The London College of Divinity was established in 1863 with the financial support of the Reverend Alfred Peache and his sister, Miss Kezia Peache, as an evangelical theology college to train men, who wished to be clergy but who could not go to university, generally because they lacked the required educational background. The first Principal of the college was one of its founders, the Reverend Thomas P. Boultbee. Most notable among his more recent successors was the Reverend F.D. Coggan, later Archbishop of Canterbury, who was principal 1944-1956. From its start the college had close links with other institutions in the Evangelical wing of the Anglican Church, such as the Church Pastoral Aid Society, which was set up to fund the training of evangelical clergy.
The College opened in Mortimer Road, St John's Wood, in buildings formerly occupied by the St John's Foundation School. The College continued to use the name London College of Divinity, St John's Hall for the next 100 years, as it moved to various locations in and around London. The most well known of these were the imposing buildings at Highbury in North London, which the College occupied 1866-1940, the site of which is now part of Arsenal Football Club. In 1970 the College moved to Bramcote, near Nottingham, severing its connections with London University, and was renamed St John's College, establishing links with Nottingham University.
Reference: Janet M. Claridge, Handlist of the St John's College Archives (The University of Birmingham Library, 1995).
From the guide to the Archives of St John's College, Nottingham, 1863-1995, (University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department)
