| Administrative History | A School of Science and a School of Art have been in existence and have catered for students from Derby and district since 1870. The building in Green Lane was opened in 1877 as a School of Art. Following the passing of the Technical Instruction Act in 1889, the School of Art and the School of Science were taken over by the new Technical Instruction Committee of the Derby County Borough Council in 1891, and in the same year the title 'The Derby Municipal Technical College' was approved by the Council. A new wing was added to the building in Green Lane in 1899 to accommodate the technical instruction classes. A substantial part of these premises was occupied by technical classes until September 1963, when for the first time the whole of the building began to be used for the College of Art.
By 1925, the premises in Green Lane were inadequate to meet the steadily rising number of students and additional engineering laboratories were erected in Normanton Road. Extensions to the Normanton Road premises were made in 1931 and 1937, and in 1938 the Council approved a scheme to erect a complete new Technical College on the Normanton Road site. The final addition to the Normanton Road premises was made in 1941 when the engineering workshops there were opened. From that time, the bulk of the work of the Technical College was carried on at Normanton Road but about half of the accommodation of the Green Lane premises was also used by the Technical College, the other half being used by the College of Art.
The number of students continued to expand rapidly during and after the war. As a result, a new college was erected on land previously occupied by the Markeaton Golf Club. For many years, the numbers of students from the Borough of Derby and the County of Derbyshire had been nearly equal and the Derbyshire County Council had been anxious to become a full partner in the enterprise of building the two new Colleges of Art and Technology. In 1956 a Joint Education Committee composed of equal numbers of members from the Derby County Borough Council and the Derbyshire County Council was set up.
The Technical College provided education and training in various subjects including pure and applied mathematics, civil and mechanical engineering, physics and electrical engineering, chemistry and metallurgy, biology and geology technology, language and commerce and art. |
| Custodial History | These records were deposited in Derbyshire Record Office in November 1972. |