> Thematic History

> 1850-1901:
Education for Women
- Victorian Ideals
- Woman Physician
- Ladies College

> 1902-1913:
Education & Vocation
- Learning at ELC
- The Westfield Way

> 1914-1945:
War & Circumstance
- The Great War
- WWII Evacuation
- Learning & Leisure

> 1946-1959:
Peace & Acceptance
- Restoration
- Medicine & Dentistry

> 1960-present:
Change & Opportunity
- Women in Science
- Creativity & Diversity
- Then & Now

QMC’s Union Society, Summer 1945. QMC Men’s and Women’s Lawn Tennis Clubs, Summer 1945. Courtesy of Queen Mary, University of London Archives.

After World War Two, Queen Mary College returned to East London and Westfield College returned to Hampstead.

This period of post-war restoration was marked by the continuation of rationing. Shortages of books and food remained for many years. Nevertheless, student life was restored and women began to play an increasingly influential part in it.

By the 1946 to 1947 academic session, women students at Queen Mary College comprised 57% of the total. In comparison, women students made up just 20% of the total between 1938 and 1939. The proportion of women would drop again as men were de-mobilised.

Being co-educational from its beginnings, the QMC Students Union (top, right) included a Vice-President for Women, and one for men, along with several female committee members.

The Debating Society also addressed issues of concern at the time, including a motion "That Woman’s Place is in the Home", which was lost. Women continued to hold important roles within the Students Union.

Male and female sports clubs competed with each other, including the Men's and Women's Lawn Tennis Clubs (bottom, right). A match on 6 May 1945 saw "the singular defeat of the Q.M.C. men’s team by the so-called weaker sex." More...