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Senate House Library

Matriculation and School Exam Lists 1901-1922

The University of London Archive includes lists of matriculation students and University of London school examination candidates.

Fulham Secondary School 1910
Fulham Secondary School, 1910, Image © London Metropolitan Archives (City of London)

The matriculation exam

The University of London conducted examinations for school pupils from 1838 when the London Matriculation Examination was introduced to determine the admission of candidates for a degree course of the university. 

The 'London Matric' was open to anyone over the age of sixteen and became widely used for purposes other than university entrance.

Matriculation lists (from the University calendars)

Advert from the 1887/8 University of London calendar
Advert from the 1887/8 University of London calendar

School examinations

The school leaving age was raised to twelve in 1899 and then fourteen by the 1918 Education Act. The Education Act 1902 resulted in the expansion of secondary education and the need was recognised to rationalise the many school leaving examinations, including those conducted by universities. 

These examinations had developed side by side with the Matriculation Examination. The School Certificate and Higher School Certificate examinations date from 1918.

The examinations were taken at schools in the London area but also far beyond.

Matriculation and school examination candidates lists

Using these sources

The lists of examinees are taken from the University of London Archive:

  • Examination lists (reference UoL/EX)
  • University of London calendars (reference UoL/UP)

Please be aware that, although these data have undergone an OCR process, some data might not be picked up by free-text searches.

Other resources

Lists of University of London matriculation students may also be found on the University of London students webpage. They were included in the examination registers, 1838-1889 and the general registers, 1890-1901.