College Tour & Background
The College
Royal Holloway, University of London was founded by two Victorian visionaries, Elizabeth Jesser Reid and Thomas Holloway. Both played a crucial role in the development of equality in education through the creation of two colleges for women, Bedford College in central London, and Royal Holloway College in Surrey, 19 miles west of London.
These two pioneering colleges became part of the University of London in 1900, and were the first institutions in the UK to award degrees to women. They later began admitting male students and merged to become one multi-faculty college in the 1980’s. The foresight and philanthropy of their founders have ensured opportunities for generations of students.
A self-made multi-millionaire of humble origins, Thomas Holloway founded Royal Holloway College in 1879 after initiating a public debate as to “How best to spend a quarter of a million or more.” It was his wife, Jane, who suggested a college for women as the means by which Holloway’s money might achieve “the greatest public good.” Largely inspired by the Chateau of Chambord in the Loire Valley in France, the magnificent Founder’s Building was opened by Queen Victoria in 1886.
In the last years of his life, between 1881 and 1883, Holloway paid well over 80,000 pounds (equivalent to more than 6 million pounds in today's terms) for the seventy-seven paintings which make up the Royal Holloway Collection.
This was the final touch to Holloway's generous endowment of the College.
The Tour
The Royal Holloway Collection was widely acclaimed from the start and has since attracted visitors from around the world to its on-campus gallery.
But while individual works have appeared in national and international exhibitions, this nationwide tour of the United States of America marks the very first time the collection has been showcased outside Great Britain, making the occasion an unmissable experience. The exhibition is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia.
To see the schedule, go to the Tour Itinerary page.