Tuesday’s outing was to the Kew Archives and the British Library.
The National Archives at Kew had a mysterious entry for a William “Biggs” Trust, clearly associated with the University Correspondence College. When I inquired about it, I received this response:
The record series ED 39 is mostly concerned with school governance and trust funding of schools. The series home page explains more about the content of these files.
The National Archives holds historical records sent to us by central government departments and law courts for permanent preservation. Therefore it is unlikely we would hold many records relating to a private institution like the University Correspondence College. However, I would suggest contacting Senate House Archives or the Institute of Education Archive.
While they only held two folders, the contents were interesting. I am trying to find out whether the University Correspondence College was a not-for-profit charity from its inception. These documents, dated during the 1930s and the war, did not tell me that exactly. But they did include interesting papers. Following William Briggs’ death in 1932, his son Cecil took over the venture. Many of the papers are efforts to make sure that the UCC was filed as a charity, which involved both the Charities Commission and the Board of Education. There were sections from Briggs’ will setting up the trust (with his children as trustees) and ensuring it was to not be for profit.
So obviously Briggs, and his family, felt strongly about this, but I still don’t know whether the UCC was founded as a charity (I suspect it was, and that there were tax implications for doing so, as there are today). 
I do know a little more, however, about the process. A woman who was there doing genealogical research suggested the Charity Commission might have an archive. And Kew is a lovely town.
Before I left, I asked if they wanted to correct their records – it’s the William Briggs Trust, not the William Biggs Trust. They showed me an online form where I could submit a correction. Apparently this happens quite a bit!
