Anstey College of Physical Education
| Motto | Vis Atque Gratia Harmoniaque ("Strength together with Grace and Harmony") |
|---|---|
| Established | 1897 |
| Closed | 1981 (1984) |
| Type | Teacher training college |
| Location |
Chester Road Birmingham West Midlands  EnglandCoordinates: 52°32′13″N 1°50′02″W / 52.5369°N 1.8340°W |
| Local authority | Staffordshire / Birmingham |
| Gender | Female |
| Former name | Anstey Physical Training College |
Anstey College of Physical Education, founded in 1897 as the Anstey Physical Training College, was a pioneer training college for teachers of girls' physical education, only the second such institution for women in the United Kingdom. Located for most of its history in the Erdington area of Birmingham, England, the college was originally independent but came under the control of Staffordshire education department in 1955 as part of a financial rescue deal. In 1975 it was taken over by Birmingham Polytechnic and renamed the Anstey Department of Physical Education. The Erdington premises remained in use until 1981, when the Anstey Department was transferred to the Edgbaston campus of the polytechnic, before being closed down in 1984.
Rhoda Anstey (1865–1936), the founder of the college, grew up on her family's farm near Tiverton, Devon, and later became a feminist, theosophist, astrologer and advocate of meditation. From 1893 to 1895 she attended the Hampstead Physical Training College for young women run by the physical education instructor and suffragette, Martina Bergman-Österberg. Bergman-Österberg's strict regime for her students included isolation and cold baths, and upon leaving in 1895 Anstey set up a health farm called The Hygienic Home for Ladies at South Petherton, Somerset. In 1897 she moved to The Leasowes, Halesowen, Worcestershire, and wrote to her former instructor, Bergman-Österberg, requesting that the latter accept Sophie Knight, Anstey's assistant at the health farm in Somerset, as a student at a reduced fee. Bergman-Österberg refused, so Anstey decided to train Knight herself, and established the Anstey Physical Training College at her new home, initially with just three students.
...
Wikipedia