Editing Regent's Park College, Oxford (section)

===Origins in London===
Regent's Park College traces its roots to the formation of the London Baptist Education Society in 1752.<ref name="Baptist Quarterly">{{cite web|url=https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bq/36-4_191.pdf|title=THE Pre-history of Regent's Park College|publisher=biblicalstudies.org.uk|access-date=27 November 2018}}</ref> This venture led to the development of the [[Baptist College, Stepney]], a [[dissenting academy]] in the [[East End of London]], in 1810. The impetus for the creation of the college arose from the fact that only members of the [[Church of England]] were given places at the ancient universities. There were only three students in 1810, but by 1850 the number had risen to 26.<ref>Gould, 1910, 1</ref>

In 1849, [[Joseph Angus]] (Principal 1849–1893) became principal at just 33 years old.<ref>Gould, 1910, p. 56</ref> At the beginning of his time as principal, Angus admitted a small number of lay students to the college. His belief was that it would benefit the ministerial students to have contact with them, as well as bring much-needed finances to the college. After sites in Gordon Square and Primrose Hill were considered, Angus decided on 12 December 1855 to relocate the college to [[Holford House]] in the rural environs of Regent<nowiki>'s Park and to change its name to ''Regent's Park College''</nowiki>.<ref>Gould, 1910, p. 58</ref> Holford House was a private dwelling built in the classical Georgian style on Crown land.<ref>Cooper, 1960, p. 61</ref> Students were able to read for university degrees in the arts and law, as well as training for Christian ministry.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

After many long ties with [[University College London]], which date back to 1856, the college became an official divinity school of the [[University of London]] in 1901. In 1920, [[George Pearce Gould]] (1896–1920) passed the role of principal on to [[Henry Wheeler Robinson]], who would hold the post until 1942. Wheeler Robinson was educated at Regent's Park College for one session; he then went to [[Edinburgh University]] and finally to [[Mansfield College, Oxford]]. Wheeler Robinson believed that Oxford was a more congenial setting than London for a college. This belief, coupled with the lure of the advantages of the tutorial system and the fact that Baptists remained the only Free church without a college in one of the ancient universities, led Wheeler Robinson to decide to relocate the college to Oxford.<ref>Gould, 1910, p. 84</ref>