1930-1959
During this period great changes were taking place, with new technologies and research methods being developed. The College embraced these advances and subjects like food chemistry and electricity became important elements of the diploma courses. In the midst of this World War II broke out and again the staff and students of the College offered their expertise to help.
The Group I and Group II diploma courses became well established. In 1935 the Group III course was introduced which combined all the subjects covered by the Group I and Group II diplomas, except for millinery.
By 1936 a selection of science courses had been added to the prospectus, including preliminary chemistry, physics course, inorganic course, organic course, applied chemistry. These sciences were also added to the Group I diploma syllabus which was extended to a 3 year course.
In 1930s as the National Grid network continued to link up domestic households across the country, the College was educating students and the public in its use. A demonstration switchboard was installed and from 1934 the College offered courses in Electrical Housecraft for the EAW examination. All students studying for the Diploma I and III qualification were obliged to take this course.
A new extension and upgrading in 1936 provided new facilities for the College. Electricity figured prominently in the 24 kitchens, 5 laundries, 14 sewing rooms, residences and model flats in the College. It was said to have the most electrical items of any College. It was an exemplar for women of what a modern household could offer. The College hosted the EAW summer school on electrical housecraft for teachers at which these state-of-the-art facilites were put on show.
When WWII broke out the College offered specialist training, as it had done during WWI. Courses included training for soldiers to cook in army camps and for women as canteen cooks. It was reported that some who had been cooks during WWI were “greatly impressed with the new cookery, which considers the food value of each dish and gives well-balanced diet to the men”.
Further work done by the College during the war period is detailed in the section on Wartime work in the Reaching the public exhibit.
The College curriculum continued to be taught throughout WWII although with some difficulty. Lighting and air raid precautions restricted opening hours. Rationing of food, cloth, paper and other resources restricted the availability of teaching materials. Teaching was also disrupted as staff and students left to serve with the Red Cross, NAAFI, (Navy, Army and Air Forces Institute), ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service), WAAF (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp), WRNS (Women’s Royal Navy Service) and other services.
The Dietetics course first introduced in 1925 had proved very popular. By 1940-41 it had developed into a postgraduate diploma and Certificate in Dietetics. This course was open to University science graduates, holders of the Group I or Group III diploma, and to State Registered Nurses with a qualification in science who wished to qualify as hospital, hotel, school or institutional dietitian, or to do research work in nutrition.
A BSc degree course in Dietetics was proposed in 1946 and the idea resurged many times but would take another 30 years to become reality.
At the end of the war the College provided training to help women who had worked in the services return to civilian life. Selected ATS workers were given 4 week courses in domestic science to enable them to train the thousands of women being demobbed. Many of these young women had never run a household and the training would teach them about health, cookery, meal-planning, budgeting and other aspects of home-making.
From its early years a few overseas students had attended the College, but following WWII the numbers increased. When Dorothy Melvin retired in 1946 in her final Diploma Day speech she said “A return to peace-time conditions had resulted in a number of students from other countries joining the College, among them girls from the Gold Coast, Turkey, Poland and Belgium”. Some students were from Commonwealth countries, some developing nations, all looking for the high standard of training offered by the College. They gained the expertise to help address issues of public health and food poverty in their home countries, thus taking the reach of the College to an international level.
