

If you’d like to learn more about Ripon College or campus during your next visit to campus, please let us know and we’d be happy to point out how Ripon College is integrated on our York campus.