Read on to find out more about student life at LSE through the years.
All work and no play – the early years of the LSE sports ground
Sport at LSE has a long history, writes LSE Archivist Sue Donnelly, as is proved by the 1911 photograph of the first hockey team. But the acquisition of the Malden sports ground in 1921 encouraged sports of all kinds to flourish at LSE.
Under Director William Beveridge Houghton Street saw constant building, but LSE expansion also included the acquisition of […]
Tennis at LSE in the 1920s
LSE’s sportsground opened in 1921 and among the many sports taking place at the new ground, in Malden, Surrey, was tennis. There was a tennis club and games took between staff and students. These images from the 1920s introduce tennis at LSE.
Tennis club, 1920:
Staff and student tennis, 1926 (William Beveridge (centre) on his left Vera Anstey, behind her Professor Arthur Sargent, to his […]
Football at LSE – in pictures
These fantastic photos from the LSE Library Flickr site tell the story of football at LSE, 1930s-1980s.
Students v Porters Football, 1936. There used to be a match every year between the porters and students for the ‘Blotto Cup’ which was an old tea caddy. There was a dance in the evening following the football:
The porters won the match. (Alan […]
Ellen Marianne Leonard – President of the Students’ Union, 1907
LSE’s History series for LSE Women: making history celebrates some of the notable women at LSE through the years. Sue Donnelly looks back at Ellen Marianne Leonard: first woman President of the LSE Students’ Union.
In 1907 the LSE Students’ Union elected its first woman President, also known as the Chairman of the Common Rooms Committee. Ellen Marianne Leonard (1866-1953) was a 41 year […]
15 years of MSc Global Media at LSE
LSE’s first double Master’s programme at 15 years old
On November 30 2015 LSE’ s oldest and largest double programme, MSc in Global Media and Communications, celebrated its 15th anniversary. Over 100 alumni, students and colleagues attended the seminar in the Shaw Library and the festive dinner at the Senior Common Room. Professor Craig Calhoun introduced the event, Professor Terhi Rantanen […]
LSE’s early students and their careers
The first degree from LSE was awarded in 1902. Since then, LSE has given its students the skills and knowledge to pursue a huge range of career paths.
Between 1895 and 1932, the most popular occupations after graduation were social work, school teaching, research, and business. Analysis of occupations, with 1,195 students responding to a survey, showed that 60% of students […]
Swingin’ 60s and rockin’ rock cakes
In the 1960s (before the Troubles), the School was known, among other things, for having “arguably the worst food north of the Thames.” At least that was the Sunday Observer’s characterisation of the daily fare dispensed on the third floor. Such judgments are always in the eye of the beholder and a matter of individual taste. But one thing the Refectory […]
A royal visit – laying the foundation stone of the Old Building
On 28 May 1920 George V and Queen Mary left Buckingham Palace in an open carriage escorted by the Life Guards. They were accompanied by Herbert Fisher, Minister for Education and as they approached St Clement Danes the church bells began to ring. Halting on Clare Market the royal party entered Passmore Edwards Hall as the Royal Standard was […]
William Beveridge’s advice for new students
At the start of a new academic year we look back to the 1920s and 1930s when the LSE Director, William Beveridge, would begin the year with an address to new students.
William Beveridge was appointed as Director of LSE in 1919 but the first record of an address to students is 1921. Over the years the address covered the […]
Mackindergarten – LSE’s Army Class
In 1907 LSE and the War Office began an experiment in military education which was to last until 1932, with a break during the First World War.
The experience of the Boer War (1899-1901) created concern about the efficiency of the army and a desire to modernise in some quarters. The class for the administrative training of army officers (or […]
LSE and the First World War
On the eve of the First World War, in the academic year 1913/14, 1,681 students were enrolled at the School. Many came from overseas, and 583 were women. LSE was well established as a small, niche college of the University of London, specialising in social science research and in evening and vocational education. Among its vocational students were over […]
Grimshaw International Relations Club
Studying at LSE has always been about more than lectures, seminars and reading lists and the history of the Grimshaw Club indicates the length of the tradition of engagements and interest in the world beyond LSE.
The Grimshaw Club is probably the oldest student society at LSE. The Students’ Union was initially set up in 1897 as the Economics Students’ […]