WOOLWICH SCHOOL OF ART
Woolwich School of Art commenced in September 1891 with classes held in both afternoons and evenings to create the minimum disruption during the working day and around two hundred mostly male students enrolled in the first year. Early staff members included J. Hitchcock and John Howard Hale who also taught at the nearby Blackheath School of Art. The first Woolwich Polytechnic School was established in 1897 but the move failed to attract fee-paying attendees and the life classes were closed and the Board of Education withdrew its recognition but in 1904 as Woolwich Polytechnic, the School began an uninterrupted existence. In 1970, Woolwich Polytechnic merged with part of Hammersmith College of Art and Building to form Thames Polytechnic and in following years, Dartford College (1976), Avery Hill College of Education (1985), Garnett College (1987) and parts of Goldsmiths College and the City of London College (1988) were incorporated. In 1992, Thames Polytechnic was granted university status and renamed the University of Greenwich in 1993.